STOP Preying on Children with Addictive Gambling Practices in Video Games, Restrict Loot Boxes!

As of some years ago, with the release of Halo 5 and their loot boxes, gaming media has been forcing their loot boxes into the video game genre, in hopes of attracting "whales" (People who spend hundreds or more a month on a video game, artificially extending the popularity and life span of the game through the online purchase of its consumers), and some of these include people with extreme gambling addictions and children with their parents' credit cards.

Nobody said anything, so the gaming company Blizzard used this feature with their 2016 release "Overwatch". This is where people started noticing how serious the issue was, though not enough. Due to the popularity of Blizzard, many of its die hard fans defended the practice of "Loot Boxes" (Paying real world money or playing the game an exorbitant amount of time to earn enough in game currency to unlock a "Treasure Chest" of sorts with randomly generated in game items), despite the blatant predatory nature of this system clearly targeted to impatient people, people with gambling addictions, and even CHILDREN with their parents' credit cards.

Had Overwatch been the only perpetrator, the issue might not have become so out of control. However, since the obvious success of the original games that caused this issue, namely Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Halo 5, and Call of Duty even, who has been using this practice as well, for many years with no attention from the media, the use of "loot boxes" in video games has become almost common place, affecting new releases such as "Destiny 2", "Star Wars Battlefront 2", "Middle Earth: Shadow of War", "Forza 2017", and "Player Unknown: Battlegrounds". For each of these new releases previously free features in past installments of the respective games were locked behind a paywall, such as gameplay enhancements, customization options, and even character enhancements(Pay to win is the gaming media term). In the case of the indie developed game Player Unknown: Battlegrounds, "Loot Boxes" were pushed in despite the developer promising to not do such a thing until the game was completed in its entirety. However, obvious greed for the limitless amount of money that could be made from children and people with gambling addictions pushed the developer to use loot boxes as a way of taking more money from their consumers.

There is no way that "Microtransactions" can be fully outlawed, without drastically affecting the gaming industry in a negative way. "Free to Play" games use it as a means of allowing people to play their games for free, while having a sustainable economy to profit from their hard work. However, by signing this petition I would like everyone to back up my need for legislation to understand the following, and take action accordingly:

1.) That "Loot Boxes" are a term to hide the fact it's GAMBLING, and that any game with "RNG"(Randomized) "Loot Boxes" should be required to CLEARLY state that by purchasing the "Loot Boxes", they are agreeing to gamble, and that gambling can become HIGHLY addictive, and push them into wasting all of their money on purchasing the "Loot Boxes", which can lead to financial ruin.

2.) That "Loot Boxes" are no longer allowed to be used in video games or other forms of media if the game costs real world money to purchase(Namely "Triple A" games that will retail for $60.00 at launch.

3.) That loot boxes are never to be allowed in games with an ESRB rating lower than "T" for teen.

4.) That purchasing a "Loot Box" requires the user to submit their Social Security number OR some other form of personal information that only they would have access to, whenever they make a purchase using their credit card, to prevent others from using their credit cards to purchase "Loot Boxes" without their consent. The same way that job applications use the social security number of US citizens to verify they are a resident of the United States, and to verify their identity.

5.) That HEAVY restrictions be placed on the purchase of loot boxes on a daily basis to prevent people with gambling addictions from causing themselves financial ruin.

6.) That any full retail game is disallowed from using any sort of special in game currency that would cost real world money to purchase, in a false attempt of tricking the customer into thinking they are spending less money than they are. This practice is psychological, where the customer uses real world money to purchase in game currency, and therefore becomes less attached to the in game currency they just purchased, thinking it costs less money than it really is.

7.) That it be deemed illegal to attempt to allow children to use "Loot Boxes", and all involved with children having free access to loot boxes be punished to the fullest extent of the law.


Though this may have seemed like a small issue before, and even now, this issue will only grow with time. Though the "Free to Play" market uses this system, understandably, there are far too many games that revolve around forcing people to pay real world money to even progress. Not only is this anti consumer, downright predatory, and even the illegal practice of EXTORTION(Forcing a customer to pay money to progress in the game, as it is impossible to progress to do so), but in addition, this issue will only continue to grow, until all video games follow this same practice of forcing customers to pay real world money in order to progress in their full retail games.

Make a change, stop the predatory nature of "Loot Boxes" in paid for video games, and stop this vile practice of preying on people that would spend ridiculous amounts of money just to acquire an in game item that the developer hid behind a randomized "Loot Box", in an attempt to make all the money they can possibly make.

DISCLAIMER: As a final note, I would like to apply the condition that microtransactions be outlawed in any and all full retail games throughout the entire course of their existence. For free to play games, the general use of microtransactions are perfectly okay as long what is being purchased is CLEARLY stated. I.E. by spending $1.99 the consumer will purchase a chestplate to an armor set. This is not applicable to the above statements, and conditions, as it is not gambling. It is the simple purchase of a product, that the customer knows without any shadow of a doubt what they are purchasing.