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Comment by rowanG077 | Hacker News Reader

Are you saying the same thing about casinos? That children should be able to go to casinos? And the parents should just make sure their children don't actually go to the casino?

That sounds wholly crazy to me. Loot box mechanics should automatically result in a mature rating for the game.

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It's not that I don't think it's a problem, it's that I think regulation isn't a good solution. Game companies would just find a way to circumvent the system. What if loot boxes could be bought with in-game credits? What if you could buy short term in-game credit boosters for real money? The regulation route, if continuously followed to address the problem, would end up with all games being rated 'M', or being subject to high regulations/restrictions which would affect anyone who wants to enjoy them. After all, games themselves are designed to short circuit your brains reward system to give you hits of dopamine. The root of the problem is that kids aren't always capable of understanding these complex issues, and it should be up to their parents to inform and constrain how their kids enjoy games.

I don't have a problem with all games containing even the hint of loot boxes getting the mature rating. The regulations should be just as strict as for casinos. If a game company wants to run a casino along with their game then it's their right but then don't expect to be treated differently.

In that case - any game that has purchasable content would be rated 'M' and it isn't a far leap to just say that every game should be rated 'M' because of the potential for addiction. What about candy and soda? Sugar is also addictive

Loot boxes and in game purchases aren't the same thing.

If the companies are already doing bad things, arguing "let's not regulate it because they might do bad things" doesn't help the situation at all.

It's not just kids. It's also adults, many of whom have an addiction issue with gambling. Parents becoming experts on gaming and microtransactions won't solve the issue.

Given that the industry refuses to self regulate, and they aren't reliant on rational consumers to the point where actions that rational consumers make would matter, what is the next solution that isn't regulation?

The big issue right now is even if parents wanted to it's hard to impossible to completely lock an account of out spending money buying these short of removing all payment features from the account.

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