Afternoon all
Slightly unrelated topic but was hoping people would still be symptomatic to the cause.
This petition is about video games and the option to purchase loot boxes with real money. A loot box is basically a gamble / chance of getting a good item. Most of the time you will get rubbish, but that 1% chance you'll get something rare, much like gambling.
Belgium have banned loot boxes throughout their entire country on video games and the rest of the world needs to follow suit.
Too many people fall victim to these massive gaming companies that age rate their games a 4 or similar but have these mini gambling games inside them, where you have to use real money to get the chance of receiving a rare item.
Many reports of kids, no older than 12, steal their parents credit cards to buy stuff on Fortnite and FIFA for example.
Anyway, please sign the petition, if you don't mind.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300171
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/01/countrys-top-mental-health-nurse-warns-video-games-pushing-young-people-into-under-the-radar-gambling/
Thank you!
Government petition for loot boxes
posted on 18/6/20
comment by Taki Minamino (U20650)
posted 21 hours, 7 minutes ago
ea are the worst, atleast with fornite they dont release a new game every year making what you had pointless, but people are stupid enough to do it every year
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Exactly
posted on 18/6/20
comment by Hooplar (U15824)
posted 13 hours, 33 minutes ago
Never played these games or seen a loot box.
When I was a kid we had football stickers and you had to keep buying packs in the hope of getting a shiny or your team's players.
Sounds like it's the same sort of idea? Mostly rubbish, occasionally something good.
Not sure I'm for the banning of stickers. My parents didn't let me spend excessively on them. Can't parents just do the same for the kids on these games? Where are they getting the money from otherwise?
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It's not just kids.
Adults fall victim to this crap as well, it's just children are slightly more vulnerable.
EA pay YouTubers to advertise their stuff and millions watch these YouTube videos and follow suit, paying real money into a game and getting addicted, adults and kids alike.
It looks like a fair few big YouTubers have stepped up and shared this petition around which can only be a good thing.
There are some YouTubers that are banning people sharing this petition on their channel purely because EA give them money and without this loot box exploitation, their current style of YouTube career would be over.
There is a YouTuber who plays FIFA who was going through a bad patch and he ended up spunking all his money on FIFA points purely out of addiction.
There is no limit to how much you can buy and it's literally just two clicks and you've purchased them, takes around 5 seconds.. before you know it you could be hundreds or thousands of pounds down.
One of my close mates spent £500 on FIFA points in one month in April. He was put on furlough for the foreseeable, stuck indoors, not a lot to do, miserable, addicted to FIFA like millions of people are.
Drops real money into the game in the hope he'll get something good but it never comes, then maybe 100-150 quid in you get something amazing and then it's just tumbling down the rabbit hole.
He's 31 by the way, with his own house and everything so definitely not a kid!
posted on 18/6/20
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/01/countrys-top-mental-health-nurse-warns-video-games-pushing-young-people-into-under-the-radar-gambling/
posted on 18/6/20
Right Greg, thanks for the information, appreciate it.
Just for argument's sake, are you in favour of banning alcohol? Some adults get addicted to that and it can destroy their lives, not to mention the lives of others in cases of drink driving.
What about gambling, would you have all gambling banned? Again I'm just asking out of curiosity, because it seems to me like there's a trade-off that we as a society need to decide on: allow risky activities like alcohol and gambling, even though they can destroy lives? Or ban them? Or allow them only in regulated form?
What about junk food? Should all junk food be banned because some people are addicted to it and become ridiculously unhealthy from it, because they have no self-control? Maybe they're ignorant of the health impacts, or maybe they just don't care?
What's the scale of this loot box problem compared to alcohol, gambling and junk food problems?
I think there's a lot more I'd need to consider before I could say these things need blanket banning, but I can see why it's an issue.
posted on 19/6/20
Fair points.
I'd like to see it regulated as at the moment is it a system that is massively exploited by these huge gaming companies, there is no regulation and they're free to do whatever they want, all while rating their game a 3.
As to how it gets regulated, there are a few ways but not for me to decide!
I don't think alcohol, junk food or gambling should be banned at all. There are age limits to two of those though, unlike loot boxes.
Not that age limits always helps...
My uncle was addicted to alcohol and ended up in a coma for two months, still I don't think it should be banned entirely but how do you put regulation on something that is available is so many different shops, it would be almost impossible to achieve.
Same with junk food, so cheap, so tasty - how can you ban food? Or regulate food?
My parents also bloody drink too much but they're so stubborn they don't listen to anything I say!
posted on 19/6/20
The scale of the problem in comparison to the others you mentioned, no idea, haven't got any data on that.
Think my parents are in the ignorant / don't care bracket when it comes to alcohol and junk food :/
posted on 19/6/20
Sorry to hear about your uncle, I've also known people in similar trouble due to alcohol although not family members. Can be a real problem and I can understand that some people want to ban it because of that, but prohibition in the US completely failed and so regulation seems the best path.
Probably the same for these loot boxes - at the very least people should be stopped from spending more than they can afford on them.
Enforceability is another big consideration. Maybe it needs better education and awareness - I was taught at a young age about the dangers of smoking and so was able to make the informed choice to avoid it. But what about the people who know about the risks but don't care? Should they be forced to not partake, like we attempt to do with illicit drugs? All interesting questions...
Like you say, not for us to decide though! But important to start the conversation and get policymakers thinking about it at least
posted on 21/6/20
It's the awareness and sneaky behaviour that makes this so predatory.
The last star wars battlefront game u bought it, fired it up and straight away darth vader/skywalker (best characters) had to be unlocked by days and days worth of gaming hours...or u could spend real cash to unlock something uve already bought immediately, for a big advantage.
Some companies use loot boxes on a strictly cosmetic basis. This is deemed OK and transparent. It's putting content on the game u already bought behind pay walls, or the best weapons/game mechanics that is both common nowadays and frowned upon.
Parents don't realise this when they buy games. It's hardly clear and the company's prefer it that way..
Loot boxes are being phased out in most IPs so u just buy the 'skin' or character cosmetics u want, instead of just buying and hoping like fifa packs.
There was 2 huge you tubers advertising a site for a game called CSGO. They could put their best weapon skins/camos (rare ones are worth real $) on a wheel like the wheel.of fortune. Where the wheel stops that player scoops everything.
They amazingly made huge amounts of a small deposit and told all their young fans how amazing it was.....
They owned it. It made millions a week.....yeah 🤔
Tech moves fast. Tech scams move faster. This is exactly what legislation should prevent.
posted on 21/6/20
comment by FootyMcfootfoot (U21853)
posted 50 minutes ago
It's the awareness and sneaky behaviour that makes this so predatory.
The last star wars battlefront game u bought it, fired it up and straight away darth vader/skywalker (best characters) had to be unlocked by days and days worth of gaming hours...or u could spend real cash to unlock something uve already bought immediately, for a big advantage.
Some companies use loot boxes on a strictly cosmetic basis. This is deemed OK and transparent. It's putting content on the game u already bought behind pay walls, or the best weapons/game mechanics that is both common nowadays and frowned upon.
Parents don't realise this when they buy games. It's hardly clear and the company's prefer it that way..
Loot boxes are being phased out in most IPs so u just buy the 'skin' or character cosmetics u want, instead of just buying and hoping like fifa packs.
There was 2 huge you tubers advertising a site for a game called CSGO. They could put their best weapon skins/camos (rare ones are worth real $) on a wheel like the wheel.of fortune. Where the wheel stops that player scoops everything.
They amazingly made huge amounts of a small deposit and told all their young fans how amazing it was.....
They owned it. It made millions a week.....yeah 🤔
Tech moves fast. Tech scams move faster. This is exactly what legislation should prevent.
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Oh the days of original counter strike ...... Was my favourite game back in the day.
Hate what it has become today.
posted on 21/6/20
Never played pc gaming. Always used my pc for poker but the side effect was I spent copious amounts of time reading online and watching YouTube videos 😅
If u played the og counterstrike you are the type of online wizard that is exactly why I play ps4, not pc gaming lol