Loot boxes in video games are not a new thing,
but last year saw more games taking them on
as a monetization model, along with more
controversy surrounding the idea than ever
before. Loot b »xes as an idea (a box containing
randomized digital loot available for purchase
with real money) originally appeared in Chi-
nese games over a decade ago. The first use
of loot boxes by a North American publisher,
however, was in the Team Fortress 2 update
that introduced the Mann Co. Supply Crate.
Shortly after, Team a i free to
play.
Since 2010, loot boxes have popped up here
and there. Star Trek Online, as well as Never-
winter and other MMOs have used them as
an alternative revenue source for free to play
enabled games. The first use in a full-price title
was in the multiplayer pode of Mass Effect 3
in 2012.
Then came Overwatch. ©
In 2016, Blizzard’s team-based online FPS,
heavily inspired by Team Fortress 2, released
with loot boxes as a core component of its
level-up system. The boxes contained cosmetic
items, and were either earned through level-
ing up or purchased with real money from the
store. Overwatch was a critical and commercial
ed the floodgates.

to finda Triple-A game
with loot boxes than without them. Star Wars
Battlefront II was heavily criticized for in-
cluding in-game advantages in its loot boxes,
instead of purely cosmetic items. Similarly,
Middle Earth: Shadow of War features the
ability to buy loot boxes containing in-game
case actually playing the game is too
much of a bother. Call of Duty: WWII features
loot boxes that are visible to the other players
in game, so that other people can watch the
boxes being opened. Bungie’s Destiny 2 has
bright engrams, bought from an in-game mer-

  

  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
  

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ks it gambling?

— on the year of the Coot box
y Duncan Eingarson, Senior columnist

 

 

chant with a secondary currency that can be
obtained with real money.
The randomized reward system, coupled with
more desirable items existing at higher tiers of
rarity, makes the boxes a money sink. It might
take many purchases before a player gets the
item they want, and this repeat purchase loop
highly incentivizes publishers to put loot box-
es in their games, even in cases when the loot
boxes are detrimental to the core gameplay
experience.
To make things worse, people are bad at proba-
bility. There’s a reason the Gambler’s Fallacy is
called what it is, and one only has to walk into
a casino to see it at work. A lot of modern loot
boxes have flashy opening animations, and in
some cases the rarer items are even flashier.
It’s reminiscent of slot machines in presen-
tation and in implementation. But is it truly
gambling?
Certainly the governments of many countries
think so. In China, law requires all games with
loot boxes to disclose the odds. The Australian
regulatory commission has stated that they
believe loot boxes are gambling. The State of
Hawaii wants to combat loot boxes as well,
deeming them “predatory.” Belgium is investi-
gating whether or not to regulate such games
as gambling, as is the Netherlands. The issue,
however, is not that clear.
The UK Gambling Commission issued a posi-
tion paper in March 2017 that touches, among
other things, on loot boxes. The commission
found that, though loot boxes closely resem-
ble gambling through the elements of chance
and wagering a stake against a prize, it is not
licensable unless the prize has some monetary
value. If it’s restricted to in-game use, it’s not a
duck, no matter how much it quacks like one.
By a strict definition, they’re right. Loot boxes
offer the elements of chance, but the elements
of'stake and prize i debatable. In one
. b,