Handonghun: "If the 'Dicon Contract Act' is established, legal responsibility for probability-type games can be enforced"

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Justice, expressed the opinion that if the Digital Content Contract Act (Digital Content Contract Law) is introduced into the Civil Act, legal responsibility could be imposed on "probability-type items" (so-called gacha games) that deceive consumers.

On the 16th, Minister Han said through the Ministry of Justice's social media (SNS) Facebook, "With the introduction of the Digital Content Contract Act, users can be more thoroughly protected in digital content-related transactions that were previously blind spots in traditional contract law."

He added, "It is expected that appropriate legal responsibility can also be imposed on digital content that fails to meet the functions and quality reasonably expected in terms of transaction concepts, such as false provision of probability information and probability manipulation in 'gacha games.'"

This law is included in the partial amendment to the Civil Act announced for legislative notice by the Ministry of Justice on the 1st. According to it, if there is a defect in digital content, users can request correction, and if the provider does not fix the defect, users have the right to claim a discount on the content price or terminate the contract.

Until now, some game companies often falsely informed users about the probability of game items purchased with real money. For example, in 2018, the Fair Trade Commission caught cases where "draw-type" items that enhance in-game abilities were sold with the appearance probability marked as "less than 1%," but the actual probability was between 0.0005% and 0.0008%.

However, it has been difficult to hold game companies accountable in civil or criminal law for acts that cause users to spend money through false, exaggerated, or deceptive methods, as proving intent or negligence was challenging.

A Ministry of Justice official stated, "Minister Han, who enjoys playing games occasionally, recognized these harms and personally took charge of this law to protect users' rights."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.