Source article: https://www.polygon.com/2018/2/27/17057978/esrb-loot-crate-box-in-game-purchases-label
The ESRB, paying lip service to the controversy surrounding loot boxes, is going to apply an incredibly broad “in-game purchases” label to games that offer additional content for cash.
So… that’ll be most of them, right?
You told them so. EDIT. Gotta love that Negan is in the screenshot.
2 videos in a day? This isn’t my bday!
Woah
“Surprise items” has the same veil of silliness around it as “pride and accomplishment”. Ludicrous.
That is…just a horrible idea. Like, there will be fewer games releasing per year without the label. This will accomplish nothing.
I hope no gov members stop the push now. We finally got these companys on the ropes with their scummy practices lets keep the push going. We cant let these companys continue to grow our society’s children and vulnerable adults in to walking wallets! We need to show we wont allow the game industry to take advantage of those with some sort of addiction problem or those too young to be able to make informed decisions.
I don’t understand how children could be spending money on this kind of shit without their parents knowing? How bad of a parent must you be if your child can spend lots of money on microtransactions? Surely any half decent parent has passwords in place to stop its offspring from going beserk in (in-game) online stores??
Rating M for Lootboxes is what is needed
With all the talk about the ESRB/ESA asking gamers to help them push back against government regulation on loot boxes, even though it’s their corporate backers are the one who started the problem in the 1st place & turned a blind eye resolving the issue on their end, I think it’s proper to return the favor in kind.
Yes, because this definitely stopped kids from doing the same thing in the mobile market.
“We believe loot boxes are fun way to acquire items.” Yeah….it’s always so much fun to not get the thing I wanted when I paid money for it. Just like it’s such a rush to see all those fucking mana/land cards in a magic the gathering booster pack. It’s so much fun to continually get the shit items everyday while emptying your wallet.
Purely lip service, does nothing to educate the consumers at all, thanks for calling this out.
What!?! They didn’t go with “Player Choice Inside” as the box literature? I like the “surprise rewards” bit tho. Thats code for those gambleboxes.
So let me get this straight, the ESRB acknowledges that they need to do something about loot boxes and is planning on pushing a campaign to better inform parents about them yet still holds the position that there’s absolutely no problem with them and that they aren’t harmful to children and are fun? The ESRB is one of the most useless organizations ever, back when they were first formed they actually did what they were supposed to in order to keep the government from regulating the industry whereas nowadays they just exist to protect the corporations.
We can’t stop pushing untill at the VERY LEAST every kind of lootbox automatically earns the game an automatic 18+ rating. Any action below that is just PR and has zero effect. This isn’t even nearly enough. This is the equivalent of selling guns but now before you sell a gun you tell everyone “Oh and be carefull or you could shoot someone” before selling it. It’s pointless and does absolutely nothing. I mean this struggle is a marathon and the ESRB has just taken it’s first step over the starting line. If they call it quits now everyone will laugha t them like that fat kid in PE that always failed every test.
If the state legislators are statisfied with this and call it quits now then fuck them, then i’m willing to believe they’re in on this scam, and EA just issued a pretty pension check for those legislators. This doesn’t even begin to be nearly enough.
I am genuinely trying to do less loot box videos but… Christ, the “AAA” industry gives me too much to work with.
I proposed a few days ago in “What Should Video Games Cost” that there should be a specific labeling system for each game mechanic clearly labeled on the box just like the age rating by the ESRB. This current move by the ESRB is bland, broad, and quite frankly… pathetic. The ESRB has to get their act together and do better.