Hawaii Attorney General Weighs Legality of 'Battlefront II' Loot Boxes

A Hawaiian state representative said he may be forced to legislate in the case of Battlefront II if the game industry doesn't regulate.

[kevinsheeks]

YASSSSS REGULATE IT HONEY

On a serious note it'd be nice if the esrb stopped acting like a puppet of publishers and do it's job but they seem to want to allow the monster to fester so let's introduce some politics to gaming so we can all share the pain.

Regardless though it's better for children to not play these type of games as it can be addictive to younger more naive minds, it needs regulation.

[coolbeans]

Why does said regulation have to come from the government though?

[kevinsheeks]

nah I said I wish the esrb would regulate but they don't even want to consider it and given who've they had as previous members I can't take them serious maybe we should have never taken them serious from the jump.

[ChrisW]

Sadly, EA and other shady companies will most likely fight this... We may not see any real legislation for many years while they keep it tied up in courts.

[Nodoze]

You don't want the govt to regulate ANYTHING. As soon as they step in, everything turns to shit. Look at everything they have ever touched, and you will see. The only thing they do well is SPEND MONEY they don't have.

Unfortunately these publishers with their unbridled greed, forced this hand. It is all but guaranteed now.

[kevinsheeks]

I love gaming I just wish publishers loved it as much as us but isn't it poetic the people who fought the media for years when they tried to link violence to video games are the same ones handing them the ammo they needed all this time and the publishers with their greed created the perfect catalyst.

[CyrusLemont]

Can't say I entirely agree here, cigarette and tobacco display bans, gun laws and consumer law in Australia have all had significant positive impacts on protecting the health and safety of citizens.

Perhaps introducing legislation to block marketing of MT/Loot box heavy games and their display on store shelves may be all it takes.

Imagine how Disney would feel if they couldn't advertise Star Wars.

[Zjet]

This is getting a bit silly now,

Whats the difference in terms of gambling of opening a lootbox and opening a pack of randomised Pokemon or Magic booster packs?

Should we ban CCGs too?

[Jinger]

According to these people, yes. Ban anything that has a random reward. Even if you can't lose. Gumball machines, those little toy and tattoo machines for kids at pizza places and such... get rid of it all. It's teaching our kids to gamble....

[equal_youth]

If you can't differentiate between those machines and Lootboxes as Microtransactions that have an effect on progression and game design (psychological rewards, Publishers hire psychologist for this), maybe you should stay out of this conversation or educate yourself.

Don't give me those poor analogies with gumball machines.

[Omnislashver36]

Most people get those cards to collect, these rewards are needed to progress in a game. It's telling people: You suck, wanna know what could make you better? $120 worth of lootbox gambling.

There are also economies where people can resell cards whereas your online rewards are usually just bunk and have no real world value.

[Jinger]

@equal & Omni

It having an effect on progression is not what the government cares about. They care about the gambling random factor of the boxes themselves. What it contains makes no difference.

Random reward is a random reward whether it effects gameplay or just cosmetics, doesn't matter.

The cards are a 100% optional. You don't NEED them, just like you don't NEED that shiny pikachu you spent a $100 on from buying random card packs. Can you even compete in a Pokemon match by only buying one card pack? And I mean compete... most likely you're going to have to buy many packs.

[kevinsheeks]

well said equal_youth and Omnislashver36

[Storm Shadow NF]

OMG I think the AG needs to worry about more important things than a Video Game !!! Liberals have lost their mind !!! Snowflake generation, for god sakes the entire Battlefield series allowed you to pay to unlock all weapons early Who Cares !!!

[cfc83]

If the government steps in, it's the fault of the greedy publishers. We all know it's gambling as the outcome is unknown, and duplicates are there also. Fix it, or be fixed.

[DONTB]

It is not gonna work.
They will just change the lootbox system to fit outside the definition of "gambling"

Oh, you can't sell something that gives a random chance for each reward? Then each lootbox is a credit box with a bonus of one random item, see, you are paying for the credits and getting a random item bonus, not trying to get a specific random item

Oh, you can't sell something that potentially has a chance to never give you a certain item, alright, after you buy 50 lootboxes you get all the items in the lootbox anyway, see it isn't only up to random chance, there is a legitimate way of collected all these items.

[rlow1]

If you look up EAs earnings they had::::: Digital net sales* of $3.034 billion for fiscal 2017; this represents 61% of total net sales, up 20% year-over-year. • (4th quarter results) ........and that's just them. I didn't look up Rockstar nor Bethsheda but you can bet they made a bundle...........The argument that developers need to make up the cost of the game is rendered mute. They make plenty of money......Remember that's just digital sales............The money grab is changing how they make games.