to ask you not to let your children buy in-game "lootboxes"

[Nimbostratus100]

These are in-game purchases, when you spend money on a closed box, and take a chance on what you end up with.

It is against the law for children to gamble, yet these in-game purchases are gambles, and gambling alters the brain, and addiction is a very real possibility as children's brains acclimatise to gambling from such a young age.

They become addicted to the thrill of exchanging money for a probability

These are very harmful. Please dont let your child get ensnared by these - they are even in games such as Fifa, and in games marketed as suitable for children as young as 4.

I dont know why these are not illegal for children. They should be

I agree it's a marketing ploy, but not sure how it's much different to all the others we've been bombarded with for decades. I'm not sure how many gambling addicts have been created from kids eating happy meals.

It is not classed as gambling as the loot is confined to the game only, and can not be exchanged for real world items or cash.

I don't "blindly believe everything I read"

I am speaking from experience as a teacher working with gambling charities, seeing the devastation in young lives first hand, and seeing the research

That’s down to the parent to monitor 👍

I agree - it’s not the same as a Kinder Egg as everything you get will be the same perceived value to within a similar margin. Even if a child gets a “better” toy than their friend they never hit the jackpot and get something worth £100 and also never get anything utterly valueless. That’s the gamble. “Winning” something high value in a loot box will activate the same brain areas as winning at gambling. Nothing you could ever get in a Happy Meal or Kinder Egg will do that as they’re all essentially the same “prize”.

I suspect that for any young person for whom lootboxes start an addiction are predisposed regardless and would just as easily be triggered by happy meals, kinder eggs, or school fair games.

I mean we know there are people who are addicted to all sorts of things that the average person can handle just fine including: food, sex, shopping, etc.

My kids know that we don't spend real money on virtual goods.

Having said that, I have, on very rare occasions (generally something like the start of the summer holidays), let them buy a season pass to a game they're obsessed with - but that's less than the fingers on one hand, because, the rule is that real money should buy real things.

I have to agree about loot boxes - it's a tombola. It's worse than using real money to buy a skin, it's using real money to buy a raffle ticket.

They're no financial gain for the child. The exact same as a school raffle.

Actual gambling yes you have a point. But I think you're clutching at straws here a bit. What's next, ban pass the parcel? That's taking a gamble on whether you'll be the lucky one holding the gift when the music stops.

Bloody hell absolutely ban pass the parcel. Worst party game ever...

I am shocked so many people on here are not more clued up about their dangers.

I hadn't heard the outcome of that debate. Very disappointing they haven't been banned in childrens games. They are specifically designed to be addictive to make the companies as much money as possible. They aren't even really about fun

All this being said lootboxes are not gambling

Having said that, I have, on very rare occasions (generally something like the start of the summer holidays), let them buy a season pass to a game they're obsessed with - but that's less than the fingers on one hand, because, the rule is that real money should buy real things.

What about streaming music, Netflix, audiobooks etc?

I’m surprised the op is getting such a hard time. There has been controversy around loot boxes for years. If I had to say what the difference between them and happy meals or panini stickers was, I’d say it’s at least partly because the latter are linked to one-off events like visiting McDonald’s or a newsagent. You can’t sit in your bedroom buying and opening kinder egg after kinder egg.

Where parents haven’t been too clued up on loot boxes and other in-game purchases, kids have been able to compulsively buy the things whenever they’re gaming. The availability- where parents enable it, of course - and intangibility mean it’s more likely to lead to this behaviour than the other examples given.

Of course Parliament decided it’s not gambling. Have you seen the pathetic excuses for regulation they’ve imposed on the billion-pound gambling industry? Don’t want to piss them off, do they? And if they admit loot boxes are gambling, and that this means they need to be regulated, they’re admitting the harm of “actual” gambling, which they seem very keen not to do.

Yanbu.

You’re clearly an expert in this area and I for one am grateful for the advice and will take it. If other mothers want to ignore you / argue with an internet stranger about semantics, I suppose that’s their choice.

@Patanat some parents take their kids to McDonald's multiple times a week, some parents very vigilantly monitor gaming time and restrict in app purchases etc. Most things can be used inappropriately/appropriately depending on the parental involvement.

While focus of games is built around them. You want more to progress. They are required to do well and rely on the competitive spirit. The opening feeds suspense and adrenaline. Even if you get the best stuff it is never enough for long so you wany to buy more...

Just to say I'm not ignoring, I don't like the idea of the loot box for other reasons and like others allow very little in game purchases (game pass on a birthday) kids haven't even mentioned them and considering my kids fall for every ploy (Prime, I'm looking at you) I'm surprised. I just don't believe it's gambling that's all! We are allowed an opinion! It's literally been posted on AIBU!

But I do concede to the point that it's not comparable to McDonald's etc when the value can be so varied.

I agree with you.
A happy meal comes with a low value toy, a kinder egg has a small figure toy inside of comparable value, loot boxes and similar in app purchases where you spend money on the chance of a high value digital item is different.

I've also noticed a gradual increase in how many teens and pre teens have large amounts of gaming time with seemingly limited boundaries. The government won't want to get involved in regulating gambling better because they're probably in the pockets of gambling companies. The explosion of daytime telly gambling adverts show you that.

yanbu about loot boxes but yabu about skins.

With skins, you see the item that you're buying so it's a micro transaction which is fair enough.

I agree that loot boxes are gambling and it's not helped by YouTubers popular with children doing videos where they buy like a 100 and see what they get. Anyone know if the games companies "fix" it so one of the loot boxes is a rare ?

It's a shame that parliament didn't have the games industry only enable loot boxes on adult accounts but gambling and games are massively profitable industries who they don't want to piss off.

how many young people do you think should be suffering from a devastating brain impairment before warning people about the root cause of it isn't "over reacting" and "overdramatising"? Because in the UK it is tens of thousands of under 18s, and of course much higher numbers of young adults over 18, who started down this road with these in-game purchases

Thank you @Thesonglastslonger 💐

There are always going to be parents who dont want to recognise the dangers, but if any parent of any child sees this thread and has their eyes opened then I am glad

@user8545 - of course, which is why I put the caveat in about enabling access. It’s hard to get imagine a more effective route to triggering this sort of compulsive behaviour than loot boxes for those unfortunate kids whose parents aren’t doing a great job of controlling access for whatever reason. Even if you were in McDonalds twice a day there’d be an effective limit on the number of happy meal treats you’d get. Whereas there have been many cases of kids racking up astronomical sums on in-game purchases because they can simply keep hitting buy.

@Nimbostratus100 could you please provide some evidence to help everyone understand where you're coming from?