Didn't duplicate give you game money to exchange whit other things at least I remember this in fifa and battlefront 2.... In apex there are no duplicates, every time you open a box it's always something different....
What you find in loot boxes is also something you can play whit, it's not uselles for people who buy it
In some Call of Duty games, duplicates are exchanged for more points/credits. Modern Warfare Remastered has/had the right idea.
This. I always, ALWAYS hear people only blaming the publishers but conveniently, they forget the tiny little detail that companies keep putting that lootbox crap in their games cause people buy them.
I'm tired of gamers never taking their part of responsibilities. Want a change? Start bringing it about with your wallet. By not opening it for microtransaction bull.
I agree that lootboxes and similar schemes are predatory, but that's because of the publisher. They should know better than to charge crazy amounts for lootboxes or similar "mechanics." I don't think people mind microtrasactions, or similar ideas. As long as developers or publishers start using their brains, and charge good prices for the microtrasactions, people would not overreact or go guns blazing (if you know what I mean), or be accepting to buying things from the developer/publisher store. The in-game menus are their digital stores.
In practice, it's a good economic idea, the problem is that the publishers/developers are getting greedy, and not caring enough to understand that a) there are
kids.
KIDS! b) people who don't have time to game. They just want to come home, plop into their couch, and game. That's basically how Call of Duty makes their money, targeting casuals. and c) parents don't realize that their kids are using their credit cards or similar "wallets." I'm sure there's more, but I'll keep to these.
While it's true gamers need to be more disciplined, loot boxes are designed to be manipulative. Some people are predisposed to developing an addiction and loot boxes tap in those same mechanisms in the brain that can also lead to addiction. Same goes for the Battle Pass system in games like Fortnite and Black Ops 4. Not to mention, our brains aren't fully developed until around age 25. Specifically our ability to make thought out decisions is still in development until then. A lot of kids are getting hooked on loot boxes/battle passes. I wonder what kind of affect it is having on their brains?
Adults have less of an excuse.
Sure, loot boxes are not super different from buying packs of trading cards or those boxes that contain one random figure/keychain. But the big difference is physical items still have some worth. You can trade or sell the ones you don't want. It would be one thing if games implemented a type of in game trading. For instance, being able to list the items you want and designate which ones are willing to give up. People can then offer trades which you can accept or decline. It wouldn't be a perfect system, and loot boxes would still be stupid and predatory, but it would be less stupid.
tl;dr
loot boxes are dumb
I agree with bolded. I'll come back to this post tomorrow morning, but right now I am sleepy. I just wanted to respond to the microtransaction comment above. But I'll expand on your response.
In fact, I'll respond more tomorrow. This whole story extends beyond microtransactions and lootboxes.
---------------- As promised, the
EDIT ----------------------
I understand the idea what EA and similar companies are trying to say about lootboxes. They're "surprise mechanics." I get what they're getting at. But the issue isn't exactly the mechanic itself, it's a combination of two things: Manipulative algorithms, and high prices. You'd expect Google of all people to do this, but these Video Game companies got the idea from mobile games. I'll come back to the mobile games part later, but for now, let's begin with video games. I get the idea that what they want you to do is open up your "lootbox" and be surprised by what you get from your lootbox, but the problem is - the algorithm works like a casino. It's slanted to work against you. It's rigged to be against you, and trying to take your money. So, if you spent $20 to open up a lootbox that only returns you a loot that costs 5 dollars. Of course you're going to get ****ed off, but these game companies look at games like Borderlands where you explore and grind areas and try to find new and interesting weapons - you know you get surprised. That's great and well, but when you combine ****ty algorithms with egregious prices, then you have a huge problem on your hands. The fact that they want the government to intervene is what ****es me off the most. I want to develop games, but now I have to worry about laws being implemented because of these piece of **** companies doing stupid **** that affect other companies and startups.
YongYea said it perfectly about the situation, here:
(Yes, I know some of you hate YongYea, but he nailed it right on the head.)
I agree that it's fun to open up trading cards to learn what's in the $5 bundle. It's fun. Until it gets egregious. I mean, wtf? A reticle for less than a dollar!?
It should've been in the base game to begin with! Or a Sledgehammer for... I think it was $20...?
