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And still, I don't know anyone who ruined their life as a result of addiction to buying CCGs or baseball cards (and I do know that many of us learned a few thin

And still, I don't know anyone who ruined their life as a result of addiction to buying CCGs or baseball cards (and I do know that many of us learned a few things about economy thanks to them, when we were kids). I'm not saying it can't happen, maybe someone will dig out an example, but it would be an extremely rare edge case. In games with loot boxes, on the other hand, many people end up spending totally crazy amounts for their income and essentially ruin their life. It's true that there is a continuous scale between baseball cards and the casino, with several factors influencing the level of addictiveness (immediacy, amount of maximum reward, etc.) and it's not obvious where one should set the limit. But there should be a limit, and IMO it should be one that heavily regulates loot boxes (and in particular, forbids minors from buying them) and doesn't touch CCGs or baseball cards. Claiming that we should not touch loot boxes because CCGs are similar would be a textbook example of the continuum fallacy.

mmacvicarprett 6y ago
I sounds to me that when you say that many people end up spending totally crazy amounts for their income and essentially ruin their life you are just referring to anecdotes (kid using mom phone with activated credit card and no protections), what makes you think this is a real and big problem?
- Al-Khwarizmi 6y ago
  I play a mobile game with loot boxes (although I don't buy them myself) and I am a frequent user of community forums where players talk about the game. Stories about people with modest income spending thousands a month, and sometimes losing their partner for this reason, are very common. Often a thread comes up on the matter and many people chime in with stories of that kind. Of course, it's still anecdotes. It's impossible to have actual data, as obviously the developers aren't going to give us statistics on how many people are spending unhealthy amounts of money in the game. But my impression (and the impression of most players I know) is that it's quite widespread, and I'm not talking about kids, but adults that just don't know when to stop.
- Can_Not 6y ago
  > what makes you think this is a real and big problem? The average quality of mobile games have plummeted. Most companies have no inventive to make good games when they can legally trick children into gambling.

mmacvicarprett 6y ago

I sounds to me that when you say that many people end up spending totally crazy amounts for their income and essentially ruin their life you are just referring to anecdotes (kid using mom phone with activated credit card and no protections), what makes you think this is a real and big problem?

Al-Khwarizmi 6y ago
I play a mobile game with loot boxes (although I don't buy them myself) and I am a frequent user of community forums where players talk about the game. Stories about people with modest income spending thousands a month, and sometimes losing their partner for this reason, are very common. Often a thread comes up on the matter and many people chime in with stories of that kind. Of course, it's still anecdotes. It's impossible to have actual data, as obviously the developers aren't going to give us statistics on how many people are spending unhealthy amounts of money in the game. But my impression (and the impression of most players I know) is that it's quite widespread, and I'm not talking about kids, but adults that just don't know when to stop.
Can_Not 6y ago
> what makes you think this is a real and big problem? The average quality of mobile games have plummeted. Most companies have no inventive to make good games when they can legally trick children into gambling.