By now, everyone’s heard of loot boxes.
It’s essentially another tactic made by video game corporations in order to milk as much cash out of their audience as they can in a random game of chance. Nobody really gets to choose what they pay for because all items are randomly drawn.
For those who hate the practice, there is some good news!
Recently this week, the government of Belgium has taken notice of this practice and has moved for investigation for the whole European nations. They are aiming to regulate the practice or outright ban it throughout. And Belarus isn’t alone. The US state of Hawaii have also considered them as gambling and are moving for action.
Simply put, an American politician, Chris Lee, who is a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, described loot boxes in the new video game, Star Wars Battlefront II, as a “Star Wars themed casino” where children are encouraged to the addictive practice of gambling.
He then goes to further point out that this is predatory behavior in itself. Chris Lee and several others have pointed out the dangers of introducing gambling to younger audiences and the effect it could have on them.
Even more good news, is that the United States and Belarus are not alone in this stand. Recently, even France and Australia have joined the investigation against loot boxes and companies using this kind of predatory behavior.
Many of us can hope that this means an end to this kind of practice that companies have been using as a means to gain more and more money for themselves.
As it stands, many companies will always find a way to gain the most profit for their own despite even with loot boxes being absent. But this should be a step in the right direction for now.
We can never really be sure what companies might try next for profit.
So what can this mean for the future of gaming? Nobody knows. It’s simply to early to tell whether or not loot boxes will truly be gone from existence…at least in triple A titles. This entire investigation can turn up to be a mixed bag or maybe even all for nothing.
As for now, we can only hope for the best…
(This might be us in the future. It probably already is)
Although there are many that do not see a problem to loot boxes in general, there are also many who are strongly against it. Although what offers of loot boxes have can be tempting, it can be just another way to get you addicted into giving up money for a virtual item when you don’t get what you want.
Don’t be a slave. Paying for loot boxes is supporting what companies do to swindle you out of your money. You deserve so much more!
