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Loot Boxes: Difference between revisions
Okay, first pass on turning Jade's text into standard English.
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Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (Okay, first pass on turning Jade's text into standard English.) |
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Loot boxes can be acquired through several means, depending on the game. Among the most common are waiting for them to be drop during or after gameplay, for completing rounds without quitting during in a multiplayer match or other special competition, as an award for reaching a new level, or as part of in-game special occasions or events. They might also be acquired by purchasing them with an in-game currency or using in-game crafting components to make them. Most controversially, though, are those games that offer Loot Boxes for real money, either via on-the-fly purchase through [[microtransactions]] or [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|buying keys from the game's virtual store]] to open otherwise sealed boxes that drop during normal play.
All of these versions of Loot Boxes can be found in the smallest mobile games and up to the huge video games that can be found in PC and consoles, especially ones that uses the free to play models.
While many game companies will say that they use Loot Boxes to keep their players engaged and offer easy and incremental improvements to game contents, there is no denying that they ''also'' get an ongoing revenue stream while avoiding the need to create new [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] or the overhead of game subscriptions.
One of the earliest and most influential form of Loot Boxes originated in [[Electronic Arts]]'s early ''FIFA'' games, like ''[[FIFA Soccer]]''. Andrew Wilson, one of EA's CEOs, evolved the ''FIFA'' system when he saw that they could merge microtransactions with the games' existing card pack system, which already bore a strong similarity to modern Loot Boxes. The result was a new element in online (and even offline) gaming with a corresponding new revenue stream for the company.▼
However, this game mechanic is not without controversy. No small number of gamers hate Loot Boxes because they feel the mechanic detracts from game play as players with money to spend focus their effort on [[Munchkin|buying boxes to collect ever-more-powerful rare items that give them an advantage over other players]], leaving players who cannot or do not want to invest money in Loot Boxes ▼
▲One of the earliest and most influential
▲However, this game mechanic is not without controversy. No small number of gamers hate Loot Boxes because they feel the mechanic detracts from game play.
On top of this was the valid complaint that these games are already highly priced -- often US$30 to US$60 for the main game alone -- that it is exploitative or even fraudulent to require ''additional'' outlays of cash from players to receive content that they reasonably feel should have been included in the game already.
Then there are the legal issues raised during 2018 and 2019 -- loot boxes came under fire in multiple jurisdictions like Belgium, which have designated them as gambling, placing them alongside online casinos in terms of regulation, and Japan, where the ''kompu gacha'' loot boxes are banned outright by the Consumer Affairs Agency. Questions were raised not only about circumventing gambling regulations but also the effect of random reward systems on personalities already prone to addictive behaviors. Then there were concerns about a growing underground market for selling loot from boxes for real money at often exorbitant prices, driven by the legally-grey "gold miner" industry based out of the far east.
Compare [[Gacha Game]]. Not be confused with a type of mail order subscription program where the mystery boxes are physical and take up space in your closet.
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