HB 25-01: Video Game Ratings Restructuring Act (Passed)

[Sestak]

Video Games Ratings Restructuring Act
HOUSE BILL

Be it enacted by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

SECTION I: NAME
1. This bill may be cited as the Video Game Ratings Restructuring Act

SECTION II: DEFINITIONS AND FINDINGS
1. Lootbox shall be defined as a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomized selection of further virtual items, usually found as part of certain video games and that can be purchased through the use of real world money
2. Digital video game purchase shall be defined as the purchasing of a video game or other downloadable content, or unlock or the purchase of virtual video game currency digitally through the internet.
3. The Atlasian Congress finds that loot boxes are the video game equivalent to gambling, and therefore should be regulated accordingly
4. The Atlasian Congress finds that digital video game purchases are usually not clearly marked and actively try to mislead consumers, which leads to children making large purchases they never intended to do if they knew the real value of what they were doing

SECTION III: REGULATING LOOTBOXES
1. Any video games that contain loot boxes that can be bought with real life currency shall be considered as gambling devices, and therefore shall follow the appropiate federal and regional regulations on gambling.
2. Any video games that contain loot boxes may not be sold to people under 18 years of age.
3. Any digital video game purchases with real life currency shall be clearly marked and shall require the manual introduction of a credit card number and a password for every instance an item is purchased.

SECTION IV: ENACTMENT
1. This bill shall be enacted 2 weeks after passage
2. Physically distributed video games which have been already printed, manufactured and/or shipped as of the passage of this bill may still be legally sold under the previously standing regulations.

People's Regional Senate
Passed 3-2 in the Atlasian Senate Assembled,
 

Designation: HB 25-01
Sponsor: Ted Bessell

[Sestak]

This needs a sponsor.

[Former President tack50]

Didn't this get heavily amended in the Senate?

[Mike Thick]

I can sponsor.

[Sirius_]

I'm not sure how its even possible to enforce this law. For starters, most lootbox games are free to play, meaning that they aren't "sold" to begin with. Many children play games on parent accounts which aren't affected. Age requirements at purchase are unverifiable unless a ridiculous ID verification is put in place which is an obvious security breach. And I honestly find it ridiculous to ban teenagers from buying lootboxes, they mostly have their own money to buy it with and I don't see a reason to stop them. Just about the only useful part of this bill is the manual credit card requirement, which is good imo.

[S019]

This seems like a good idea, things like loot boxes encourage kids to often impulsively make in-app purchases and spend real money on virtual things, I'd urge the Congress to pass this bill for that reason.

[Sestak]

24 hours to object to the Representative Ted Bessell assuming sponsorship.

[Mike Thick]

Just going to post advocacy on the assumption that no one will object to my sponsorship.

This is a good proposal that will protect kids from games seeking to take financial advantage of their naivete. The current legal setup, effectively, allows companies to center games on gambling and target them at children. Not good! This bill puts up what I think are some very reasonable regulatory barriers to stop that from happening.

I don't think the argument that this is "unenforceable" carries water. We have a lot of laws that are unenforceable in practice, because making something illegal has a deterrent effect -- even if some people won't, a lot of people follow the law for the sake of following the law. That and the credit card entry requirement will go a long way to reduce underage gambling. I support this bill wholeheartedly.

[Sestak]

Without objection, the Representative Ted Bessell is recognized as sponsor.

[Fmr. Representative Encke]

Was typing up a response and noticed Ninja's post further up in the thread, which basically sums up my thoughts about this bill. Section III (3) is good (and I would certainly support passage of a bill with just that portion intact); the rest is just useless stuff. How does labeling games with lootboxes as gambling devices materially change the core problem? Are kids going to be deterred by the label? How does adding an 18+ requirement fulfill any purpose when, as Ninja mentioned, most games that rely on lootboxes are free-to-play (which is why they have lootboxes in the first place)?

Not saying it necessarily hurts to impose these extra regulations (aside from the cost required by game design companies to adhere to the current regulations, whatever they may be), but why impose any if they don't change the outcome? To make ourselves feel good?

[Joseph Cao]

Based on the past couple of years' gambling-related legislation it appears that existing Atlasia gambling regulations are pretty lax, and in fact the regulation directly relevant to Section III.1 was previously repealed under the second Griffin administration (though there's room to discuss whether that regulation is applicable to video games). So that particular section seems extraneous under current circumstances. And it's certainly true that the age limit would be very easy to get around, as Ninja and Encke explained in the preceding discussion.

For what it's worth I do agree with the general aim of restricting the possibility of inadvertent underage gambling in video games; however, it's also pretty clearly the case that Sections III.1 and III.2 need to be struck since they don't contribute anything of substance to the bill. Removing them would create a more focused and efficient bill that I would fully support.

[SevenEleven]

It would be hilarious if we introduced loot boxes in Atlasia itself.

I'll be supporting this bill on consumer protection grounds.

We could also ban the advertisement of games that make use of loot boxes. This is not out of line with similar prohibitions on, say, tobacco companies running ads that target children.

[Joseph Cao]

SECTION I: NAME
1. This bill may be cited as the Video Game Ratings Restructuring Act

SECTION II: DEFINITIONS AND FINDINGS
1. Lootbox shall be defined as a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomized selection of further virtual items, usually found as part of certain video games and that can be purchased through the use of real world money
2. Digital video game purchase shall be defined as the purchasing of a video game or other downloadable content, or unlock or the purchase of virtual video game currency digitally through the internet.
3. The Atlasian Congress finds that loot boxes are the video game equivalent to gambling, and therefore should be regulated accordingly
4. The Atlasian Congress finds that digital video game purchases are usually not clearly marked and actively try to mislead consumers, which leads to children making large purchases they never intended to do if they knew the real value of what they were doing

SECTION III: REGULATING LOOTBOXES
1. Any video games that contain loot boxes that can be bought with real life currency shall be considered as gambling devices, and therefore shall follow the appropiate federal and regional regulations on gambling where these exist.
2. Any video games that contain loot boxes may not be sold to people under 18 years of age.
3 2. Any digital video game purchases with real life currency shall be clearly marked and shall require the manual introduction of a credit card number and a password for every instance an item is purchased.

SECTION IV: ENACTMENT
1. This bill shall be enacted 2 weeks after passage
2. Physically distributed video games which have been already printed, manufactured and/or shipped as of the passage of this bill may still be legally sold under the previously standing regulations.

Introducing an amendment to fix the issues that Ninja and Encke have pointed out.

As things stand, my amended version of Section III.1 will not apply at the federal or regional levels. It will come into effect should future Congresses or regional governments introduce gambling regulations that apply to loot boxes.

[Mike Thick]

Sorry about the delay. I don’t have any particular problems with the amendment, but I’ll object so we can decide based on what the other Representatives think.

[Joseph Cao]

Mr. Speaker, I believe a vote on the amendment is in order.

[Sestak]

Apologies for my absence; will open this now.

[Sestak]

Video Games Ratings Restructuring Act
HOUSE BILL

Be it enacted by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

SECTION I: NAME
1. This bill may be cited as the Video Game Ratings Restructuring Act

SECTION II: DEFINITIONS AND FINDINGS
1. Lootbox shall be defined as a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomized selection of further virtual items, usually found as part of certain video games and that can be purchased through the use of real world money
2. Digital video game purchase shall be defined as the purchasing of a video game or other downloadable content, or unlock or the purchase of virtual video game currency digitally through the internet.
3. The Atlasian Congress finds that loot boxes are the video game equivalent to gambling, and therefore should be regulated accordingly
4. The Atlasian Congress finds that digital video game purchases are usually not clearly marked and actively try to mislead consumers, which leads to children making large purchases they never intended to do if they knew the real value of what they were doing

SECTION III: REGULATING LOOTBOXES
1. Any video games that contain loot boxes that can be bought with real life currency shall be considered as gambling devices, and therefore shall follow the appropiate federal and regional regulations on gambling where these exist.
2. Any video games that contain loot boxes may not be sold to people under 18 years of age.
3 2. Any digital video game purchases with real life currency shall be clearly marked and shall require the manual introduction of a credit card number and a password for every instance an item is purchased.

SECTION IV: ENACTMENT
1. This bill shall be enacted 2 weeks after passage
2. Physically distributed video games which have been already printed, manufactured and/or shipped as of the passage of this bill may still be legally sold under the previously standing regulations.

Amendment from: Rep. Joseph Cao
Sponsor feeback: Hostile

[Sestak]

Representatives, The Question is on Adoption of the Amendment above.

The question is put forth for a 72 hour vote.

[Devout Centrist]

Aye

[SevenEleven]

Aye

[Joseph Cao]

AYE

[Fmr. Representative Encke]

Aye

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Aye

[Gracile]

Aye

[Sestak]

72 hours having passed, the vote is closed.

Speaker	Not Voting
Razze	Not Voting
R. Clinton	Yea
Encke	Yea
Gracile	Yea
Joseph Cao	Yea
Ted Bessell	Not Voting
SevenEleven	Yea
HCP	Not Voting

The amendment is ADOPTED by a vote of 5-0.