sense, it’s impossible to lose when you buy a
loot box; the contents might not be what you
want, but you'll always get something. On a
slot machine, there’s no such guarantee. Loot
boxes are more akin toa lucky dip or grab bag,
where the contents are unknown but never
nonexistent. The waters apgeer muddied
by the fact that loot boxes contain digital
items only, often not able to be exchanged for
currency, and thus holding no intrinsic mone-
tary value.
That said, loot boxes do look an awful lot like
gambling, even if they cannot be regulated as
such. Everything about loot boxes is designed
to get players to want to buy more, sometimes
to the tune of hundreds of dollars. Often-
times there’s a second virtual currency that is
bought with real money, then exchanged for
the box, in an effort to obfuscate how much
actual money is being spent. There’s also the
same sort of operant conditioning effect that
happens with gambling; because the rewards
are randomized, there’s always the chance
that the next one will be the one you want. Or
the next one. Or the next one... It’s a vicious
cycle.
Though loot boxes have hit the news in Cana-
da, there are currently no regulations on them
in our country. Gambling is regulated provin-
cially, so if there is to be loot box law in Can-
ada, it’ll have to come from the provincial
government.
There is, then, no
solid answer
for the ques-
tion “Are
loot boxes
gambling?”
The closest
that has been
arrived at so
far is a se-
ries of “Yes,
but...”

> jae
|
“No, but...”-type answers. At least in BC, it’s
not yet regulated as such. Should it be? Quite |
possibly. Certainly something should be done
to help protect consumers. The video game
industry has not shown any particular inclina-
tion to regulate itself, and why would it? Loot
box systems make money hand over fist.
Until people get better at thinking about and
handling their money—something which
hasn’t happened in all the time we’ve had
money, and is unlikely to happen any time
soon—or the next big thing comes slonl, it
looks like loot boxes are here to stay. com
munity backlash has forced some games to
modify or disable their loot boxes, but nobody
has yet removed them completely, and more
and more games keep trying to find ways to
squeeze them in.
The only option to truly avoid loot boxes is to
not buy games that contain them. There are
still some publishers putting out games loot
box-free, and the indie scene is littered with
quality titles if you know where to look.
At the very least, when buying and playing
games, try to avoid paying twice.