So for awhile now Loot Boxes have been the bane of gaming with a lot of negative stories about it. it got me thinking whether a game could have a loot box type system that players didn’t mind actually liked?
Then I thought about a super hero game where the player starts off the game with a choice of powers from a pool of ten, and throughout the game by saving people/defeating villains they earn hero points (hereby refered to as HP).
Then HP earned can be used to buy Power Pills where you get a random power for future use. (i.e you unlock flight one playthrough it becomes available for all future characters)
Do you think a loot box style system like that would be considered fair? Or would it still be a problem. (Note in this example you only buy the pills with HP not real world money)
If each individual choices (Uses power to attack/move/ defend) has at least 300 words. Then damn, that would be awesome.
Cons:
Complex coding stuff
If it requires a lot of grinding, some people might not like that.
If each individual choices (Uses power to attack/move/defend) has You fly towards him or You lob a fireball at her. That would make me uninstall the game.
It’s not a game just an a concept. I just wondered if it’d be possible to make loot box style systems more likeable considering games companies seem determined to keep doing them.
I think that is the big issue. They offer you to buy them with in-game resources but nerf it so it takes forever to get enough for what ends up being a “chance” at something you want.
Oh i agree it is most certainly gambling and in full priced games is just wrong. I don’t mind them in free to play games but they have to be fair about it which I’ve never seen a company manage that.
they should just have it so you can pay a fair price for an item set you want in free to play and for full priced games they should release expansions that are actually worth it like in The Witcher 3 or Skyrim add ons that actually add a lot of stuff.
Why is the chance? Basically to make people addict and waste money in the chance get what they want
That is predatory by nature
I don’t go to a grocery store and buy a random lotto ticket to get apples. I just bought DIRECTLY the damn apples.
Give me dlcs to buy the apples and get the funding that way.
It’s pretty much unanimous then… loot boxes get in the way of the story. It’s just a lot of wrong. There are ways to make it work (such as a contest the player elects to enter, an in-game casino etc.) but still mostly wrong and detrimental to the story.
its why they should do away with the randomness and let people who wish to buy what they want. The sad fact is lootboxes make them money and as long as there are people willing to pay they are going to keep trying to push them.
Its why I’m disappointed my government decided it wasn’t gambling
true but it has to be better than the randomness even if it’s only a little. Personally I’d prefer to pay full price for a game once but don’t mind spending extra on proper expansions.
I am unsure about how easy it would be to implement. Beyond that I would say it depends on the chances of getting those abilities, and whether some are objectively more useful than others regardless of playthrough. If one is essentially an instant-win power that is too common, or most of the useful ones are too rare I would get frustrated quickly.
Though the replay value, if done correctly, would be much greater. Especially if the powers have effects beyond use outside of a battle or puzzle.
Yeah so much can go wrong its why there is a lot of hate for them they are just so poorly implemented it is ridiculous they think what they do isn’t gambling and are unproblematic.
The only time I believe it’s acceptable is if everything you can get in a loot box is also available for direct purchase from a fully accessible in-game store. I.e. if you play extra, you can get rewards in the form of lootboxes, giving you a random chance for free stuff. But if you really don’t want to wait, you can hop on over and buy your favourite skin/soundtrack or equivalent micro-transaction directly (with in-game or real money).
That’s not to say I agree with micro-transactions either, but they are the lesser of the two evils. If you know exactly what you’re paying for what you’re getting, the onus is then on the consumer to decide if that’s worth their hard earned cash/time. Loot box centric systems are indeed gambling, and irrefutably try to take advantage of consumers, encouraging them to spend increasingly more time and/or money than should be necessary, or is healthy.
Loot boxes, by their gambling nature, have always been a negative. There is no way to do it right unless one negates the gambling nature they were created for.
They are a means to make money.
Loot boxes are a game of chance which really is just a form of gambling. Leaving anything to chance is never a good idea. I don’t know if anyone here has seen Yong Yea’s commentary on loot boxes(started since the EA response to loot boxes are surprise mechanics bullshit) because I feel what he says is pretty much everything that’s needed to be said about loot boxes…
