Loot Boxes

I know this doesn't apply specifically to SotA, but I must say, this is worth noting. Big Brother is sticking his nose in our business again.

https://kotaku.com/the-ftc-says-it-...4-YC1SZnzRcfPT6so5FnUlmhhnKjDScuhzgKTVxDxcA2A

 

I wonder if this refers to something I have come across: My grandson played Plants vs. Zombies when he was 7 years old and he always wanted to purchase some packs that would give him random abilities or skins. As soon as he had gathered enough points to buy the smallest pack he would, and he couldn't bring himself to save his points for something bigger. He constantly begged us to buy him more packs with real money, but we wouldn't.

 

My neighbouring country Belgium has just outright banned them. And rightfully so, since they are a game of chance.

 

The monetization of the Plants vs. Zombies 2 was embarassingly so.

 

Everything in life is a game of chance. A good lawyer could even argue if you buy SotA and fight monsters, it's a game of chance with your money on if you'll get something good or not compared to other people.

However, I doubt they can conclude lootboxes should be banned here. Because if so, then the next logical step is baseball cards, LOL dolls, ALL trading card games and so on. All those are is physical lootboxes and that would be insane to think those are bad. I could be wrong here and I hope I am.

 

And the game itself is a lootbox. I funded hoping to get a complete single player experience, for example, and instead I got SOTA.

 

Game of chance; what I meant was over here it has to do with the legal definition of gambling. That is potentially addictive.

If a system consists of gambling, it has to have provisions like that you are able to exclude yourself from participating.

 

I believe there is a big difference in receiving real items compared to digital items. I don't see how those are comparable. IMO

 

There should be an Ultima VII dungeon called Lootbox. That's how seedy they are!

 

Good. It's a dangerous thing. That line is typically crossed when you're lured into repeatedly buying more instances trying to get those select few things you're after.

Buying a game like SOTA, and not getting what you wanted, doesn't qualify. Further, the fact a person can buy games that keep coming up short, is a condemnation of the gaming industry, not an affirmation of loot boxes. It's not okay.

Things like buying baseball cards... yes, that's problematic too. How much money have have these people blown trying to get something "valuable" by chance? The fact that you can't just straight-up purchase the thing you want, is part of the mechanism that lures you into draining your wallet.

"A game of chance" isn't enough of a qualifier for the problem. No one cares about "supply bundles" in SOTA, because you don't have people spending real-life $$ binge-buying them (yet). I've voiced several times that I think bundles should have a guarantee of something good in them.

The problem arises when the conditions are met:
1) There's an random chance of getting something good.
2) The circumstances surrounding it require or heavily encourage you opening your wallet on an ongoing basis.
(whether the game itself is addictive so you spend too much time trying to farm supply bundles, for instance, is a different problem)

It's the sweet spot that many people are susceptible to. For all it's faults, I'm glad Port hasn't decided to try to exploit this glitch of human psychology.

 

I fail to see the connection to SotA.
And the fact that lootboxes suck and got the banhammer in a couple of countrys is old news as well.

 

There are two things in SotA that, if combined, could make loot boxes. Supply bundles and a cash shop. But Portalarium is wisely not "crossing the streams". It would be bad.