At this time, videogames are the most effective form of entertainment by a considerable margin nowadays. With consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, players can enjoy games either at home or on the go. The beginning of the 2010s involved casual games such as Candy Crush, Fruit Ninja, and Angry Birds, to name a few. Before all of this, gamers were seen as a niche audience and were often scrutinized for this hobby. Nowadays, it is rare to come across an individual with an internet-connected device to not have at least one video game. Since this industry’s popularity has only continued to rise, individual companies have released what is referred to as loot boxes. While film producers such as David Guillod have most likely released films with director’s cuts and cut footage, loot boxes are an entirely different situation.
Attracting Unwanted Attention from the Law
For the uninitiated, loot boxes are devices which appear in-game that users can access after paying a specific sum of money. These boxes contain extra content, but the type of content you receive after you pay is entirely random. If this reminds you of your last trip to the casino, you are certainly not far off. While you are guaranteed to receive something from a loot box, you are not likely to obtain what you intended. Loot boxes differ significantly from traditional downloadable content. Downloadable content involves paying for access to material that is not included with the original copy of the game. This practice was also under fire for quite some time because it was determined that a lot of this content was hidden on the disc. Paying to unlock content that was already purchased was not genuine, and the law decided to step in.
In terms of loot boxes, many governments across the world do believe that they resemble forms of gambling. With loot boxes appearing in games that are also children-friendly, this is undoubtedly causing for concern. Parents do not want children exposed to this type of behavior at such an early age when they are supposed to be engaging in child-friendly content.
Removing Loot Boxes
Gamers and governments alike have requested for individual publishers to remove this type of content from games altogether. However, publishers have stood firm and believe loot boxes do not resemble forms of gambling. The winner of this power-struggle remains to be seen, but you can expect something to be done soon before this gets out of hand.