Looks like we lost the fight, all Hawaii Lootbox bills failed

[Master Disaster]

This shouldn't really surprise anyone in a world of fat cats scratching each others backs.

 

Hawaii senator Chris Lee submitted 4 proposals into the US houses back in January and it was recently revealed, albeit very quietly, that 3 have been totally stopped and the 4th has been revised to a totally unrelated subject

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A quartet of bills that would have regulated potentially addictive “gambling” systems in video games died after failing to meet legislative deadlines.

 

Two House bills and one Senate bill relating to video games all failed to meet final deadlines since being introduced in January, while a second Senate bill was amended from its original purpose to a completely unrelated subject.

 

The four bills originally would have regulated “loot boxes,” a controversial — and, some say, predatory — practice in video games wherein players can spend real money to purchase one or more randomized items in a system many compared to gambling.

2 of the bills proposed a ban on the sale of games containing Lootboxes to anyone under the age of 21, one was submitted to the senate and one to the house, both failed to progress past a single committee.

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One of the House bills — HB 2686, which would have prohibited the sale of video games containing loot boxes to people younger than 21 — failed to move past a single committee in the House, and was killed by the end of January.

 

A corresponding bill in the Senate, SB 3024, successfully crossed over into the House in early March, but likewise passed no committees after that.

A third bill designed to force publishers into displaying odds of winning crossed over from the house to senate successfully but then stagnated and again didn't pass any further committes.

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The other House bill, HB 2727, would have required game publishers to disclose the probabilities for each random item received in loot boxes, as well as to display a label on a game’s packaging warning about the presence of in-game purchases. That bill crossed over into the Senate and stagnated, failing to pass any further committees.

A fourth bill designed to accompany HB2727 was changed entirely to add rules about food franchises running promotions, the ammended bill of course passed the committee stage.

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Senate Bill 3025, meanwhile, originally was a companion bill to HB 2727. However, the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce amended the bill earlier this month to remove all aspects of its previous text and replace it with a requirement for franchisees to disclose if they are not participating in promotions of the franchise — for example, if a Hawaii location of a fast-food restaurant chain were not included in a nationally advertised deal.

 

That bill was passed by all committees in both chambers and will face a final vote in the House.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018/03/24/hawaii-news/loot-box-bills-fail-to-advance/

 

It's important to note that this information has only been reported in Hawaii, I've seen no other news outlets run this story which is odd considering how big the whole lootbox controversy became.

 

It's becoming apparent that no one in government really cares about this nor do they want to help force change, as gamers we're stuck bearing the brunt of this BS.

[MarbleHornets]

At least since they went out via deadline and not being voted down, its still possible for them or other House or Senate members to bring this or a similar bill(s) up again that might have more push? I am just kindof hoping for the best here. Also, I haven't see it anywhere either except for Hawaiian new stations, I didn't really put two and two together, but good catch there.

[Cheezdoodlez]

Is it possible to read the original version of senate bill 3025 and the revised version somewhere? I'm really interested to see how they managed to make it about franchises rather than loot boxes. 

[Snapperx]

I am interested to see what exactly happens if it gets forbidden in any major country. Will game developers just region lock lootboxes at that point?

[Drak3]

And nothing of value was lost.

[jtmoseley]

5 minutes ago, Snapperx said:

I am interested to see what exactly happens if it gets forbidden in any major country. Will game developers just region lock lootboxes at that point?

I would imagine that at that point they would just brainstorm... If one country such as the U.S. couldn't get it, people would get pissed off really fast if they didn't have access to the same items.

 

[Snapperx]

2 minutes ago, jtmoseley said:

I would imagine that at that point they would just brainstorm... If one country such as the U.S. couldn't get it, people would get pissed off really fast if they didn't have access to the same items.

 

There are some possibilities:
Company decides that the consumers in banned country get the lootbox items for free (unlikely)

Consumers have to buy the items directly (most likely)
Consumers won't have access to the items at all (unlikely)

[Colonel_Gerdauf]

While I can see issues in the fact that the bills failed the tests, I can't help but feel that the proposals are insanely difficult to enforce without stepping on some shoes as far as morality is concerned.

[Notional]

Hey... you wanna win the fight? 

 

DON'T BUY THE GODDAMN LOOT BOXES!

[Drak3]

3 minutes ago, Notional said:

Hey... you wanna win the fight? 

 

DON'T BUY THE GODDAMN LOOT BOXES!

If I may build off of this post.

 

"But gambling addiction!"

 

DON'T BUY THE FUCKING GAME THEN.

[Snapperx]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

DON'T BUY THE FUCKING GAME THEN.

"But gaming addiction :/"

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, Snapperx said:

"But gaming addiction :/"

GET LAID THEN.

[AnonymousGuy]

The only thing that would come out of this is having to check a box indicating you're 21 before buying a lootbox.  And of course no teenager every check one of those boxes without it being true!

 

If an idiot kid wants to spend all his money on stupid shit then it's up to the parents to stop him.

[Mooshi]

Lost the fight? More like common sense won.

 

If kids are spending parents money for these, it's the parents fault for not being parents. I see crap from absent minded parents all the time in my day job. Like this one woman left 2 Visas on her old phone which she gave to her kid and yet she was stumped how she suddenly had Google Play charges a day after he got her old phone.

 

If an adult spends money on lootboxes, who cares? If it's their money, it's none of your business. As for addictions, there are far worse ones out there and if anything this will ultimately be another going nowhere mini war on video games. As if we need more of that drama.

[DrMacintosh]

Err, not sure if you guys realize but the US Senate is very not hip with the tech world. 

 

They also are busy trying to keep the government open before they tackle small legislation like this. 

 

 

[dcgreen2k]

The only way lootboxes will go away is if we stop buying them, which will never happen.