Hawaii representative Chris Lee made headlines a couple of weeks ago after announcing that Hawaii would be investigating EA and looking into legislation that would ban games with predatory practices. In that announcement, he referred to Star Wars Battlefront II as a “Star Wars themed online casino,” that preys on the addictive behaviors of young people. He is currently making good on that press conference by beginning the process of drafting anti-loot box laws.
Lee’s primary aim is to ban the sales of any games with predatory practices–that is, any game that has gambling mechanics–to those under the age of 21. The lawmakers that he is working with make it clear that this isn’t a law against microtransactions. Outright purchase of an in-game item would not be included in the ban, only systems that offer a percentage chance at certain items. He also wants developers to disclose the drop rates of certain items if they do have loot boxes in game.
In the video, he references a hypothetical mechanic where developers will actually decrease the drop rates of certain items for someone that has been identified as a “whale,” or a player that is willing to spend a lot of money on in-game purchases. While it’s certainly not impossible to think that some games may employ this tactic, it is largely unproven conjecture rather than unmitigated fact. Lee does state that he received the information third-hand, but it’s potentially...