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Legislators in Hawaii were among the first to express concern over the use of loot boxes in video games when Star Wars Battlefront II was in the news. This result didn't fade away, though. Lawmakers have introduced several bills designed to clamp down on the use of randomized boodle crates in games, which are compared with gambling in the legislation.

Loot crates have been featured in games for years, but Electronic Arts' particularly rapacious version in Star Wars Battlefront II kicked off a firestorm on the cyberspace. Equally the release of Battlefront 2 approached, beta testers complained that besides many items were locked upward within the random loot crates, and many of those items could modify the gameplay. This left players with picayune selection simply to drop cash in hopes of getting the items they needed. EA also stuck hero characters backside the loot crate paywall — the only alternative was to grind for upwardly to xl hours but to unlock a character.

EA eventually backed down, at least temporarily. Battlefront 2 no longer has loot crates, only EA says it'll add the microtransactions over again in the coming months. Information technology might confront opposition from lawmakers, though. Many are concerned that trading coin for a chance of winning highly prized items in games is just a new form of gambling. If that'southward the case, shouldn't there be some regulation?

The legislation comes in the form of two separate bills, each with a version for the Hawaiian country senate and house. The beginning set of bills proposes limiting the sale of games with randomized loot crate mechanics to those 21 years of age or older. The second piece of legislation would require game developers to testify the probability rates for detail drops in their loot crates. Furthermore, these games would need to carry a warning label reading, "Warning: contains in-game purchases and gambling-like mechanisms which may be harmful or addictive."

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Loot crates are *not bad* for publishers, since they don't promise any given reward. For players, not so much. Image by Ars Technica.

Autonomous state representative Chris Lee is spearheading the legislation. He previously referred to Battlefront 2 as a "Star Wars-themed online casino." He expresses concern that games have evolved to leverage psychological techniques to maximize profits, and he's not lone. Lee says more than half of United states states are because legislation to regulate boodle boxes in games.

The Entertainment Software Clan is (unsurprisingly) opposed to the legislation in Hawaii. The ESA says the industry'southward self-regulation is sufficient to protect gamers from predatory behavior in games. A lot of Star Wars fans would disagree.