United States senator Maggie Hassan urges the ESRB ratings board to look at its game rating process in light of the ongoing loot box gambling debate.
Elected officials in the United States have begun to weigh in on the loot box controversy and the debate of whether or not loot boxes should be considered gambling. Hawaii State Representative Chris Lee made headlines earlier this week when he introduced two bills that aimed to ban the sales of games with loot boxes to minors, and now, a United States senator has also spoken out about the issue.
Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) has sent a letter to Patricia Vance, the president of the ESRB rating board, asking the organization to review its rating process in light of the loot box debate. Senator Hassan’s letter explains that, “As technology advances, ESRB must work to keep pace with new gaming trends, including the in-game micro-transactions and predatory gaming tactics, particularly as they are deployed on minors.”
The letter goes on to mention the “concerns surrounding the use of psychological principles and enticing mechanics that closely mirror those often found in casinos and games of chance” and also references the World Health Organization report that stated excessive gaming should be classed as a mental disorder.
Senator Hassan closes the letter out by urging the ESRB to review its rating process in regards to loot boxes and microtransactions (also considering the potential harms of the business model) and to work with stakeholders (including parents) to figure how much money loot boxes make and how developers use them. The senator also asks the ESRB to publish that data.
Additionally, Senator Hassan asks the ESRB to put together a list of “best practices” for developers including the possibility of tools that would allow parents to disable loot boxes within games. It should be noted that the ESRB previously stated that it does not think that loot boxes are gambling.
In a question and answer session with nominees for commissioner of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), the senator also asked if the FTC would investigate the issue independently, depending on how the ESRB responds to the letter.
Senator Hassan asked the nominees “Do you agree that children are being addicted to gaming and activities like loot boxes that might make them more susceptible to addiction is a problem that merits our attention?” All of the nominees either agreed with the senator’s question or vowed to look into the issue should they be confirmed as FTC commissioner.
The ESRB has since issued a statement in response to the senator’s letter, telling PC Gamer that it will continue to make “enhancements” to ensure that parents are well-informed, also vowing to provide information to parents about tools such as parental controls that limit playtime.
Although the statement does confirm that the organization has received the senator’s letter, the statement does not explicitly confirm that it will put the suggestions in place. The statement does not confirm that the ESRB has reached out to the senator separately about how to move forward, although it is quite likely that this is the case.
The games industry would very much like to solve the loot box issue on its own and at least one games industry group is making an attempt at self-regulation regarding loot boxes. It’s unclear whether officials like Senator Maggie Hassan and State Representative Chris Lee are aware of these efforts, but it seems that politicians may stay involved in the issue despite the industry’s best wishes.
