Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican representing Missouri, seeks to put a Federal Ban on Microtransactions, and Loot Boxes - GOP Senator to fight Games Industry

[Poiseon]

Senator to introduce legislation banning video game 'loot boxes,' 'pay to win' features

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley said he will introduce legislation calling for the ban of 'pay to win' and 'loot box' features in video games.

www.usatoday.com

A federal lawmaker wants to introduce legislation that would ban "pay to win" practices and "loot boxes" from all video games.

In a statement released Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican representing Missouri, said video games offering these systems are preying on user addiction, particularly among children.

"When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction," said Hawley in a statement. "And when kids play games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive microtransactions."

Hawley cited the mobile game "Candy Crush Saga," a free-to-play puzzle game where users can make small purchases called microtransactions to earn additional in-game items. The model is commonly used among most of the top mobile games available.

The senator also called out the use of "loot boxes," a collection of random rewards players earn in free and paid games. Hawley said the boxes combine "the addictive properties of pay-to-win with the compulsive behavior inherent in other forms of gambling."


In a statement obtained by USA TODAY, the Entertainment Software Association said several countries including Ireland, Australia and the United Kingdom have all determined "loot boxes" don't qualify as gambling.

"We look forward to sharing with the senator the tools and information the industry already provides that keeps the control of in-game spending in parents’ hands," said Stanley Pierre-Louis, acting president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, in a statement. "Parents already have the ability to limit or prohibit in-game purchases with easy to use parental controls."

Last year, the Belgium Gaming Commission declared loot boxes illegal under the nation's gambling laws, reported the BBC, requiring game developers to remove any boxes players could acquire using real money.

Although the practice of microtransactions is common among free-to-play mobile games, the system has crept into paid console games, which has sometimes led to backlash.

Two years ago, publisher Electronic Arts introduced several changes to "Star Wars Battlefront II" after users complained over how players are incentivized to earn in-game content. Many players were concerned it would encourage a "pay to play" dynamic where players who spent money held a greater advantage.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

If this gets any momentum the AAA Industry will fight this tooth and nail.

 

[Marissa Moira]

This would fuck Bethesda so hard and many other large developers that they would pretty much be forced to make single player games, since ALWAYS ONLINE e-sports will be brought down by this as well.


Do it.

 

[The Last Stand]

Put Senator Hawley's picture up in the Gaming Hall of Fame.

Although, I hope this extends into the majority of AAA games, not just T and under rated games.

 

[Poiseon]

Put Senator Hawley's picture up in the Gaming Hall of Fame.

Although, I hope this extends into the majority of AAA games, not just T and under rated games.

Based and red-pilled, Trump supporter, Endorsed by NRA. These are the new Republicans. Fucking bizarre, but welcome.

 

[break these cuffs]

Did any bills like this get introduced when the CS:GO debacle came to a head? If there was any time to introduce it, it would have been riding the media wave of that. I remember news stories about 11 year olds losing thousands of dollars of their parents money and getting diagnosed with gambling addictions. The situation was ripe for some kneejerk bills to get pushed through. I don't know that this will gain any traction.

GabeN Buy more hats GabeN

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

On one hand: YES OH GOD YES HAWLEY PLEASE BE THE CHEMO TO THIS FUCKING CANCER
On the other: I really don't want the government getting involved with this

 

[Billy_Sama]

At least Republicans are doing better things for video games better than the left only caring for quotas for diversity and gender.

 

[Marissa Moira]

On one hand: YES OH GOD YES HAWLEY PLEASE BE THE CHEMO TO THIS FUCKING CANCER
On the other: I really don't want the government getting involved with this

lol it got this bad because the government got involved in the first place without fully understanding.

Why the fuck do you think your software rights were eroded?

 

[Poiseon]

On one hand: YES OH GOD YES HAWLEY PLEASE BE THE CHEMO TO THIS FUCKING CANCER
On the other: I really don't want the government getting involved with this

It is extremely weird, but I actually think intervention in this case is warranted. I worry gov't getting involved in anything, as it's always a clusterfuck, but I hope this works and is widely supported.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

lol it got this bad because the government got involved in the first place without fully understanding.

Why the fuck do you think your software rights were eroded?

Likely because Microsoft et al have a crapton of politicians in their pocket via lobbying. I mean, yeah, I know getting the government involved is exceptional. About the only thing I ever liked about Reagan was the joke "The scariest thing a person can hear is 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'".

MTX and shit need to fucking DIE though. It's not "I need to be saved from myself", it's "I do not want this to become a common enough practice that a game I might otherwise like is riddled with them".

 

[The Last Stand]

On one hand: YES OH GOD YES HAWLEY PLEASE BE THE CHEMO TO THIS FUCKING CANCER
On the other: I really don't want the government getting involved with this

Then the gaming industry should regulate itself. As with the case with Mortal Kombat II & Night Trap.

 

[Billy_Sama]

Virgin Joe Liebermen Vs Chad Josh Hawley.

 

[Poiseon]

Then the gaming industry should regulate itself. As with the case with Mortal Kombat II & Night Trap.

That's like saying the food industry should regulate itself. A little bit of regulation is fine, and very helpful. Like making sure the guy making your food has to bathe, and wash his hands, and if he doesn't the store will be punished.

The games industry has been really fucking corrupt for years now. Besthesda ALONE has committed enough anti-FTC crimes with just Fallout 76 to justify the company being broken up. Capitalism is a very different thing from Corporatism.

 

[The Last Stand]

A little bit of regulation is fine, and very helpful. Like making sure the guy making your food has to bathe, and wash his hands, and if he doesn't the store will be punished.

I agree. Thanks for clarifying my muddy point. The way microtransactions have developed into full priced games is asisine and I'm happy something is being done about it.

Capitalism is a very different thing from Corporatism.

How so?

 

[Ghost of Wesley Willis]

Did any bills like this get introduced when the CS:GO debacle came to a head? If there was any time to introduce it, it would have been riding the media wave of that. I remember news stories about 11 year olds losing thousands of dollars of their parents money and getting diagnosed with gambling addictions. The situation was ripe for some kneejerk bills to get pushed through. I don't know that this will gain any traction.

GabeN Buy more hats GabeN

It'd be funny if that happened, because then valve would be forced to actually make a new game.

 

[Poiseon]

I agree. Thanks for clarifying my muddy point. The way microtransactions have developed into full priced games is asisine and I'm happy something is being done about it.

How so?

Capitalism, on the whole, is a massive competition between competing companies, or individuals, selling good and or producing said goods in the free market. Corporatism is kind of like the negative end of the spectrum. Like how the Left has the crazy commies on the far end, and the Right has it's Bible thumpers and Nazis. Think of massive, unstoppable corporations that crush their competition through price fixing, negative ad campaigns, illegal practices and sometimes brute force. Think of the age of unregulated business after the Civil war to the Theodore Roosevelt era. Each little Enclave in the economy having the power to do what they want with nothing or little to stop them.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

Industry self-regulation requires that SOMEONE be holding a figurative gun to their heads. Ideally this would be consumers and shareholders. The question is, are we looking at industries and companies that are properly scared of their consumers and shareholders?

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Well this is a fuckin' weird one. I'm passingly familiar with Hawley, and he never struck me as anything more than a fairly boring, constitution focused lawyer type Republican.

Now I have to decide which one I hate more: Government intervention, or lootboxes.

 

[RG 448]

The priority should be online-only games who’ve shut down their servers but refuse to release their shit to the public domain, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Looked at another way, this could also be seen as a massive tax dodge. Gambling profits are taxed differently from profits made via the production of a good or service, and for very good reasons. A Casino does not function the same way a factory does. It does not add market value. It simply redistributes existing market value elsewhere. The government chooses to tolerate Casinos so long as they get a significant share of the income redistribution that can be put to other uses besides buying a new gold plated ferrari for the lucky idiot that owns the Casino.

Lootboxes without question function the exact same way as Casinos in the market. Nothing is added to the market. They simply suck up existing capital and redistribute it. Into the bank accounts of the Casino...I mean, the Game Company. There was no way in hell the Government was going to ignore this indefinitely. This is a huge pot of untaxed gambling revenue, and its sleezy as all hell. Applying the same rules to randomized micro transactions that apply to slot machines doesn't extend government reach. It simply applies existing laws to where they are needed.