As loot boxes come under pressure in the EU,
will Ireland be the next country to ban them? Follow this article to learn more
about what’s causing the loot box controversy and how Ireland builds its
relationship with the phenomenon.
What’s a loot box
If you’re not into gaming, you may not even
know what a loot box is. If you don’t know that, it may be hard to understand
why would anyone want to ban something from a video game. Here’s a quick
synopsis.
When you think of a video game, you probably
think about buying it in a store or downloading through services like Steam or
EpicGames. You have to pay upfront to play it, regardless of whether it is
single or multiplayer.
However, there are quite a lot of games that
don’t require you to pay before you start playing. They’re known as
free-to-play games. But every game is a product that has to earn money.
These free-to-play games are monetized by
in-game purchases. You can pay real money to buy in-game currency and purchase
items from the store. More often than not, these items are purely cosmetic and
don’t impact the gameplay. Still, many people choose to pay money for them, as
high as $20 a piece in some cases.
Naturally, some people don’t want to pay that
much for a cosmetic item. Here’s where loot boxes come in. A loot box contains
an item from the shop that can be useless or very rare. You get loot boxes
either after some time spent in the game or after completing a mission.
The outcome of the box is always random, so
you don’t know what you get after you open it. If the item you got from a free
loot box is underwhelming, there’s always the choice to buy another box for a
low price.
Now, that’s a textbook definition of gambling. In many cases, these loot boxes open with a flashy animation, just like a slot game spin in Mr Green casino.
Source: Blizzardwatch
Belgium, the US, and others
All of this led to Belgium banning loot boxes in early 2018. The Netherlands were soon to follow.
As these two countries spoke out against the
malicious practices of gaming companies, more governments around the world took
notice. The UK soon created a commission to look closer into the legal status
of loot boxes.
In early 2019, the US government pushed for
loot box ban that can destroy a lucrative opportunity for many in a country
where gambling was illegal. Now that more and more states consider making
online gambling legal, the market can switch.
However, there’s a problem with loot boxes.
Each game has its own system for them, so a cover ban is impossible. This means
the authorities have to look into each game, which makes the administrative
cost of regulations really high.
Ireland and loot boxes
Soon after the original loot box controversy
broke out in 2018, Ireland investigated the issue and stated that this practice
is within the law. The regulators didn’t find that loot boxes could be
considered gambling.
Now, there’s another push from the parliament
to investigate the issue once again. The Minister of State commented that if an
investigation finds a certain practice to be gambling in nature, the company
that conducts it has to acquire a license.
This can be a step towards making loot boxes in video games more transparent. What the Ministry has in mind is fairer than issuing a ban. People who play the game have the right to know there’s an element of gambling in it.
