Apple sued for allowing loot boxes
Loot boxes or reward boxes continue to cause controversy. These boxes that appear in many video games can only be opened in exchange for real or virtual money, or if they have been received as a gift. For some time, consumer associations have been denouncing them because they would create addiction among the youngest. The firm Apple has been the latest to be sued for allowing them in its App Store.
Loot boxes or reward boxes represent a problem of video game addiction among the youngest. The Apple company has been sued for this reason. ©Pixabay/Pexels
Computer products giant Apple Inc. it would have been recently sued in California for allowing in its App Store products that carry built-in loot boxes or reward boxes. These would be games and download apps that would come with prizes that work in the manner of a stimulus. According to the applicants, it is sufficiently demonstrated that these would be responsible for addictive behaviors .
The complaint has Apple in its sights and not the companies developing the video games in question. It would be stating that the problem lies in the fact that games and apps can be download freely from the App Store Apple, and that no additional information is provided about whether these programs are included with loot boxes.
Since downloads are a very important source of profits for Apple, the lawsuit would be maintaining that the Cupertino-based company takes advantage of a device that generates addiction. Above all, it is problematic for minors who can reach spend considerable sums in the reward boxes of games like Brawl Stars, Mario Kart Tour or FIFA football.
The mechanism of loot boxes, addictive game?
The loot box which is basically a box that rewards the player, it contains virtual loot that serve as a great help to advance in the game. Are highly appreciated, and are achieved paying with real or virtual money , and sometimes they are also received for free during the game. They are designed to hook the little ones.
The contents of the reward boxes are impossible to know in advance, so the loot that is obtained is purely random. You can get lucky and achieve great things, or just the opposite. Critics and experts argue that its mechanism is not much different from that of a slot machine .
It is about receiving a reward for a payment during a game, exactly the same as what happens with online casino games. They are subject to a certain probability, you don't always make a profit or an additional bonus, and variability too, since the prize can be contained in the first box or in the twenty-fifth.
Controversy with the WHO
In a controversial tweet, the World Health Organization (WHO) would have recommended to actively play video games during the confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic, so many portals on the network rushed to share the information highlighting online games as a healthy activity.
However, WHO has dedicated a number of newsletters dedicated to explain the dangers of video games , especially among adolescents, making use of impact studies written by prestigious academics.
In one of these, explicit reference is made to reward boxes. In the bulletin entitled Towards a better delimitation of video game use disorder , published in June 2019, echoes Dr. Achab's research by stating the following:
"For Dr. Achab, reward systems (often so-called "virtual loot boxes") that offer virtual items (such as weapons and armor) or "real" rewards (for example, subscriptions to live broadcasts) are dangerous. "The pursuit of rewards pushes players to continue playing to achieve real or virtual victories," he explains.” – Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2019;97:382-383, http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.19.020619
When is the time for legislation on loot boxes?
In some European countries the competent authorities have the reward boxes in their sights and it would have begun to drafting legislation in order to ban them , as in the case of Belgium. In New Zealand, the regulation in this regard it will have to wait.
In Great Britain members of parliament and government in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport would have initiated an investigation about the impact of reward boxes in addictive and compulsive gambling-related behavior.
In our country there would seem to be a will from the Ministry of Consumer to initiate a regulation in this regard. Although the ministerial efforts have been focused during the confinement on ban promotions of the online operators, leaving aside this very pressing issue. There is no doubt that in spite of everything they have been made important advances .
