4 ms·

The lootbox mechanic can be easily disguised without making it seem like gambling: 1.Buy lots in-game currency with cash or grind X hours for it. 2.Buy "A ticke

The lootbox mechanic can be easily disguised without making it seem like gambling: 1.Buy lots in-game currency with cash or grind X hours for it. 2.Buy "A ticket to dungeon Y" with in-game currency. 3.The dungeon has a boss that is essentially a easy to kill walking lootbox. Tada, all gambling regulations bypassed. If you want to play loot-centric games this is your choice. All MMOs that revolve around items and loot will bypass the "lootbox" ban with a system as described above or better. (for the record, this system is actually in widespread use in Asia-based MMOs)

Nullabillity 8y ago
So.. single-use dungeon tickets are gambling too?
- slavik81 8y ago
  There's one level of indirection between letting you buy an exclusive pass to fight a monster that has some special random drop vs. letting you buy a special random drop. That's basically the 'skill-testing question' hack that's used to run every sweepstakes in Canada. You'd have a revolt on your hands if you outlawed "Roll Up the Rim to Win".
- Drakim 8y ago
  Game Publisher: Oh no, We wouldn't dream of having gambling in our game! That's why we don't have single-use dungeon tickets (which is just gambling with one extra step between). You can do our dungeons as many times as you want, they aren't single use. Of course doing a dungeon run costs five purple crystals, which costs five bucks. After an epic story focused (cut-scenes that you can skip) showdown with a boss (that you can take down in one attack) you get random loot from a loot table, just like in good old games like Diablo (functionally the same as a lootbox). Of course, the fact that it works out to 5 bucks for a random item is not gambling, since we now have two steps instead of just one.
  - pas 8y ago
    In both WoW and Diablo2 doing instas required nothing but the game itself (for WoW it was the monthly subscription, for Diablo2 it was a one time purchase). Of course, if there's a freemium model, it's very hard to argue that it's not gambling, if people buy in-game-something to speed up grinding. But in that regard simply wasting time for a low-probability-drop item is also gambling. The problem is that in the direct microtransaction lootbox model there's just an insane feedback loop, to get that nice knife/gun/armor/breastplate. It should be treated like addiction - which it is. People like to play hazard games, so gambling will be with us forever, and some people will not be able to handle the accompanying mental draw to that dopaminergic feedback loop.
  - Nullabillity 8y ago
    That's still a ticket required to enter the dungeon.
Grangar 8y ago
I think the easy-to-kill-walking-lootbox-boss isn't as as much gambling as the current lootbox system. An important element is that the game shows you all these possible rewards much like a slot machine. I'd be surprised if they'd include that as a gameplay element.
- kingkongjaffa 8y ago
  dedicated people use their past wins against bosses to populate drop table of the potential chance of getting a certain drop. It's very much a system that shows your all possible rewards like a slot machine.

Nullabillity 8y ago

So.. single-use dungeon tickets are gambling too?

slavik81 8y ago
There's one level of indirection between letting you buy an exclusive pass to fight a monster that has some special random drop vs. letting you buy a special random drop. That's basically the 'skill-testing question' hack that's used to run every sweepstakes in Canada. You'd have a revolt on your hands if you outlawed "Roll Up the Rim to Win".
Drakim 8y ago
Game Publisher: Oh no, We wouldn't dream of having gambling in our game! That's why we don't have single-use dungeon tickets (which is just gambling with one extra step between). You can do our dungeons as many times as you want, they aren't single use. Of course doing a dungeon run costs five purple crystals, which costs five bucks. After an epic story focused (cut-scenes that you can skip) showdown with a boss (that you can take down in one attack) you get random loot from a loot table, just like in good old games like Diablo (functionally the same as a lootbox). Of course, the fact that it works out to 5 bucks for a random item is not gambling, since we now have two steps instead of just one.
- pas 8y ago
  In both WoW and Diablo2 doing instas required nothing but the game itself (for WoW it was the monthly subscription, for Diablo2 it was a one time purchase). Of course, if there's a freemium model, it's very hard to argue that it's not gambling, if people buy in-game-something to speed up grinding. But in that regard simply wasting time for a low-probability-drop item is also gambling. The problem is that in the direct microtransaction lootbox model there's just an insane feedback loop, to get that nice knife/gun/armor/breastplate. It should be treated like addiction - which it is. People like to play hazard games, so gambling will be with us forever, and some people will not be able to handle the accompanying mental draw to that dopaminergic feedback loop.
- Nullabillity 8y ago
  That's still a ticket required to enter the dungeon.

Grangar 8y ago

I think the easy-to-kill-walking-lootbox-boss isn't as as much gambling as the current lootbox system. An important element is that the game shows you all these possible rewards much like a slot machine. I'd be surprised if they'd include that as a gameplay element.

kingkongjaffa 8y ago
dedicated people use their past wins against bosses to populate drop table of the potential chance of getting a certain drop. It's very much a system that shows your all possible rewards like a slot machine.