With the new golden age of judi online gaming comes a great deal of incredible new player experiences from some amazing companies. In that same breath, however comes the negatives of the industry, companies that prey on the consumers and the rise of loot boxes.
What are loot boxes?
In many games that feature an online mode where you are able to play with friends and strangers in multiplayer competitive modes. In these modes, the player is presented with the option to change the weapons they use or the way their characters look. The players also have the chance to buy what are called “loot boxes.”
Loot boxes allow the player to purchase a box that contains a random selection of gear, weapons or points for them to spend in the game. The crux of the issue is that those boxes require actual money to purchase. Some try to work their way around it by requiring the player to purchase a separate in-game currency which can instead be traded for the loot box, but the theme and consequence are identical.
The concept originates from the Japanese capsule toy vending machines Gashapon and has since been entered into a considerable amount of games since. Many of the loot boxes that have risen in games had a pay-to-win element, where the player would be give unlockable characters or in-game boosts that would have required hours of play to achieve through in game funds had they not paid.
How are they gambling?
As you would expect, anyone who places real money or a monetary simulacrum that you paid for with real money, on the outcome of a box that you do not know and cannot predict the contents of, is a gamble.
They require the participant to put money into a game of chance; which is the literal definition of gambling.
Currently, the world market on loot boxes is $20 billion.
Electronic Arts
One of the most prolific examples of a pay-to-win element being introduced into a game was EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II; this system essentially engages people, children included, in a gambling operation by providing them with a choice of either spending hundreds of hours in game to unlock a character or just pay and get it instantly.
EA have since come under heavy fire from governments around the world for these “surprise mechanics.”
How to combat it?
The only sure fire way of avoiding this predatory behaviour from continuing is to make it illegal for companies to include the option of paying real money into a game that a person has already paid for. Otherwise, the players will continuously be made to make a choice between spending hours of time to achieve something that others can simply purchase; it creates a disastrously unfair game for most and perpetuates the disgusting predatory economy for games companies to thrive on.
