A US lawmaker has been outlining plans for an anti-loot box law. The proposed law aims to prevent anyone under the age of 21 from purchasing games that allow players to purchase loot boxes. Lawmaker Chris Lee — proceeded to call out games that allowed this.
The issue regarding loot boxes first gained publicity when Belgium's gambling authority launched an investigation against "Star Wars: Battlefront II" and "Overwatch." Both online games allowed players to purchase randomized loot boxes in exchange for cosmetics and useful in-game weapons and characters. Since the items inside the loot boxes were always given randomly and because young teens also played the game, the Belgium gambling authority decided to investigate the loot boxes to check if it was a form of gambling meant to target a younger audience.
The randomized nature of the boxes coupled with the micro-transactions in-game did not sit well with Belgium's gambling authority, and they claimed that the boxes were a threat to minors.
VTM News reported on the issue earlier in November. The Belgium gambling authority mentioned that the game had the potential to pressure teens and children to spend large sums of money on loot boxes and suggested that video games that featured microtransactions involving games of chance should be required to get a permit.
Following the investigations, lawmaker Lee has been calling citizens to action — asking them to contact their state representatives in hopes of having the outline considered.
Lee is not the only one talking about the current loot box dilemma. The gaming commission also rendered some words. According to the board, "Games of chance cannot be compared to any other kind of economic services. They may cause people to become addicted to gambling and cause them to lose a great deal of money. For this reason, some protective measures have been implemented to protect players against these sorts of potential risks."
