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Federal Trade Commission Chairman Pledges to Investigate Video Game Loot Boxes
Federal Trade Commission chairman Joseph Simons on Tuesday said he would investigate video game loot boxes to ensure that children are being protected and parents are educated on the matter.
Simons testified Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security about the commission's work. Following his testimony, a number of senators asked Simons questions on an array of topics.
Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), who brought up the issue of loot boxes in video games earlier this year, asked the FTC to launch the investigation and Simons confirmed he would.
The request comes about nine months after Hassan sent a letter to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board asking for the group to review the ratings process as it relates to loot boxes, examine the marketing of loot boxes to children, and put together best practices for developers around the toxic form of microtransactions. The senator also asked the board to conduct a study that further delves into the reach and impact of loot boxes in games. At the time, she said if they didn't take sufficient action she would ask the FTC to get involved.
"In video games, a loot box (sometimes loot crate or prize crate, among other names) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomized selection of further virtual items, ranging from simple customization options for a player's avatar or character, to game-changing equipment such as weapons and armor. A loot box is typically a form of monetization, with players either buying the boxes directly or receiving the boxes during play and later buying "keys" with which to redeem them."
Related: Belgium Moving to Ban "Loot Boxes" Throughout Europe, Hawaii Could Restrict Sale to Minors
Are Loot Boxes in Games a Violation of Gambling Laws?
Video Game Loot Boxes are now Considered Criminal Gambling in Belgium
Mobile Gaming is Dominant in the Marketplace / Blame Loot Boxes
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:01PM (13 children)
They pay real money to buy virtual items. They program using Ruby on Rails. They have several dozen genders. They dye their hair pink and have tattoos like sideshow freaks.
How much longer do we have to wait until a less ridiculous generation emerges?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:06PM
Sometime after the nuclear fallout settles.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:31PM (1 child)
Thankfully less stupid than the previous generations.
"You're gay/black/brown get curb stomped!"
"Environmental regulations? Pfffft."
"Who needs to plan for the future, buncha hippy talk!"
"Racism stopped after the Civil War!"
"Muh cheeto bandeeto"
Yeah, uh huh, millenials are the most ridiculous. Bell bottoms, greasy hair, wearing pants that give you a perma-wedgie, the list goes on. Every generation is seems ridiculous to the older ones because people tend to only pay attention to extremes.
I'll take any combo of ridiculous fads over being a hateful little prick like you XOXOXO
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:40PM
All those things you listed were addressed by the much hated baby boom generation. It takes more than a single generation to change.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:36PM (2 children)
.
I don't believe there is actually any kind of limit at this point.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday November 30 2018, @03:14PM (1 child)
Some cultures count by saying none, one, two, or many. Don't knock it.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Friday November 30 2018, @10:48PM
I hard that from my father when I was a kid. I never actually checked if it was true or not. I wouldn't be surprised if he heard it from his to.
.
.
.
SO i went and checked. It is totally true of several primitive cultures, although hardly the norm.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:45PM (1 child)
Every generation has had its dumpster fires, its just recently we've been celebrating, encouraging, and generally giving them more visibility.
It is somewhat despicable behavior in that in the old days baiting the class misfit or degenerate to encourage them to make more of a fool out of themselves was generally frowned upon and shunned as being unkind; although now a days we call it highly profitable monetized social media and strongly encourage it. Sometimes the good old days really were better, at least in terms of this aspect of human interaction.
The other side of the coin is this generation is more honest. "Back when I was a kid" a dumpster fire of a person usually visually fit in both appearance and behavior, although they weren't more or less trashier than the current crop of dumpster fires. They, uh, don't blend in, not anymore. Which is more honest in general and also provides a good easily visible warning for normal people. Hundreds of years ago we had "The Scarlet Letter" nearing a century ago we had folks forced to wear yellow stars, now we got the twatter blue checkmark, history does kinda repeat.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:12PM
As evidenced by the current state of the US the "normal people" are the real freaks. Little independent thought and lots of stupidity. The "dumpster fire of a person" is more often than not the popular crowd engaging in class persecution and other sociopath behaviors.
I guess that sums you up, "they're different than me omg run run ruuunnnnn!" Explains your racism and other shitty attitudes pretty well, though I'm sure you appear "normal".
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:57PM
The Federal Reserve has analyzed the situation: it's because they're so poor.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 30 2018, @12:23AM
I liked ruby on rails, very legible code. I switched to web2py because you have far less maintenance and the right amount of base functionality for the kind of web apps I need. Uglier looking syntax, but one can live with it.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday November 30 2018, @04:25PM (1 child)
millennials ain't got nothin' on politicians.
Imagine: OMG! There needs to be a law against in game loot boxes! Kids could be hiding drugs in there where police would be unable to find them! The sky is felon! Think of the childrens! OMG the intarweb tubes!
Would a Dyson sphere [soylentnews.org] actually work?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday November 30 2018, @04:26PM
Oh, and your kids could be doing PHP in high school and you might not know it!
Would a Dyson sphere [soylentnews.org] actually work?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday November 30 2018, @06:49PM
How much longer do we have to wait until a less ridiculous generation emerges?
Well, first of all the millennials are almost 40 now...
But one thing that will never go away is old people complaining about "the kids these days."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:06PM (3 children)
One can only hope that "loot boxes" will be regulated as gambling.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:53PM (1 child)
The only technical distinction I've heard distinguishing loot boxes from gambling is that the virtual reward you receive isn't technically cash (a specious distinction, the rewards have value or you wouldn't gamble for them).
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Informative) by requerdanos on Friday November 30 2018, @03:25PM
Some states specifically outlaw virtual rewards in video games as a specious distinction, probably because that's a means by which video poker machines and slot machines once avoided existing laws by not having payout bins - the player would rack up his loot as credits for "free play" and then a clerk would pay out the cash value of the credits and zero the machine, often by wired remote control behind the counter.
From South Carolina [scstatehouse.gov], for example, emphasis added:
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:48PM
Hopefully, we'll greatly curb the regulations on all gambling. It's insane that this is even an issue in the first place.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday November 29 2018, @10:48PM (4 children)
Monetizers gotta monetize; the assumption is whatever replaces loot boxes will be better than the status quo; I donno about that, not too optimistic.
My guess is short term we're looking at something like the 80s video game crash being repeated. Indie already overproduced and crashed / is crashing, AAA big studio and mobile next to crash. My question is what will be the modern equivalent of landfills full of bulldozed ET Atari 2600 cartridges?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Thursday November 29 2018, @11:19PM (1 child)
Independent doesn't mean bad, it's just there's a lot of junk that rolls in as well. Some of the best games ever produced are indie games or were produced by small studios. AAA studios weren't always AAA studios and I would say some have definitely downgraded in quality, if indeed AAA stands for quality games.
What seems to be happening here, is MBA style decisions in milking the customers for all they're worth.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 30 2018, @12:31AM
I don't get it. If you want to play, do play something where skill and not money ensures victory. Anything else would royally piss me off. If you want to waste time, play some solitaire.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday November 30 2018, @02:56PM
Well then thank goodness for good ol' imagination. I have played a lot of video games in my time, and far prefer it to sitting passively in front of a TV screen watching a sitcom or somesuch. I have very fond memories of the Grand Theft Auto series, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, and others. But things have seemed to have hit a wall with the current generation of MBA-driven decisions at the big studios, so I have been dusting off my old AD&D books and modules and getting back into it with my kids.
There's no limit to pastimes that involve the imagination and creativity like those old RPGs did. Also, it really doesn't cost any money to play them--PDFs of all the rule books, character sheets, and such all exist online. Buy a set of dice (or dig the set you had as a kid out of storage) and away you go.
It would not be a bad thing for everyone to walk away from mass entertainment for a generation to shake out all the MBA types. Then the ones left would be those who truly love it, who live and breathe it, to rule again and bring on a second Renaissance.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday November 30 2018, @03:29PM
Hard Drives and SSDs full of bulldozed bits? Web sites that are suddenly 404 or the server does not respond?
More to the point: That Darth-Vader-Grip DRM [defectivebydesign.org] required for you to play the game that you "bought" not working anymore and taking the game, and your money, down with it.
Seriously, that DRM is a non-starter.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Fnord666 on Friday November 30 2018, @01:17PM
This is the crux of the matter and in many games this statement is simply not true. Too many games have become "pay to win" and the rewards from loot crates can have a material impact on the outcome of the game/match.