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The UK Government has put out a call to gamers and parents to submit their experiences alongside data from games companies to aid in their ongoing investigations to better understand loot boxes and their impact in video games.
The announcement on the UK Government’s website (spotted by Eurogamer) says that they’re looking for “the experiences of players and their parents or guardians as well as rigorous, high quality data and research from video games companies, academia, civil society as well as any other organisations with an interest in this issue.”
Once they have this research in hand, the government says the results will help them get a “clearer understanding of the size of the loot box and in-game purchases market in the UK, how it operates, and the impact of current protections such as parental controls and consumer regulations.” In addition, the government is said to undertake “further research into the wider impact of video games on behaviour.”
Depending on the results, the UK Government are said to “stand ready to take action should the outcomes of the call for evidence support taking a new approach to ensure users, and particularly young people, are better protected,” and also state that “Loot boxes will be considered alongside a review of the Gambling Act,” —a move that was recommended by the House of Lords back in July.
The call comes in the wake of the issues highlighted by the 84-page report by the Digital Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee into Immersive and Addictive Technologies that suggested that loot boxes showed “a lack of honesty and transparency” last year.
Interested parties willing to give their thoughts are being asked to share their evidence and experiences on the official UK Government website, with a deadline of 11:59pm (UK time) on November 22, 2020.
