If anyone thought that the loot box issue would go away following the ESRB’s announcement, they were wrong. The public is still very active in their questioning of loot boxes as a form of gambling, and though statements have been made comparing loot boxes to trading card games like Magic the Gathering, many gamers think more needs to be done to protect younger audiences. In fact, the gaming community has come out by the thousands and made the government give down a final verdict in the UK.

Despite what the ESRB had to say, a recent UK petition has just passed the 10K signature mark, meaning the UK government now has to make an official statement regarding the legality or attitude towards loot boxes as a form of gambling.

It may seem odd that the loot box issue has gone so far, but video games still exist mostly in a state of self-regulation. They are new enough and far enough into their own niche, that beyond the early upsets over games like Doom and Duke Nukem, they have largely been left alone. But with renewed interest in unscrupulous behavior from developers, as well as children getting into gaming at ever younger stages, steps are now being actively sought to better control an environment that has been largely chaotic.

Technically, America also has a petition form to get the White house to answer a public issue. However, after we used it to try and make Obama build a Death Star, they raised the number of petitions to 100k and then pretty much stopped listening to us. That means if the UK government doesn’t set some kind of precedent, many gamers will have to find somewhere else to turn. Either way, it’s unlikely this fight is over.