Hawaii has introduced 4 bills that prohibit the sale of games with loot boxes to anyone under 21, force publishers to disclose odds

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Started by Legend, Feb 13, 2018, 08:34 PM

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the-pi-guy

The ESA responds to Hawaii's loot box regulation proposals | ResetEra

 
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Update (14/02/18): In response to an inquiry from GamesIndustry.biz, a spokesperson from the Entertainment Software Association defended the industry's record on self-regulation, and drew attention to existing consumer protection systems such as the ESRB classifications and parental controls.Click to expand...
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"As an industry, we take our responsibility to consumers very seriously and continually work to create greater awareness and transparency about the wide range of in-game experiences," said the spokesperson. "We strongly believe that the industry's robust, self-regulatory efforts remain the most effective way to address these important issues, and that system has a proven and long record of doing so. "Some consumers and parents may have questions about how loot boxes work, and ESA has demonstrated a commitment to providing information to guide consumers, especially parents, in their purchase decisions."Click to expand...
Follow up from the state of Hawaii
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Update (15/02/18): Hawaiian state representative Sean Quinlan has affirmed support of his colleague's efforts to "curb the proliferation of gambling mechanics in games that are marketed to children", saying he expects other states to follow Hawaii's lead in the "absence of strong signals from the industry that they will deal with the issue internally". In December last year, Quinlan said that regulation would be a "slippery slope" and that the industry should self-regulate.Click to expand...
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"When I was a teenager, a senator by the name of Joseph Lieberman tried to regulate the content of violent video games," Quinlan told GamesIndustry.biz. "His attempts to conflate video game violence with real world violence did lasting damage to the image of video games and certain publishers. "I want to make it clear that we are only regulating a mechanism, not the content of the game itself. I would hope that any further legislation dealing with video games would similarly only look at particular mechanisms and not content itself. "We live in an age where behavioral psychologists have discovered certain triggers and strategies that are extremely efficient at separating people from their money at a frightening pace. If even mature and intelligent adults are falling victim to these mechanisms, how are kids expected to respond?"Click to expand...
Source: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...duces-landmark-legislation-against-loot-boxes ESA continuing to shift the responsibility to self-regulation, when zero self-regulation is happening. The industry and its current regulation bodies are going to get slammed for this passing the buck and no one doing anything.