Loot The Children: The Need To Regulate Predatory Loot Box Mechanics In Video Games That Target Young Audiences

• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Author: Shiddhartha Uddin
• Date: 01 October 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12615

LOOT THE CHILDREN: THE NEED TO REGULATE PREDATORY

LOOT BOX MECHANICS IN VIDEO GAMES THAT TARGET

YOUNG AUDIENCES

Shiddhartha Uddin

Loot box mechanics have become a mainstay in many video games targeted toward young audiences. These loot boxes are

reminiscent of gambling, like casino slot machines. The player may use real-world currency to purchase a virtual item that

dispenses randomized in-game items. Video game publishers employ numerous methods to make these loot boxes enticing to

a young audience. Loot boxes have been linked to problem gambling habits. To protect adolescents from these predatory

practices, federal legislation that prohibits loot box practices in video games deemed suitable for adolescents is necessary.

Key Points For The Family Court Community

Loot boxes are expected to become a Fifty billion dollar annual industry by 2022.

Loot boxes are increasingly prevalent in video games that are deemed suitable for adolescents. Many popular games

on the market contain loot box mechanics.

Adolescents are particularly susceptible to loot box mechanics due to their stage of cognitive development.

There is a significant relationship between players who pay for loot boxesand problem gambling habits.

Currently, there is no federal legislation that addresses the issue.

Keywords: ESRB; Gambling Addiction in Children; Gameplay; In-Game Items; Loot Boxes; Microtransactions; Monetization;

Online; Randomized Rewards; Video Game Publishers; Video Games.

I. INTRODUCTION

When he checked his monthly credit card bill, Jeremy Hillman was shocked to find that Microsoft

had charged him a total of $4,500.

1

Initially, Mr. Hillman thought that it must have been an error and

he began to angrily rant about the charges.

2

However, after Mr. Hillman heard his thirteen-year old son

“meekly call out for his mother from his bedroom,”Mr. Hillman knew there was “clearly another

explanation.”

3

Jeremy learned that his son purchased several “players packs”in a soccer simulation

video game, FIFA 15.

4

In FIFA 15, players packs are in-game items that “contain a random assortment”of soccer

players that the video game player can use in-game.

5

Real world currency can be spent to purchase

an in-game currency, called “FIFA Coins,”which can then be exchanged for the players packs.

6

Jeremy’s credit card information was attached to his son’s Xbox Live account from when he pur-

chased the game for his son.

7

His son was able to purchase multiple players packs, worth over a

$100 each, because Jeremy had forgotten to delete the credit card information from the account.

8

Jeremy says that his son “became addicted to the game, spending $100 was as easy as clicking a

button.”

9

These FIFA players packs are a quintessential type of video game microtransactions called

loot boxes.

10

Jeremy’s son is far from the only adolescent vi ctim of loot box microtransaction mechanics in

video games.

11

Numerous other adolescents have spent thousands of dollars on video game loot

boxes, including children as young as seven years old.

12

Researchers suggest that loot boxes may

Corresponding: email: suddinfcr@gmail.com

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 59 No. 4, October 2021 870–885, doi: 10.1111/fcre.12615

© 2021 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

be a “gateway to problem gambling.”

13

This is especially concerning given that other psychological

studies show that adolescents are “particularly susceptible to problem gambling.”

14

To address these

concerns, this Note proposes a model statute to be implemented by the federal government.

15

Part II of this Note provides a working definition of video game microtransactions and loot

boxes. Part III of this Note provides a historical overview of loot boxes in video games. Part IV of

this Note discusses the scientific studies linking loot boxes to the potential development of problem

gambling in adolescents. Part V proposes the model statute that addresses the loot box problem.

Part VI discusses the anticipated counterarguments to the proposed statute. Part VII provides a brief

summation to this Note.

II. DEFINITIONS OF MICROTRANSACTIONS AND LOOT BOXES

A. WHAT ARE VIDEO GAME MICROTRANSACTIONS?

Microtransactions are “financial transactions for a digital good or service.”

16

In terms of video

games, a digital good or service may consist of special abilities, additional gameplay content, addi-

tional playable characters, etc.

17

Video game microtransactions should not be confused with the

purchase of the video game itself.

18

Rather, most video game microtransactions are additional pur-

chases after the player has already purchased the base game.

19

1. The In-Game Item Microtransaction Model

There are various kinds of microtransaction models.

20

For instance, Bethesda Softworks’“Horse

Armor DLC”(“DLC”stands for “Downloadable Content”) is an example of an “In-Game Item”

model of microtransaction.

21

The in-game item microtransaction model “encompasses mainly

gameplay relevant ‘upgrades’attainable in exchange for real-life currency.”

22

2. The Virtual Currency Microtransaction Model

Microtransaction models can also encompass in-game, virtual currencies.

23

Virtual currency is a

“medium of exchange that operates like a currency in some environments,”such as in a video game

environment, “but does not have all the attributes of real currency.”

24

Virtual currencies in video

games can be purchased through real currency.

25

However, virtual currencies “do[] not have legal

tender status in any jurisdiction.”

26

For example, in the game Star Wars Battlefront II, the player can purchase additional items, such

as additional costumes for playable characters.

27

To purchase an additional costume for a playable

character, the player can use an in-game virtual currency call ed “Crystals.”

28

Crystals must, in turn,

be purchased through real currency.

29

3. The Expiration Microtransaction Model

Another category of microtransactions is known as the “Expiration”model.

30

The Expiration

model allows the player to purchase “items with a limited time duration that can speed up their pro-

gress”in the game.

31

After the item’s time duration expires, the player must purchase it again to

benefit from its effects.

32

To illustrate, the ever-popular mobile game, Candy Crush Saga, initially gives players five

“lives.”

33

Once the player exhausts all their lives, they will be unable to play the game for thirty

minutes.

34

After waiting thirty minutes, the game will grant one life back to the player, at which

point the player can continue playing.

35

However, if the player does not want to wait thirty minutes

to play, the player can “speed up their progress”

36

by purchasing additional lives and playing again

Uddin/VIDEO GAMES THAT TARGET YOUNG AUDIENCES 871