babinro said:
Potentially controversial topic ahead but one I feel could be interesting.
I'm sure many people here are at least vaguely familiar with the Battlefront 2 news surrounding loot boxes. Essentially, negative PR has lead to people and even countries calling out Loot boxes as potentially predatory practices that are akin to legal gambling accessible to children. The reason for this is because loot boxes represent random rewards for money spent where it could take an excessive amount of spending until you get the thing you desire (assuming you ever do).
I've seen a lot of people jump on board this issue and using the defense of children as the0 major point to strengthen their beliefs.
This is where things get interesting/controversial....
If this was our personal belief all along then why did it take until 2017 for this to become a HUGE issue in gaming?
Team Fortress was the first major franchise to popularize this concept to my knowledge.
We've had literally DECADES of facebook games and mobile games doing this.
Tons of credible free to play games have done something similar as well.
So the issue has been around for decades...children have had access to it for decades WITH NO BARRIER TO ENTRY SINCE IT WAS OFTEN FREE TO PLAY on platforms kids have direct access to.
If this issue truly is an ETHICAL and MORALE one...why did we stay silent?
It's my opinion that people getting on board the 'gambling to children' bandwagon are using it as a crutch to justify their actual purely selfish preferences on game design.
It reminds me of other controversial debates you'd hear about growing up from generation's prior. Don't listen to that music because _______. Don't play D&D because of _____.
Maybe being able to unite under a single reason that sounds good is all that matters if it leads to positive change?
Personal Note: Not that it should matter but I have not played any of the big 2017 loot box games. This post isn't coming from any personal bias for or against any particular game getting backlash. I don't personally care for loot box progression as a concept so I simply didn't buy any of those games.
To be fair, most Facebook and Mobile games have had microtransactions, not loot boxes. Theses are two different things that need to be made separately.
Lootboxes are gambling because the items you receive are RANDOM. Microtransactions are not random, you want the extra skin for a character in league? You buy it. You want a bigger space for your farmville farm, you buy it. There is no guessing, no risk that you aren;t getting want you are trying to pay for.
Whereas in lootboxes, you are paying for mystery items, most of which are basically trash and are of no interest or value to the player.
This goes against the ruling the ESRB made saying that gambling has a risk of getting nothing, but Lootboxes always give SOMETHING. There is value being given to the player even if it is minimal.
Now a better argument would be Trading Card Games which are basically also gambling in the same way lootboxes are gambling. Typically people buy randomized booster packs to hopefully get the good card they want, or multiple copies of said good card.
The biggest difference here is that kids can't just buy a bunch of booster packs in a physical card game for a couple of reasons. Number 1, they don't have access to the store 24/7 so there is very little possibility of buying on reflex or impulse. Number 2, video games like Battlefront 2 are constantly advertising and pushing these lootbox purchases on the player, meaning kids are going to be more highly exposed to this things and thus more likely to buy into them.
Even Shadow of War advertises the lootboxes literally everytime you pause the game. Remember how many times your parents made you pause the game as a kid to do something? Think about getting asked to buy shit every single fucking time you so much as pause the game. Keeping things fresh in kid's minds like that makes them more and more likely to ask for it.
Now it obviously falls upon parents to control extra spending their kids might do or want. But frankly parents also shouldn't have to deal with what amounts to an exploitative toy store constantly in their kids face. Video games should be a thing you buy and a thing you play, not a thing you buy and a thing that constantly keeps asking you to buy.