The Week Junior UK – 24 August 2019

count as gambling, for which the minimum age

in the UK is 18.

However,positive changes are

Earlier this year,the developer of

Fortnite changed theV-BucksLlamas

sold in its in-game store, so that

peoplecould see what they

contained beforebuying one. The

free llamasearned by playing the

game aren’t affected by this change

and thosecontents willremain hidd

NowPsyonix, the developer of Ro

League is makingasimilar change with its

E

ven if you haven’t heardthe phrase “loot boxes”

before, if you play games you might have seen

them, and even opened some. They’rethe tr easure

chests (or similar boxes) youcanbuy but you don’t

know what you’regetting until you’ve paid for them.

Some people think loot boxesshouldn’t be

allowed because they encourage people to spend

money without knowing whether they’ll get the

special items theywant, and if they don’t get what

theywant, perhaps players will end up spending

morethan they’d planned.

When these boxesfeatureingames played by

young people, some people think that they should

Lootbo xesunderfire

Arelootboxesgambling?

Therehas been some

disagreement over whether

loot boxescount as gambling

or not. The Gambling

Commission, which monitors

the gambling industry in the

UK, says that accord ing to the

law at the moment they are

not, because the buyer ofaloot

boxcan’t sell the items to

another person for money.

However,arecent study of

young people and gambling

suggested that nearly a

million young people in the

UK have openedaloot boxin

agame or app,and that some

had bet against other players,

with the loser giving away an

in-game item to the winner.

This iscalled “skin gambling”

or “skin betting”.

Whythegamesindustryismakingchangestorandom-itemboxes.

Loot boxesare likeany

in-app purchase inagame

or app: if you arefeeling

pressured to spend money,

it’sabad sign. In that

situation it’sbest to talk

to an adult you trust.

It’salso good toremember

that doing well inagame

through your own skill,

rather than by spending

money on items, is often

TheWeek Junior’s gamesexpert

Stuart Dredge gives his tipsfor

understanding loot boxes.

Loot bo xlowdown

Nearlyamillion young gamers

have openedaloot box.

RocketLeague has

made changes.

Userscannow see what is

in aFortnite llama crate.

Crates.“Laterthis year we willremove all paid,

mised Crates from Rocket

gue,replacing them with a

tem that shows theexact items

u’rebuying in advance,”the

eators announced.

Meanwhile, Microsoft,

intendo and Sony–the main

onsole manufacturers–are

orking together to force games

mpanies to tell players the

ces ofrece ivingcertain items

beforethey buyaloot box.

DIDYOU

KNOW?

Alawwa

spassed

in

Belgium las

tyear

thatba

nneda

ll

lootboxe

s.

22 The Week Junior•24 August 2019