Lootbox Surprise!

I really didn't want to talk about lootboxes. I shouldn't have to. It's easy: Yes they suck, and no you shouldn't support them. Don't touch them. If the game looks entirely rigged to them, stay the hell away and wait for reviews (especially grassroot. I laugh at the idea sites like IGN would tell you in fairness). Above all though, I stress when I say don't buy them. It's actually an insidiously good concept of bad business, where just getting you to buy even the dumbest one, and then stop, it's a net gain if they never had it at all. This stuff uses virtually no resources for them to put in, as long as they had an in-game system of rewards (thanks to idiots praising the COD/Battlefield formula for years, this is standard) and prints an ever-source of money. So stop it. Don't think about it. Not even a test one for some lame excuse. No, it's not okay with cosmetics either, that stuff should at the worst be sold on the store as a solid $1-5 costume, not a rough gamble. Lootboxes are bullshit. Don't support them. But I suppose with the subject of lootboxes, it should be an appropriate surprise that this isn't so simple. So surprise, a lot of gamers are taking this to some bullshit lengths, and I'm starting to become slightly more sympathetic with the publishers as this goes along.

With all the talk about loot boxes being gambling cropping up, it's clear this isn't the casual use of the word coming up. I call it gambling like I would taking on a risky RPG quest, it's a gamble if maybe I am or am not ready for it, or can complete it, or get the reward. It's interchangeable with risk. Well apparently people have forgotten that layman talk, and want it to be legal talk now, and say that this is legally gambling and must have all the laws, 18+ rating, and perhaps taxes associated with it. Loads of gamers don't want this to be a choice or consumer responsibility, but they want to directly bring the legal system in and pretend things will be all sunshine and rainbows... when the government directly profits off of gambling. Yeah, genius thinking there, you just told them they could get more money from gaming and incentivize it. As the rating boards, and China's attempts at Overwatch have made it clear, this isn't quite a simple gambling thing. There's loopholes, and then there's the matter of trying to attack it without burning down legit gameplay mechanics that involve risk. ...but that's not the worst part.

Often the ones wanting this to be enacted by law, are talking as if their kids are going to be rampant addicted gamblers because they're apparently dumping hard earned cash (again, kids) on loot boxes for Overwatch skins, or Fifa points. The fact this argument is being uttered by emotional gamers this time is incredibly annoying, especially when coupled with the above mentioned irrational legislative mentality. It's as assinine as I was hinting at earlier when you actually apply *gasp* logic to it, and so far in every instance I've brought this up, nobody has been able to refute it; How the hell are games to blame for your kid getting money and spending it on worthless skins? The kids that live under a guardians home, not legally able to work a paying job, not having credit cards to make direct online purchases, and I'm somehow being told by gamers themselves that they're puttin' the big bucks into gambling for that rare Tracer skin. Nevermind booster cards, and don't think about arcade games of the past, or claw machines of the present, no we mustn't stop and think with common sense, we've got to call this for what it is: the end of an addiction free generation. I know, tragic. You see how this is bullshit? And the funny thing is, there's a couple of people who almost have the sense to see this, only to somehow have an even more stupid response. Because they'll sit there and know this argument "for the children" is dumb, but they'll turn and suggest that because some parents are idiots who will try to attack games over this, that they must.... do it first? No really, they want the rating boards or the legal system to do something about it, so they're raising a fuss and being those angry parents so we don't get angry parents. I wish I was making this up.

I still hate lootboxes. I'm on your side in that regard, and I will casually refer to it as a gambling device to get more money out of us. However I draw that line with the right argument, and I think us complaining about it being a sucky system is in itself grounds enough to discuss our distaste. I refuse to defend dipshit parents or guardians who are so neglectful and ignorant that they'll let their kid get addicted to a system that naturally has quite a few obstacles for a kid. A good parent would teach them more responsible routes, or even make some example of what a bad value something like loot boxes are. ...but hell, even in those cases where parents aren't perfect saints and will watch as their kid tries a claw machine with their dollar, that won't ruin their whole lives. My own dad loves those things, but hardly gambles on serious matters, and I've only given it a try myself maybe 3 times in my whole life, and never bought a lootbox. We don't need legislation to know this is a bad value, you just need more sense. If you don't think we're a capable society of that, then I'll remind you who runs that society: The government. They're still humans, they still seek money, the spend it worse and more crookedly than any gambler if the debt and the US social security is anything to go by, and they even tax you for dying. I think I'll take my chances with the current trend, than any bullshit badly designed legislation would bring. Last I checked, Assassins Creed Origins kept it right with the time period, and lets you die with your gold.