Loot boxes are both tantalising and sleazy in nature. When you buy them, you won’t know what the contents inside, so it could be really cool rare item you always wanted.. or another lame one you have multiple copies already. In a way, there’s a gambling aspect of it if what you mostly get are duds and wasted money, like when you lose in a gambling bet.
With this in mind, a new regulation over in China has just been passed on enforcing some rules for micro-transactions, specifically loot boxes. The ruling states that all info about the drop rate of the boxes have to be disclosed.
Here is the excerpt of the said regulation (courtesy of chillybright over at NeoGAF)
2.6 …Online game publishers shall promptly publicly announce information about the name, property, content, quantity, and draw/forge probability of all virtual items and services that can be drawn/forge on the official website or a dedicated draw probability webpage of the game. The information on draw probability shall be true and effective.
2.7 Online game publishers shall publicly announce the random draw results by customers on notable places of official website or in game, and keep record for government inquiry. The record must be kept for more than 90 days. When publishing the random draw results, some measures should be taken place to protect user privacy.
So more transparency on drop rates on loot boxes. It probably won’t stop some people to keep buying them, but being upfront on how the rarity of the drops could help quell some regrettable impulse purchases if such info is not given.
The interesting thing to ponder is will such regulations be spread to other countries? It seems like a respectable idea to regulate loot boxes from a consumer perspective, plus it should promote more games to give fair drop rates as all the information will be publicly available so all players can compare the which game has the best rates. It’s mostly good for the consumers on paper, as long as the government enforces the law. Plus, it reduces chances of gambling issues crop up in micro-transactions.