Hawaii State introduced draft bill of law that forbids sale of loot boxes for people under 21

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Last year, was raised big dust around the "predatory practice" of loot boxex because of many countries have begun to explore the question of whether implementation of the same in video games is a form of gambling. Among the many critics of micro-transactions, Hawaiians were particularly prominent, who recently presented a draft bill to regulate the sale of video games containing loot boxes.

According to Hawaii Tribune-Herald's report, there are even four different draft laws, of which the first pair, House Bill 2686, and Senate Bill 3024, are banning the sale of videogames with loot boxes to people under the age of 21 - the current minimum age for legal gambling in the state. On the other hand, House Bill 2727 and Senate Bill 3025 require that publishers clearly show that their title contains microtransactions as follows:

"Warning: This product contains in-game gambling and gambling mechanisms that can be harmful and addictive.

State attorney Chris Lee, who presented legislative proposals to protect young people from "psychological manipulation," said that he himself grew up playing video games and that "he first experienced the evolution of the industry from that one that is trying to create new things to the one that began to exploit people, especially children, to maximize their own profits. "

Of course, nothing is yet official since the state government must first vote on these proposals before they become lawful, and the question of whether loot boxes should be regulated as gambling has not yet been discussed.

Tagged with: Controversy, Microtransactions

Replies • 163

Interstellar

If game stores have to start carding on game purchases under 21, the games in question will disappear very fast.  It's what happened with AO rated games, and the same thing will almost certainly happen with lootboxes.

Hawaii alone won't be enough to change things, but if some other states start adopting similar legislation, I think it's very likely that the lootbox just goes away completely.


интересно, как это будет реализовано)) такие штуки легко обойти








the Stormcaller

protect young people from "psychological manipulation"

I think he meant to say: protect parents' money from counterproductive (stupid) activities.