A new bill dubbed 鈥淭he Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act鈥� has been introduced in the United States in the attempt to make it illegal for games played by children to utilize functions like loot boxes or pay-to-win microtransactions.
鈥淎 loot box is essentially a little randomized virtual object that someone might buy playing a game,鈥� said Dmitri Williams, associate professor of communications at the University of Southern California on CTV News Channel. 鈥淪o you spend a dollar, five dollars鈥nd you get a box or a thing, and inside it might have something relatively not valuable or something potentially very valuable.鈥�
鈥淭he randomness is sort of the psychology of what makes it exciting, but also is at issue here with the law.鈥�
Williams used the example of ultra-popular game 鈥淔ortnite,鈥� which has over 250 million registered users, to illustrate the appeal of the loot box, which may contain rare weapons or skins (costumes and designs the player鈥檚 character can wear) that are 鈥渄esirable to the players.鈥�
Fortnite, like many popular games, is free to play. Game companies make money through 鈥渕icrotransactions鈥� during gameplay, such players buying a loot box or purchasing a 24 hour 鈥渦nlimited lives鈥� booster, allowing them continuous play time even after they fail a level.
Williams suspects that the major difficulty facing this bill is enforcement, especially in a free market environment like Canada and the United States.
Williams cites other countries with stricter political and social structures that have seen successful enactment of similar legislation, such as China.
鈥淐hina is the largest video game market in the world, and they have, of course, much more institutional state control possibility there as opposed to the more free market things that we have in the West,鈥� said Williams.
鈥淭hey have simply said 鈥榶ou must do this鈥� and therefore all the systems comply. It would be tougher to pull off in the regulatory environment we have in the U.S. and Canada.鈥�
Williams said the bill is 鈥減ractically impossible鈥� to enforce right now, but in the future, games might require users to log in using a 鈥渂iometric scan or specific ID鈥� to ensure rules are followed.
