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Many of these games have different types of in game currency which can be used to purchase lootboxes. With FIFA, one of those currencies can be bought with mon
by slg 5y ago
Many of these games have different types of in game currency which can be used to purchase lootboxes. With FIFA, one of those currencies can be bought with money. The other one can't be purchased directly and is earned through playing the game or selling what is received in the lootboxes. This means that a person doesn't need to use real money to participate in the gambling aspect. They can instead gamble their time which might not be as damaging as gambling money, but is still just as addicting.
Also even the real money gambling in a game like FIFA is more dangerous than physical trading cards. With physical cards, you had to go to a store and pay at point of sale. You couldn't easily do that with your parent's credit card and there was always a person on the other end of the transaction to stop you or even just exist as a social obstacle to discourage obscene spending. Those obstacles don't exist with lootboxes. A parent's credit card can easily be added to an account and you don't have to look another human in the eyes to make a purchase.
- dragonwriter 5y ago> With physical cards, you had to go to a store and pay at point of sale. No, you didn't; mail-order and then online retail in the hobby games industry has existed as long trading card games have.
- slg 5y agoFair enough, but I believe that is a fraction of the business compared to in person sales. Most kids were buying baseball cards or Pokemon cards from local stores. Plus those methods of purchase introduce their own obstacles such as latency. It is much more difficult to form an addiction when there is a two-week turnaround in each transaction compared to the instantaneous clicking of a button.
- zdragnar 5y agoI think the point stands: there is an aspect of delayed gratification in the waiting a week for money then getting away to go the store, and possibly waiting until you got home to open them. Mail order was worse, as postage added more waiting time and cost. Having it instantly accessible from your phone makes it so much easier to lose impulse control.