I love stream but loot boxes are gambling, underaged gambling at that, and I hope NY wins the suit.
Valve should just go nuclear and disable access to Steam for all NYers. That will get them to care about who they vote for real damn quick.
On the physical side, popular products used in this way include baseball cards, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu. In the game space, digital packs similar to our boxes date back to 2004 and are in widespread use.
I think that video game loot boxes are very much different when you’re hiring psychologist to maximize fomo and extra currency to make kids spend more with 100 gems short of your next purchase.
But if they want we can outlaw baseball cards and Pokemon too. I’m good with that.
extra currency to make kids spend more with 100 gems short of your next purchase.
Valve doesn’t do that in their games though?
Valve I think are the most “ethical” implementations of loot boxes that just straight up charges cash.
I mean, it’s not different. Pokemon and MtG also have departments to try to entice users with fomo. It’s what marketing is. It’s why they have limited runs, promotional crossovers, etc. Valve is just more open about the process.
Valid point. Still I think that there’s a notifiable difference between the physical vs digital aspects though that makes digital much worse.
There’s seems to be more effort involved with cards because they’re physical, more ritual maybe of going to the store to pick up a pack of cards or having to wait for the delivery giving it that cool down time vs digital where access is instant gratification and gambling dopamine hit.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that those companies that have tried physical loot boxes haven’t faired well either and haven’t taken off like their digital counterparts. Maybe it’s that mix of seeing physical items vs value and waiting for the next hit kind of dampens the gambling addition effect.
And then there’s the whole money into currency with the whole 1000 gems for 99 bucks to buy a 950 gem item psychological predation that you don’t have in physical collectibles, at least not that I’m aware of.
I guess overall I find the digital loot box just on another level of predatory, exploitation of addiction much worse than physical collectibles.
But hey I’m all for regulating physical items for gambling too. It would be interesting to see a actual study on them like they’ve done with loot boxes.
If anyone wants a recent decent video on how MTG has been using FOMO tactics with their direct-sale products, see here.
I mean ethically we might just wanna regulate them, not outlaw them. Just like all the rules regarding online poker before the trumpet entered the picture.
