UK NHS mental health director wants ban on gaming loot boxes

[HEXUS]

Says that loot box infested video games are "setting kids up for addiction" to gambling.

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[Yoyoyo69]

I agree with this.

I feel the bigger issue is the "grind requirement" in games.

Ubisoft do it, Rockstar are among the worst.

Valve not only have it I their games, they use it in their sales too.

I don't think there is much can be dont about this though, atleast the Lootboxes are an addressable issue.

[[GSV]Trig]

How about we teach kids in school about the value of money and how to be better at managing stuff like that rather than teaching them stuff that has less and less meaning like RE?
There should be "Life Skills" type lessons in school that is started early and at least gives them a head start rather than blaming the companies that are out to make money for shareholders etc..

[Iota]

The problem is the game developers will move from "loot boxes" to some other form of in-game mechanic that is conditioning kids to gamble, possibly without them even realising it.

[ByteMyAscii]

Ignoring as usual that football stickers, trading cards, and any random inventive toy have been doing exactly that for years.
There is no attempt to block those.
Whatever their motivation for this is, it surely has nothing to do with protecting children from gambling.

[Percy1983]

Ignoring as usual that football stickers, trading cards, and any random inventive toy have been doing exactly that for years.
There is no attempt to block those.
Whatever their motivation for this is, it surely has nothing to do with protecting children from gambling.

I do see the point with stickers/trading cards but they do promote social interaction to then swap/negotiate for the stickers/cards you are missing.

[fend_oblivion]

Mobile games are the worst offenders. There are people who spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on crappy mobile games, SMH.

[chj]

I agree with this to be honest. The grinding aspect you could argue gives a sense of achievement, as long as it isn't monetised I think that's less of an issue. I mean if you started a game, turned all the cheats on and unlocked all the end game items or whatever you'll get bored of the game very quickly. Than less you mean mobile games which are unnecessarily grindy and keep popping up with deals to give you double xp or some crap, they're terrible.

Mobile games are the worst offenders. There are people who spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on crappy mobile games, SMH.

I couldn't agree more.

[Fabula]

Ignoring as usual that football stickers, trading cards, and any random inventive toy have been doing exactly that for years.
There is no attempt to block those.
Whatever their motivation for this is, it surely has nothing to do with protecting children from gambling.

I was under the impression that there wasn´t a game associated with football stickers, other than just collecting them. Loot boxes are quite different as they usually are a direct bonus to making you more competitive in the game. Loot boxes are more the equivalent of paying money to turn your pawn into a queen in chess.

[Wrinkly]

Agree with her, but you have to remember that the UK NHS is partly funded with a lottery.

[Gentle Viking]

I agree too, i will not play a game with BS like that in it.

[[GSV]Trig]

I'll play games with boxes, I don't use, or agree with them.
Worse ones are those that bring nothing to the game, yay a gun that's a different colour, doesn't add anything to the game, vanity, waste of time.