New guidelines propose age-limit for lootboxes in gamers in the UK

18 July 2023

Anyone who has ever played games and/or esports in the UK will very likely have come in contact with loot boxes. In video games, a loot box is a virtual item that can be obtained in a variety of ways, depending on the game in question, and which contains a randomised selection of in-game items. In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, for example, loot boxes are called ‘cases’ that contain random weapon skins, while in League of Legends, loot boxes are simply called ‘loot’ that can contain a wide variety of items. Due to their random nature though, opening loot boxes has over the past few years been likened more and more to gambling and now the UK’s games industry trade body UKIE (UK Interactive Entertainment) has published guidelines on the provision of loot boxes in games, including a minimum age of 18 years old.

Resemblance to underage gambling

Back in July of 2022, the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) created the Technical Working Group with the goal of further investigating loot boxes in gaming and esports. About two years earlier, research was conducted into the potential harmful effects of loot boxes as a result of their resemblance to online gambling, especially with regard to underage played. Loot boxes often cost real-life money and seeing as their content is usually unknown, the worry was (and is) that their mechanism mimics online gambling practices as offered by various online casinos in the United Kingdom and all around the world.

With that knowledge in mind and based on the results of the aforementioned research, the UKIE has recently published a set of guidelines regarding the presence and use of loot boxes in games in the UK. The one that stands out is the recommendation that loot boxes are to be made completely unavailable to people younger than 18 years old, unless they have the permission of a parent or guardian.

“We welcome the clear commitment in the new industry guidance to use technological controls to restrict anyone under the age of 18 from acquiring a paid loot box without the consent or knowledge of a parent or guardian”, says the DCMS in reaction to the publication of the new guidelines, “As part of implementing its guidance, we call on industry to increase and monitor the uptake of parental controls and to ensure widespread adoption of current best practice of default £0 spending limits on child accounts, applying both to loot boxes and other in-game purchases”.

More guidelines

The most recent UKIE publication contains a total of eleven guidelines, including the age restriction for loot boxes. The organisation also recommends, for example, that presence of loot boxes in games should be disclosed before purchase, whether physically or as a download, and the creation of lenient industry-standard refund policies on loot box purchases that were carried out without the permission of a parent or guardian. It will be interesting to see to what extent the proposed guidelines will be implemented in the nearby future.