Game developers are in constant search of finding a new way of keeping people engaged in their games. However, a few years ago there has been a new discovery introduced as a form of a random reward system that gives a chance for players to receive rare in-game items.
These are called loot boxes. Loot boxes are the not-so-new way of keeping people engaged in games. However, it seems like loot boxes are blurring the lines between gaming and gambling. If we compare both online gambling and loot boxes, we can find many similarities.
If a game like hot drop jackpots can cause a sense of adrenaline into a false sense of winning, loot boxes can cause too.
The problem is that online casinos are meant to be for adults, while loot boxes are many times triggered by children, who do not have their own source of income. And that is why countries like Belgium and Netherlands have banned them already.
First of all, they are both games of chance where in some cases you can earn high rewards based on random generators. Secondly, they both cause addiction where players are driven by the fact that they can earn high rewards.
So, this got us wondering, are loot boxes more addictive than casino games?
What are Actually Loot Boxes?
Loot boxes may come in different forms and sizes but their definition is always the same. They are virtual goods that contain in-game items and rewards for players to enjoy. The reward system gives players a chance to earn cosmetic items, which can improve the player’s in-game character, or give a player an advantage to win.
The process of loot boxes requires players to purchase them with virtual currency (purchased with real money) or earn loot boxes through the gameplay. This mechanic encourages players to play more often since they are given a chance to win a loot box.
However, many people decide to skip the gameplay process and purchase the loot boxes with real money.
The items that come in loot boxes come in different rarity levels, usually ranging from basic items to rare and even legendary ones. As the item is better and rarer it will be less chance of it appearing in a loot box.
How Loot Boxes Started?
Loot boxes were introduced to games in the late 2000s, as a form of monetization of free-to-play games. However, the entire process was changed after Star Wars: Battlefront, which was one of the first full-price triple-A games to include loot boxes that can be purchased with real money.
Star Wars: Battlefront included loot boxes that gave some players an advantage over others. This means that in order to be good at the game, you must spend more money buying such loot boxes.
Nowadays, it seems like every game no matter if it is free-to-play or comes at a full price has loot boxes as a reward system. This strategy is also very present in mobile gaming where around 60% of all games already have loot boxes.
The Addictive Nature of Loot Boxes
Given that the prize that comes from the loot boxes is random, they are very similar to most casino games of chance. In fact, loot boxes are almost identical to slot machines and other casino games where players risk money for a chance of getting a reward.
Loot boxes might be even more addictive than casino games just because they can give you in-game advantages forcing players to buy them in order to be better at the game. On the other hand, casino games like slots are only there for the entertainment factor, and you are not given any advantage over other people if you play online casino games.
Loot boxes also affect your brain very similarly to how slot machines do.
If we put them side to side, we can see that the prizes in both are distributed randomly, the values of the prizes are variable, they have very similar audio and visuals, and finally, they provide uncertainty causing players to keep investing.
With that said, loot boxes in some cases can be even more addictive than casino games.
The problem with the entire gaming industry is that it forces regular players to get involved in the process of gambling through the idea of loot boxes giving them an advantage. The results from a recent study found that 20% of 1000 casual gamers opened loot boxes at some time during their gameplay.
This number will increase the longer the games are played, just because loot boxes are giving you more advantages in different ways later in the game.
However, even though there are many studies on this topic, this is still a new area that isn’t fully explored. We need to take a closer look at the impact of loot boxes and how they compare to the online casino industry.
If both are very similar, we need to find certain rules about how game developers can use the loot system as a monetization tool, and find a way to make the entire system more transparent. As of now, there is no way of finding out what are your chances of getting a legendary or rare item in some games, which means that you can spend thousands of dollars and not get the expected return.
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