In the report, the British government cited relevant survey data from the gaming industry research agency InGAME, which showed that there was “no clear consistency” between box-opening and gambling.
In recent years, whether the in-game krypton gold box opening mechanism should be regarded as gambling and subject to policy supervision has been a hot topic around the world.
In 2018, the Belgian Gaming Commission has defined the card draw system in the “FIFA” series as gambling, and will be regulated in strict accordance with the law; in the first half of this month, six Dutch MPs submitted a proposal to the House of Representatives to restrict the opening of krypton gold in games. related bills, because they believe that such microtransactions are actually “manipulating immature minors to spend”…
While there are growing calls across Europe that kryptonium is illegal to open boxes, the British government is obviously much more restrained in this regard. On July 18, the British government released a report on “Government Responses to Calls for Evidence from Video Games Krypton Gold Out of the Box”. The full text is 32,000 words in total. In a nutshell, the British government will not make legal amendments to the unpacking of krypton gold at this stage. What this industry needs is the self-supervision of manufacturers.
The UK government has been negotiating and exploring the difference between the two since December 2019, when the House of Commons suggested that in-game kryptonite be considered gambling. To this end, the UK Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Commission (DCMS) specially launched a follow-up survey in September 2020. Today, two years later, the British government has used this survey report as an example to show its attitude to the society.
The DCMS survey report involved more than 32,000 responses from teenagers and their parents. Although it cannot represent the entire UK game industry, the data shown in the report is enough to highlight the seriousness of the situation – 98% of underage players have been exposed to unboxing, With the card drawing mechanism, 63% of players have purchased related paid content, and among them, 39% of players have a single consumption of more than 10 pounds.
For underage players, the hidden problems of the game’s unboxing mechanism affecting mental health and economic consumption have been confirmed by many institutions, but this does not mean that unboxing of kryptonite should be regarded as gambling. In the report, the government cited relevant survey data from InGAME, a UK-based game industry research body, which indicated that there was “no clear agreement” between the two.
At present, the vast majority of in-game lottery mechanisms do not meet the definition of gambling in the UK Gambling Law of 2005. After all, the items and skins obtained from these lottery draws can only be used in the game and cannot be directly converted into currency in the real world. An important reason for the British government’s reluctance to equate the two.
The UK government’s intention is not to excuse the in-game lottery mechanism. On the contrary, their point of view is that “direct government intervention is likely to have unintended consequences.” For example, some developers may choose to refuse mandatory regulation and withdraw from the UK market. .
At the same time, the British government also stated its own views: “It is too early to have a policy of hastily promulgating relevant laws without taking industry-led measures to protect minors in advance.” On the one hand, arbitrarily modifying the law will produce a series of unpredictable chain reactions; on the other hand, what they hope to see is the joint efforts of game developers, publishers and platforms operated by the UK to find and explore practical protection of minors. ‘s plan.
In fact, some guidelines are also given in the report, including improvement measures such as parental supervision mechanisms and transparent information to consumers. This is not a mandatory legal policy, but the government has repeatedly emphasized that “if game companies do not take sufficient measures to ensure the safety of underage players, the government will not hesitate to consider legislation.”
Although there is no one-size-fits-all rough handling, the British government’s determination is also decisive enough. In the report, they have planned to show the progress of strengthening industry-led measures to the public by the first quarter of 2023, which looks like a strict time limit for the entire game industry.
At present, UK Interactive Entertainment, a major game industry organization in the UK, has actively responded to the call and began to work with other partners to deal with related issues. Whether the British game market can usher in an ideal environment without legal constraints will have the answer in half a year.
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