this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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Change my view: loot boxes aren't as bad as people claim they are. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Inb4 "sense of accomplishment" I'm not taking about obviously predatory practices here, more of the basic stuff.

So from what I understand, people are against loot boxes, because they are like gambling for children. I argue that gambling isint inheritly bad, and therefore loot boxes aren't either. The vast majority of people are able to go to a Casio and have a fun night. The vast majority of children can go to chuck E cheese and not become degenerates. Yes some people go overboard with it, but that's the same with alhocol, weed, food, etc.

I think a teenager pulling a double shift and spending some money on a virtual slot machine to win a virtual knife skin or some shit is perfectly fine. Yes, some will go overboard, but I think most people are okay.

Change my view

Edit: down voting because you disagree with me is going to lead to the same echo chamber we had on reddit. I'm actually trying to have a discussion on this

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (7 children)

What if Chuck E Cheese was in your bedroom and it was marketed to make you feel like you were missing out if you didn't have the thing your friend's had, but you can't buy the thing, oh no that's too easy. We'll let you buy the chance to own the thing.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I'll give you the proximity point, it is easier to access loot boxes when they are in a game.

But as for the missing out part, yeah that's how it works. Your friend wins something from the claw machine or gets a bunch of tickets, now you want that. That's part of the fun, your parents could just buy the toy but that's lame

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But your parents can't just buy the toy. The only way to get the toy is through the element of chance - sometimes with a near zero win chance - by spending real world money.

The only reason it's not de-facto gambling is that there are consolation prizes, but in most peoples' view that doesn't make it morally okay to push on children, nor does it make it completely not gambling either. It's just gambling with consolation prizes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I disagree that most people view it as bad. Arcades and stuff have been around forever, and are still being used by a ton of people. Just because you don't want send your kids to chuck E cheese doesn't mean most people agree with you

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You keep relying on the Chuck E. Cheese anology, but it simply doesn't work. At Chuck E. Cheese the prizes are a bunch of toys that your parents could otherwise buy, and the fun is in playing the games themselves which pay out tickets toward earning those prizes. That is in no way the equivalent of gamble boxes in video games.

Gamble boxes contain prizes that can't be bought outside the game, and in nearly every case contain prizes that can't be bought with the "consolation prize" (i.e. "tickets") that are dropped when you otherwise win nothing or very little compared to the actual prizes. And there is no inherent "fun" in clicking an "UNLOCK BOX" button compared to actually... playing a game in order to earn prizes. Not comparable at all, really.

If you're going to try to convince people they're not gambling (and you have quite the uphill battle to fight), you're better off likening them to blind bag grab-packs of card games / collector cards / toys, etc. - Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, sports cards, blind-bag toys etc. That is their closest real-world equivalent. Many would argue that those are also a form of gambling, as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I like a lot of your points, but I have to correct you in one area, I'm not trying to convince people this isint gambling. I don't think that casual gambling is a bad thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well fair enough, that is a different conversation. I'm not ready to take a hard stance on how it impacts children, people with addictive personalities, etc. but all I know for certain is that it doesn't feel right to include it in virtually every online video game, and it sure as hell got very annoying and tiresome very quickly years ago when it started.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Oh to be sure, there are way to many examples of jerks taking the loot box concept too far. But I'm not sure I'm ready to demonize it like some people do

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