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Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge84xqjg5lo
82•gostsamo•4h ago

Comments

nba456_•1h ago
I never understood why video game lootboxes get regulated while real-life lootboxes like pokemon cards don't.
benoau•1h ago
Because in real life the store clerk won't let a child spend $1000 on their parents card making purchases again and again and again and again and again, but a video game will let a child do it in less than an hour and consider that a success and try to understand how to stimulate another child to do so.
steele•1h ago
This is the same argument Valve is presenting.
gmadsen•50m ago
Physicality. You don’t even own digital games, let alone cosmetics for your digital game license.
rincebrain•43m ago
(Opinions my own, naturally.)

I think they're right, really.

Obviously you need to require enough friction that the experiences are comparable (e.g. no letting someone impulse buy 100 times in half a second without having to re-type their "I am an adult" payment info or something analogous, possibly just a hard ceiling for everyone), but I don't think you can ban everything that touches the same sharp edge, and you can't mandate that parents teach their kids how to handle it.

So I think the best you can do is put hard limits on people's ability to hurt themselves without at least an "are you really sure" check, and maybe something like not allowing cash in the exchange without adult verification so the kids might, at worst, gamble their FunBux they earned playing a game and get burned on having lost a lot of FunBux, rather than their or their parents' cash. (This doesn't stop parents from giving their kids their credit card, but that's not really a problem you can solve...)

mikkupikku•1h ago
Those are gambling too, and were criticize as such not just now but also when they were new (but people ignored that criticism because pokemon was hype and adults complaining about trendy things are always uncool and ignored.)
idiotsecant•1h ago
When you buy a pokemon card at least you get a card
teeray•1h ago
There’s something to be said about the visibility of gambling as a signal to people that someone may have a problem. Gambling on your phone just looks like being on your phone. It even improves access to the addiction. Needing to go to a casino looks a lot different, provides some friction, and could spur intervention. The same could be said about loot boxes vs buying Pokemon cards in a store.
jayd16•36m ago
I will say card packs are somewhat useful for drafting formats where you need a sealed pack of random unknown cards.

Just ripping packs hurts my soul. What a waste.

djtango•35m ago
Pokemon cards are addictive and fun but they're kind of analogue. Loot boxes are more like slot machines - they have flashing lights, animations and jingles to hook you in deeper. And because the lootboxes are in game they can be tuned in frequency and payout just right to keep you playing in a way boring cards could never be (beyond just boring probabilities)
dietr1ch•20m ago
Idk about pokemon cards, but I'm sure the wotc guys use something to make sniffing newly opened packs addicting.
smelendez•6m ago
That’s funny. I don’t think I’ve opened a pack of Magic cards in about 25 years and I can still remember the smell.
TheAceOfHearts•28m ago
Pokemon cards have gone full circle, GameStop now has an online service where you can gamble on cards digitally just like lootboxes. You buy a roll at different price points to win a PSA graded card from a set of probabilities, and then you can sell it back for 90% market value to GameStop or have them ship it to you.

The proliferation of gambling over so many domains has radicalized me against it in a way that I didn't think would've been possible a few years ago.

EQmWgw87pw•28m ago
Because neither loot boxes nor Pokémon cards are actually that addicting. There is no strong link to actual gambling and these mechanics. The reason loot boxes get regulated at all is because people simply don’t like them, and they scream the loudest for someone to fix it. Very bad precedent.
yacin•1h ago
should probably just ban gambling for children but seems like a good first step.
mikkupikku•1h ago
Do they let 16 year olds gamble in casinos in Europe? Odd to ban it for kids but only some kids.
idiotsecant•1h ago
Pretty much all of Europe is 18-21.
pdpi•42m ago
If you're forbidding people from doing things they could do yesterday, it's best to be a little conservative with your scope.

16-yo kids might do some amount of part time work, and should at least have enough of a concept of money to understand why pressing the "more loot boxes" button is a Bad Idea. They're also old enough that they might potentially have their own bank account and their own card, which then caps the damages to their allowance.

charcircuit•19m ago
That would require extra work to pass more legislation which has a chance to fail. I think it's better to do it all once instead of having to revisit the issue every couple years.
tjpnz•17m ago
So what's the issue then? The minimum is 16 - or are you proposing kids 15 and younger have the right to gamble?
hsuduebc2•1h ago
Ok, so we all agreed that it is gambling. But for some reason we let kids gamble but only after they reach sixteen? This feels weird.
tjpnz•21m ago
Brain development of a 16 year old is at least further along than a 13 year old.
Twirrim•13m ago
I guess it's not gambling, or it'd be covered by the UKs existing laws around gambling that set the minimum age to 18.
erxam•49m ago
Okay? How will this actually change anything?

I don't think I have ever paid attention to a single age rating in my entire life. Does anyone do outside of fundamentalist parents who wouldn't let kids play most video games anyways?

Very spiritually European move.

What regulators should do is focus on easily applicable percentage-based fines. Make sure it's not just another line item.

cortesoft•26m ago
Well, this is going along with all the new requirements for companies to actually verify ages, so it won't be up to the parents.
hedora•27m ago
I wish they'd add mandatory labeling. I'm over 16 and have no interest in games with loot boxes.
koshergweilo•19m ago
I feel like labeling is probably the best approach here. While I personally hate the business model of "Gatcha" type games and wouldn't mind if we banned lot boxes, it is a model does seem to work for a lot of people.

I also think the odds should also be not only disclosed, but made prominent

duskwuff•12m ago
> "Gatcha" type games

Typically spelled "gacha", although I have to admit that "gotcha" seems apt.

rkagerer•13m ago
Loot boxes are an in-game feature allowing players to buy random mystery items with real or virtual currency

That's not how I use the term. I think of a loot box as a treasure chest or similar that you discover while exploring which, when opened, gives you some loot!

On the other hand if you're talking about a package with a random assortment of stuff in it that you buy without knowing what's inside, I call that a "grab bag" or "mystery bundle".

Am I too old? What games were primarily responsible for changing the vocabulary?

zeta0134•4m ago
I started seeing this term come up everywhere when Overwatch first released. The common usage is much closer to mystery bundles as you describe, and regulators tend to be upset about them when real money gets involved. It feels an awful lot kind gambling at that point.

1M context is now generally available for Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6

https://claude.com/blog/1m-context-ga
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Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge84xqjg5lo
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