Microtransactions and Loot Boxes within Video Games should be banned and here's why [Fifa 21]

It's been a growing gripe of mine that microtransactions within video games act as more of a necessity these days than an easy way to advance.

The new FIFA 21 video game has just launched and with it comes a new Ultimate Team for people to spend money on to produce the best XI they can to win and climb up the rankings. But what happened to just playing seasons or online mode - or manager mode, remember that?

Ultimate Team has become a staple of the FIFA video game series and FUT Champs an evolution within the revolution. This game mode allows players to buy 'packs', much like 00s kids did with Pokemon cards or Merlin stickers during a football tournament year ("Got, got need").

The game mode isn't just a monetary based though, you can play it without spending, but will be severely disadvantaged against those that have due to the speed in which better players and attributes are obtained. This may promote those who do not spend money to begin spending money and thus the industry expands.

FIFA isn't the only video game series that offers this, you can in-game purchase on many modern video games, some of which are to advance yourself faster, whereas some are for additional content to expand the lifespan of the game.

The problem I have with what Ultimate Team on FIFA offers is that it's very much a lottery - which is gambling - what you get. In some games you can very specifically see what your additional funds are buying, whereas with some aspects of FIFA it's complete chance. There are levels to it too, with more lucrative options offering more lucrative rewards such as the 'walk out' as it's know, where a player above a certain status will generate an animation which in turn excites the player to thinking they have a top player. This is more often than not disappointing as it's usually not a 'top top player', but a high-mid-range player.

With social media being so dominant and many Youtubers sharing their FIFA experiences, it leads to gamers wanting to emulate the success of their peers and this is achieved either by playing masses of games to earn enough points, or simply scanning your bank details (or parent's!) into the game and getting that hit much faster.

Belgium banned these microtransactions in 2018, while senator Josh Hawley has lobbied for a similar outcome in the USA in 2019.

Parents, if your children play these modern games, please have a look at the screens they navigate through and ensure that these 'safe' games are actually safe, because they may not have guns and violence, but addiction and gambling is just as dangerous.

Thanks for listening.