U.S. Senator Introduces Bill To Ban Loot Boxes And Pay-To-Win Microtransactions
https://tinyurl.com/yyphctxt
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) today announced a bill that would ban loot boxes
and pay-to-win microtransactions in “games played by minors,” a broad label
that the senator says will include both games designed for kids under 18 and
games “whose developers knowingly allow minor players to engage in
microtransactions.”
Hawley will introduce the bill, “The Protecting Children from Abusive Games
Act,” to the U.S. Senate soon. In press materials announcing the bill, Hawley
’s team brought up the Activision game Candy Crush as an egregious example
of pay-to-win microtransactions thanks to its $150 “Luscious Bundle” that
comes with a whole bunch of goodies. This bill will also likely apply to a
host of online games that feature loot boxes and other ways in which players
can spend money for real benefits.
“When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to
monetize addiction,” Hawley said in a press release. “And when kids play
games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive
microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children should face
legal consequences.”
Last fall, the Federal Trade Commission promised to investigate loot boxes
following a letter from Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) that she wrote in the
wake of 2017's string of games featuring the heavy usage of predatory
microtransactions, such as Middle-earth: Shadow of War and Star Wars
Battlefront II. Although some companies have pulled back on the practice,
popular games like Overwatch, FIFA, and Apex Legends continue to make big
money off randomized microtransactions. Many of those games are played by
both adults and children.
Hawley, 39, has become known in Washington for criticizing major tech
companies Facebook and Google, often accusing them of anti-conservative bias.
UPDATE (12:18pm): The Entertainment Software Association, the video game
industry lobbyist group, sent over a statement shortly after this bill was
introduced: “Numerous countries, including Ireland, Germany, Sweden,
Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, determined that loot
boxes do not constitute 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. Parents already have the
ability to limit or prohibit in-game purchases with easy to use parental
controls.”
====
美國參議員 Josh Hawley 提案立保護兒童免於惡性遊戲法。
(The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act)
重點在於禁止在未成年人能玩的遊戲中有轉蛋和P2W型微交易。
包含設計給18歲以下小孩玩的遊戲,及故意設計讓未成年玩家可參於微交易的遊戲。
他的聲明中譴責了那些在容許小孩玩的遊戲中通過網癮來獲利的行為。