Lootboxes are not gambling - There is literally nothing wrong with Lootboxes

[Kuchipatchi]

I'd most definitely be gambling when buying a lootcrate. I have not seen a single item I want in a loot crate service, it's all normie shit.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Card sharps- cool. Some nerd buying a lootbox- never gonna be cool.

Or a good financial move.

 

[lil bitch]

personally, i see it as gambling, still. you're paying money to get some randomized in-game items with the false pretense that you're going to get something rare or special, while the chances of getting those are slim. you don't get any, and some people give up, while others spend more money and open another one. and another one... and another one. the cycle continues for some people. that's gambling, it's the same as a casino game. the human brain doesn't understand how small a chance of actually "winning" or "getting that rare item" is, so they keep doing it, and give their money to activision/blizzard or yay company in the process while they get common items.

it has nothing to do with if you could sell what you get or not. it has nothing to do with what you earn. it has to do with the premise of it. if you're giving money away for a chance to win something special or big, that's still gambling in a sort of way. this is psychological marketing at it's best.

 

[Colonel J]

personally, i see it as gambling, still. you're paying money to get some randomized in-game items with the false pretense that you're going to get something rare or special, while the chances of getting those are slim. you don't get any, and some people give up, while others spend more money and open another one. and another one... and another one. the cycle continues for some people. that's gambling, it's the same as a casino game. the human brain doesn't understand how small a chance of actually "winning" or "getting that rare item" is, so they keep doing it, and give their money to activision/blizzard or yay company in the process while they get common items.

it has nothing to do with if you could sell what you get or not. it has nothing to do with what you earn. it has to do with the premise of it. if you're giving money away for a chance to win something special or big, that's still gambling in a sort of way. this is psychological marketing at it's best.

Do you agree or disagree with how I prove that lootboxes are not gambling by definition? If you disagree, which part of what I stated do you feel is incorrect?

One definition of gambling:
A. play games of chance for money; bet.
B. take risky action in the hope of a desired result.

You see, the problem with that second, terrible definition of gambling is that it can apply to many things which is why I like the results of either losing your money entirely, winning nothing, or to increase your money to constitute gambling.

Firstly, is buying a lootbox "risky"? I'd say no. The price of them are relatively low and you are guaranteed to win something. Secondly, that definition it can apply to many actions. I can take a risky move in a videogame or a sport, high risk high reward, and we will both agree that sports and videogames should not be banned despite some parts of it being gambles by definition.

As for the first definition... While it is true there is some chance involved in what you win, lootboxes are not a game. A game is something you can win or lose and you cannot win or lose from a lootbox as I have said earlier. You always win something from a lootbox. I'd consider "losing" a game a chance to be winning nothing at all like what occurs in actual gambling.

 

[lil bitch]

Do you agree or disagree with how I prove that lootboxes are not gambling by definition? If you disagree, which part of what I stated do you feel is incorrect?

it's not gambling by definition, and i agree, but there's a sort of essence of it that's similar to gambling, as i explained. as for the winning and losing part, i disagree. when someone opens a lootbox there's an idea of what "winning" and "losing" is like. "losing" is getting those crappy common items that aren't anything special, while "winning" is getting those legendary or rare items. sure, by definition, it's not winning or losing. you always gain something. but psychologically it's a different story. you might think "losing" is something different compared to someone else. most of the time what you earn in a lootbox isn't what people want. they want the rare hard to find items that are expensive. in CSGO, no one's going to go, "oh fuck, i just got a battle-scarred AUG contractor!" because an AUG contrator is worth a cent. no one wants an item that's worth a cent. they want an AWP asimov, because those go for $63 (canadian, at least). you see where i'm going?

 

[José Mourinho]

It’s obviously gambling when you’re gambling real life money for a chance for a rare ingame item or some pixels which has a small percentage.

I still don’t mind too much if it’s on freemium games but implementing it into paid games is extremely stupid.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

OK, so if I sell a game, and there's a 50% chance instead of the game installing you get a pop up "Sorry try again, you didn't win" that's not gambling by your definition? Since you can't win money?

Your personal definition of gambling isn't the real one. You don't need to be able to win money for it to be gambling.

If I cannot determine if my car has enough gas to make it home, and I decide to go for it, what I have done is gambled. My potential prize is getting home without having to pump gas. My potential loss is running out of gas. In neither scenario do I make money.

Also, OP, you claim to have proven something when the word you're looking for is stated. You have stated that lootboxes aren't gambling.

 

[That Chris Guy]

As others have stated, making a bet on something that doesn't involve money but involves a chance at losing an asset of value...is still gambling.

Lootboxes are a terrible marketing practice. They are specifically designed to make players pay real money in microtransactions as the grind/slog has to be made longer in order for the lootbox to actually be appealing, and often are the only feasible way to progress in a game bar your time being worth absolutely nothing.

Worse still - and this is especially true for AAA games - they are the lazy dev's golden egg. They introduce artificial length to a game, so much less content can be made so long as you hide it behind a slot machine. Only 10 outfits in your MMO? Just put them behind lootboxes, label the two best-looking as "ultra-rare" and give them a probability algorithm that would make getting struck by lightning look more favourable.

So yes, lootboxes are gambling, and a cancer on the industry.

 

[Colonel J]

Your personal definition of gambling isn't the real one. You don't need to be able to win money for it to be gambling.

I argued with both personal definition and real definitions. See my proof below that involve actual definitions:

Proof 1 and 2 are dependent on how we read the definition of gamble. "Play games of chance for money."

This can mean:
1) playing game a of chance for the purpose of money (Proof 2)
or
2) playing a game of chance at the cost of money (Proof 1)

 

[Medicated]

I consider Lootboxes gambling. Collectable Card Games Gambling. Recently the "mystery toy" gambling has come back in a huge way. Not the little handheld ones, I mean big expensive Mystery toys.

Essentially they are trying to use gambling psychology on children now because it works. You are looking at RL lootboxes now.

 

[Dick Justice]

I know OP's memeing, but what bothers me is the people feeding him are contesting him on the point of gambling, which completely misses the real issue. The problem isn't whether or not lootboxes are gambling, it's that access to their contents are restricted in the first place. In the digital realm creating a 1:1 duplicate of something is as simple as ctrl+c, ctrl+v. Think about it, we've created the perfect post-scarcity environment and in our infinite wisdom instead of making cool things what did we do? We made artificial scarcity. We've actively sabotaged ourselves. That's like inventing a universal constructor and then using it to create Smallpox 2: Pox Harder.

 

[Colonel J]

I consider Lootboxes gambling. Collectable Card Games Gambling. Recently the "mystery toy" gambling has come back in a huge way. Not the little handheld ones, I mean big expensive Mystery toys.

Essentially they are trying to use gambling psychology on children now because it works. You are looking at RL lootboxes now.

Are little 50/75 cent sticker/toy machines are grocery stores also gambling?

 

[Medicated]

Are little 50/75 cent sticker/toy machines are grocery stores also gambling?

Well yeah, you are paying money for in unknown item, you know its a toy, you don't know if it's a toy you like or want.

If I'm gambling at a casino, I pay the blind to see a card, I don't know if its the card I want, but I know it will be a card and not a jellybean.

 

[Secret Asshole]

Its fucking gambling. Its the literal fucking definition. You are paying money to gamble to get something that is better than what you are already given. Its like IRL lootcrates. 'Ohh, I spend 50 bucks on this mystery box and I might get a PS4!'

Are little 50/75 cent sticker/toy machines are grocery stores also gambling?

Yes. The thing is, the degree of the exploitation. When you're at a store, that's a throwaway thing for no money. There's very little risk. Because you're putting 50 cents in while your mom or dad is paying for something. Maybe you do it once or twice, but you're not staying there. You leave. You might never, ever come back. The total spent is maybe 1-2 dollars. EVER. Maybe every 6 months. There is nothing forcing you to stay, nor is any one item more valuable than the other. They're all equally worth the same amount of money. You're gambling to get the one you want. You're placing the value on it. Odds are basically completely equal. I guarnafuckingtee if you had a sticker of pure gold worth $500 and it was displayed prominently on the machine, and the machine was made to feed money and credit cards real easy into it, you'd have a gambling commission on your balls faster than Al Pacino did in Casino.

If you're a child, playing a game, something is advertised as ultra rare and super valuable and the loot box is 5.99 or some ridiculous arbitrary in game currency, you can spend hundreds of dollars at a time with a parent's credit card. Sometimes thousands in a month. The thing is, like others have said, you can design it where you promote this ultra flashy thing that in actuality, has an X chance of appearing, which will get you X number of dollars. The same thing as a fucking roulette table. You have odds. You have money. You have the 'house' which, not only KNOWS the odds, it fucking makes them. Its worse than going to a casino. Because fuck, at least there's a random algorithm that controls a jackpot on a slot machine and a commission that makes sure shit stays on the level. You know what loot boxes are closer to? When the mob ran Casinos and made the odds whatever the fuck they wanted. So you'd lose. So tell me, is gambling in a Casino owned by the mob not gambling because you're getting fucked?

There's NO regulation on loot boxes, so if I wanted to rig the house, too fucking bad. Spend $1,000 to get what I want you to get. And there's not a fucking thing you can do about it, and I can psychologically manipulate you as much as I want, rig the odds and their ain't shit to stop me and I can make pushing that button so very easy baby. You don't even have to see the real price, I can hide it behind some fake abstract thing so you aren't even thinking of how much you're putting into my money machine. Its the definition of a game of chance. Just because you're not getting money back doesn't mystically negate the 'chance' and the 'money spent' angle. I am paying money for a box that has artificial chance. Game of chance for money. Period. Fucking end.

Nigger, just because its shitty for the gambler doesn't mean its not gambling.

 

[Colonel J]

Its fucking gambling. Its the literal fucking definition. You are paying money to gamble to get something that is better than what you are already given. Its like IRL lootcrates. 'Ohh, I spend 50 bucks on this mystery box and I might get a PS4!'



Yes. The thing is, the degree of the exploitation. When you're at a store, that's a throwaway thing for no money. There's very little risk. Because you're putting 50 cents in while your mom or dad is paying for something. Maybe you do it once or twice, but you're not staying there. You leave. You might never, ever come back. The total spent is maybe 1-2 dollars. EVER. Maybe every 6 months. There is nothing forcing you to stay, nor is any one item more valuable than the other. They're all equally worth the same amount of money. You're gambling to get the one you want. You're placing the value on it. Odds are basically completely equal. I guarnafuckingtee if you had a sticker of pure gold worth $500 and it was displayed prominently on the machine, and the machine was made to feed money and credit cards real easy into it, you'd have a gambling commission on your balls faster than Al Pacino did in Casino.

If you're a child, playing a game, something is advertised as ultra rare and super valuable and the loot box is 5.99 or some ridiculous arbitrary in game currency, you can spend hundreds of dollars at a time with a parent's credit card. Sometimes thousands in a month. The thing is, like others have said, you can design it where you promote this ultra flashy thing that in actuality, has an X chance of appearing, which will get you X number of dollars. The same thing as a fucking roulette table. You have odds. You have money. You have the 'house' which, not only KNOWS the odds, it fucking makes them. Its worse than going to a casino. Because fuck, at least there's a random algorithm that controls a jackpot on a slot machine and a commission that makes sure shit stays on the level. You know what loot boxes are closer to? When the mob ran Casinos and made the odds whatever the fuck they wanted. So you'd lose. So tell me, is gambling in a Casino owned by the mob not gambling because you're getting fucked?

There's NO regulation on loot boxes, so if I wanted to rig the house, too fucking bad. Spend $1,000 to get what I want you to get. And there's not a fucking thing you can do about it, and I can psychologically manipulate you as much as I want, rig the odds and their ain't shit to stop me and I can make pushing that button so very easy baby. You don't even have to see the real price, I can hide it behind some fake abstract thing so you aren't even thinking of how much you're putting into my money machine.

Nigger, just because its shitty for the gambler doesn't mean its not gambling.

It doesn't matter how much money you put into grovery story toy/sticker machines. What matters is if they're gambling or not and that if you want lootboxes banned for being gambling then you should also want those toy/sticker machines banned as well. And it is up to parents to monitor what their children are purchasing with money since they are getting money from their parents after all, unless they have their own job. I don't see this problem of "children buying lootboxes" as a business matter, but a parental matter.

That being said, do you disagree with my proof that lootboxes are not gambling? Which parts of it? As I've said before, lootboxes are very scummy, but they're not gambling.

 

[Secret Asshole]

You're whole argument hinges on a false dichotomy you yourself have made: 'If you don't get money back, its not gambling. If you get money, back, its gambling.' When in reality, loot boxes completely fit the definition of gambling. You are paying money for a game of chance. You don't need to get money back. There's a third option. You're getting an item in which you yourself place value upon that which you pay money for, but has no inherent value, that you have a chance of getting based on certain odds.

You are arguing a logical fallacy, hence your proof is incorrect.

 

[BILLY MAYS]

I can't tell if OP is a baiting faggot or if OP is an autistic faggot.

 

[Colonel J]

When in reality, loot boxes completely fit the definition of gambling. You are paying money for a game of chance.

I already proved that lootboxes are not a game as you cannot win or lose. You pay an amount and win random stuff. You always win when you buy a lootbox. Furthermore, if you always win when you buy a lootbox, then lootboxes aren't a game at all since it involved neither, skill, strength, or luck.

 

[Medicated]

You always win when you buy a lootbox

If its something you don't want, or something you already had, you didn't really win now did you?

No one goes "yay I opened a lootbox and got something" they go "yay I opened the lootbox and got the thing I was trying to get"

 

[Colonel J]

If its something you don't want, or something you already had, you didn't really win now did you?

No one goes "yay I opened a lootbox and got something" they go "yay I opened the lootbox and got the thing I was trying to get"

Just because you win something you don't want or already have doesn't mean it's a not a win. The conditions of winning or losing are determined from the beginning of a game, not after the game. In basketball, whoever scores the most point wins. With a lootbox sale, you are offered random things at a price. It's a very pretty honest deal. I cannot say "I lose" after agreeing to the terms.

Let's take League of Legends for examples since I'm unfamiliar with how other games do their lootboxes. If I win a skin or character that I already have, I can disenchant either for Essence. I can use this essence to purchase other characters or skins.