| vivster said: The problem isn't just the exploitative manner in which they are implemented. A loot box system is not something that just goes on top of everything. A game is shaped around them to entice people to spend real money. That means even if you don't care about loot boxes or simply ignore them you will still play a game that's worse than what it would be without loot boxes. That's the simple truth, to make loot boxes enticing you have to make the game as a whole worse so that people spend money to make it worth playing again. If loot boxes were actually fair or inconsequential they wouldn't exist because nobody would buy them. Customization is a huge part of online gaming because it is very much a social experience and everyone wants to look their best or unique. Greedy publishers hide behind that fact because there are still people defending micro transactions and loot boxes as "just cosmetic". While they are hiding more and more content behind paywalls. And not just normal paywalls, but huge ones. Thanks to loot boxes you nowadays pay 10 or 20 or even more bucks just for a single item. Imagine public reactions if those were direct ingame purchases. Loot boxes are way more insidious than just micro transactions. Remember how we hated those? And that's not even accounting for the fact that these companies are specifically targeting individuals with addictive personalities. At this point it stops being innocent and starts being just evil. Not protesting it now means it's gonna get only worse. |
You are the real MVP.
Nothing about lootboxes is consumer friendly. Those who defend this practice are masochists (unless of course, they are implementing the lootboxes and profiting from them). There is no justification for this system. It devalues the game, so people will spend money to add value to the full-priced game that they have purchased. It also preys on those with gambling and/or compulsive spending tendencies and/or addictive personalities. Games marketed towards children can have these lootbox systems, therefore it also targets those who struggle to rationally analyse or criticise such practices.
What makes this worse than gambling, is the fact that gambling actually provides a chance (albeit an incredibly slim chance) at monetary gain. Lootboxes give you the chance to gain a cosmetic look within a game, or the chance at getting an overpowered perk - thus disadvantaging other players - coercing them to get the lootbox to stay competitive. Thus spending money to roll an imaginary die. Like Vivster pointed out, lootcrates are an exploitative system.
Lootboxes lock away content that is already a part of the game. Some people have complained that DLC does this, however, at least DLC will guarantee you that content and will usually offer content post release. DLC usually consists of new content when done right (Witcher 3, Skyrim, Mario Kart 8 etc.).
