SALLY GAINSBURY, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: We know that young people often change their age on social media platforms to gain access.įor a while now, there have been growing concerns about how easy it is for young people to access games that feature simulated gambling. But there are some studies that suggest that's not the case and that between 12 and 25 percent of young people are playing social casino games. They look and sound similar to pokie machines, some are even made by the same companies that make pokies, and they say that only a really small percentage of kids are actually playing them anyway. Sometimes my mom thinks she can win when she downloaded those games. The government wants them to carry an 18+ rating, which would make them illegal for anyone under age to play them. They're called social casinos, they're free to play and you can't win real money from them. The other games the government wants to put stricter classifications on are these. So, the government wants any games that feature loot boxes to carry an M, or mature, rating, which means they're not appropriate for anyone under the age of 15. Studies have found that gamers who buy loot boxes are up to two times more likely to gamble in real life. And if you play a lot, you get extra rewards. KID 1: The games I play in, you have to play a lot to get those loot boxes to get some experience. It's very common in gambling games and can make you want to play something for longer because you never quite know when you're going to get your next win. Loot boxes use a technique called intermittent rewarding which basically means letting you win at random intervals. And while some game developers, like Fortnite, have already started to phase out randomised loot boxes, there are still a whole heap of games that use them. Sometimes they're earned through game play, but a lot of the time they can be bought using real money. Loot boxes have been a bit of a controversial topic in recent years. But when you get like the really low rarity stuff, you feel like you've lost like so much things. KID 3: It feels really good when you get the awesome stuff. KID 1: A loot box is something that contains prizes, but there's a chance that you might get a good prize or a bad prize. So, what sort of games could be impacted? For starters anything containing these, loot boxes. They help give us an idea for what's appropriate for different age groups. Just like films and TV shows, video games are given a classification before we see them. It says those features aren't appropriate for kids and want stricter classifications for video games that contain them, whether or not they involve any real money. And now, the federal government wants to do something about it. While some are more obvious than others, there are a lot of video games out there that involve some form of gambling. KID 1: Yeah, I see them in ads, and they let you just tap it and play it.
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