Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brain vulnerabilities? So ban alcoholic drinks and thrill rides too?
Yes please ban alcohol/make it hard to get.
Over my dead body.
Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
151–160 of 208 posts
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
What are "kids"? Age of majority is all over the place, there's no hard and fast rule for when adolescents become adults, every society on the planet has a different take on it. For example, you can get married at 16 in the UK, but can't drive until 17 (it's not a priority as we didn't build so many car-dependent hellscapes), and you can buy alcohol at 18 or be given it with a meal by your parents at younger ages, be…
> and you can buy alcohol at 18 or be given it with a meal by your parents at younger ages, because we didn't have puritans making motorway funding contingent on passing strict drinking laws like the USA did. 16 if you're buying wine or beer with a meal, at least in Scotland. This means that when you go to your mate's mum's pub for a pub lunch on a Friday you need to watch out for your teachers also going for a lunch…
> Man, the 80s were wild.
Early 90s for me but there was an unwritten rule that the teachers had the nearest couple of pubs and the students had a few further afield. That prevented most unwanted mixing.
But those days are still here in some ways.
As a parent of a 16yo in the UK I can confirm that the vast majority of teenagers have somewhere they can go to get a drink if they really want. Unless you live in the sticks there will always be some pubs that will happily serve 16/17 year olds a few drinks as long as they're not doing shots or obviously getting hammered. Off-licenses are mostly stricter but very good/convincing fake ID is so easy to get nowadays.
What tends to be the limiting factor is money. £7 a pint in a London pub quickly eats away at whatever allowance they're getting or money they're earning themselves, and Spoons (the cheaper pub option) is often stricter on ID/ages than most (some nights/pubs are minimum age 21 which means the fake ID that says a 16yo is 18 is no use).
Chatting to my kid's friends they say that if they do want some kind of a buzz most of their cohort prefer low-grade drug use (weed, ket, etc) as it is considerably easier to get hold of and much cheaper than alcohol. However, as a generation, they tend to be a lot cleaner than previous generations, certainly cleaner than my generation. There are a huge number of them that don't do any drugs, many don't drink alcohol at all but are quite tolerant of friends who do want to drink/take. There seems to be a lot more acceptance and less peer-pressure.
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
No we outlaw them to disproportionately put minorities in jail… I would rather not give the government more power.
Too much thumos , not enough nous in this conversation... 1. Alcohol may be consumed in moderation for enjoyment with no frustrating effect on our rational faculties. Even the bad effects on health are often overblown. They tend to be chronic and rooted in habitual consumption. Save for people with a predisposition for alcoholism, people generally do not experience compulsive desires for alcohol. 2. Gambling isn't co…
I am responding to the commenter who implied outlawing alcohol wouldn’t be a bad thing
> We absolutely could do without alcohol too and it's certainly far more harmful than lootboxes by any metric.
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brain vulnerabilities? So ban alcoholic drinks and thrill rides too?
Thrill rides? Probably not, I don't think there are many people having their life ruined by their addiction to amusement parks. Alcoholic drinks? History of bans like that suggests that it's not a good idea. However that doesn't mean that nothing can be done. Addictions to alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling damage both the person suffering from them and the friends/loved ones around that person. It is most likely impo…
> it can be reduced by denormalizing casual alcohol intake
This! I find it so strange that, in 2026, they still casually drink whisky in Hollywood movies and TV shows at the office and at home every time they encounter a tough situation. That subtle suggestion that alcohol will somehow help.
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brain vulnerabilities? So ban alcoholic drinks and thrill rides too?
Thrill rides? Probably not, I don't think there are many people having their life ruined by their addiction to amusement parks. Alcoholic drinks? History of bans like that suggests that it's not a good idea. However that doesn't mean that nothing can be done. Addictions to alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling damage both the person suffering from them and the friends/loved ones around that person. It is most likely impo…
The current generation is already consuming much less alcohol! Just keep taxing and it'll be virtually gone.
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thrill rides? Probably not, I don't think there are many people having their life ruined by their addiction to amusement parks. Alcoholic drinks? History of bans like that suggests that it's not a good idea. However that doesn't mean that nothing can be done. Addictions to alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling damage both the person suffering from them and the friends/loved ones around that person. It is most likely impo…
The current generation is already consuming much less alcohol! Just keep taxing and it'll be virtually gone.
You'll just end up creating a black market (high tax has resulted in 1/3 of cigarettes being illegal in the UK) and home production (since anyone can make their own alcohol easily)
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#157I wish they'd add mandatory labeling. I'm over 16 and have no interest in games with loot boxes.
Labeling and filtering. It's much the same for various app stores. Just let me filter for "In-app purchase", if you have that, I'm not interested anyway.
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess it's not gambling, or it'd be covered by the UKs existing laws around gambling that set the minimum age to 18. edit: I'm pointing out the UK has apparently decided lootboxes are not gambling, because if they did classify it as gambling it'd be covered by existing gambling laws that restrict it to 18+. Not that I personally hold that opinion, though I can see how I could have phrased my original message better…
> I'm pointing out the UK has apparently decided lootboxes are not gambling Wow, considering how the UK has been going full Taliban on everything why stop at lootboxes? Guess the politicians are getting some money/bribes from the lootbox companies.
There's a nuance here. Consider these two positions that both mean that the UK Government does not currently recognise lootboxes as a form of gambling:
A: The UK Government has decided that lootboxes are not gambling. B: The UK government has not decided whether lootboxes are gambling or not.
The current situation is a lot closer to B than A. The UK Government has decided not to extend the existing Gambling laws to cover video game loot boxes. The existing laws did not automatically cover them, so a decision has to be made whether to amend the laws or not. Instead it has asked the industry to self-regulate. In 2022 there was a review that asked for improvements, restricting some access and mandatory spending controls. There have been other reviews and studies.
It seems quite clear that the industry is not doing enough (no surprise, it's a cash cow for them) so it's likely to mean the Government will crank up the legislation to force their hand, but the wheels of Government move slowly; way too slowly for many people who have been affected by this.
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thrill rides? Probably not, I don't think there are many people having their life ruined by their addiction to amusement parks. Alcoholic drinks? History of bans like that suggests that it's not a good idea. However that doesn't mean that nothing can be done. Addictions to alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling damage both the person suffering from them and the friends/loved ones around that person. It is most likely impo…
> it can be reduced by denormalizing casual alcohol intake This! I find it so strange that, in 2026, they still casually drink whisky in Hollywood movies and TV shows at the office and at home every time they encounter a tough situation. That subtle suggestion that alcohol will somehow help.
It does help.
(random research paper but there are many. Nit pick if you like) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6760384/
However two thing can at the same time be true. Alcohol is one of the most dangerous and destructive drugs in society and also whisky in the evening by the fire can chill you out.
Re: Games with loot boxes to get minimum 16 age rating across Europe
#160Watch how fast they use this to further the extent of mandatory age verification online. That's what they usually do (read: the Shock Doctrine from Naomi Klein). Problem arises, create legislation (likely reducing freedom or increasing surveillance), use said legislation down the line after everybody forgets about it to further whatever their agenda is.
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
This said the gambling bullshit is going way too far and has it's own set of consequences in society. Remember, every time you act like an asshole to maximize the amount of money you can rip off of others, you invite an authoritarian takeover when the average person in society gets tired of your bullshit.