Loot Boxes are not Gambling

Basically, the title. There's been a lot of fuzz lately with the whole Battlefront bullshit the past weeks. And now, finally, the last element of this shitstorm has joined the party: politicians.

Will politicians ban loot boxes? I don't think so. They might put some tax on them and that will make them more expensive and the consumer will end up paying more, shooting themselves in the foot with this one. This business model exists on the premise that it was conceived to avoid any modern gambling regulation. It won't fall under current regulation, a new regulation would have to fall into place.

In Belgium some folks want to legislate on top of loot boxes saying it's gambling. And it's not. I've worked both in gambling, F2P and social casino games. Gambling is wagering something of value (money, mostly) with the intent of winning something. The stakes are high or low depending on several factors. Loot boxes are skinner boxes that gradually give players resources to play a game. You can, like everything else in life, accelerate this process with money. But the result of your loot is outstandingly consistent compared with slot machines. Specially because you can't lose with loot boxes. There's always at least something.

Is it random? Yes. Like pretty much every single game in history because you have to react to unexpected conditions and leverage your skill or luck to win.

Is it addictive? Yes. And that's the ethical problem here. Do you want to encourage a predatory behavior in your users to make them spend more money? This pretty much the definition of business. But enough of etymology.

I'm a long-time Hearthstone player. I've been playing for over two years and I economically support the games I like. I've have spent 352 euros in Hearthstone for what's hundreds of hours of entertainment. Did I have to? No. I did because I enjoy the game and like the cards. I don't expect nor want to have a full collection. You don't have to, there are always at most 9 notable decks, which is around 270 cards, which obviously doesn't come cheap and that's part of the game; the grind and trying to make the best out of your resources. You either spend money or time to get these cards and once you have them you still have to be good enough. I also play other F2P games. In most of them I don't spend money (Clash Royale) and others I've probably only dropped around 120 euros (Duelyst). The majority of the money I've spent in gaming has been through AAA games and my indie catalog in GOG.

My point is that in good F2P games, you wallet isn't a funwall. You can play a lot and grow you collection or character and you don't have to spend money to start playing. Which is great. Games used to be this linear experience with a strong focus in the first hours of content with little to none patches and no incremental improvements. Nowadays you get to play for years a game that gets constant support for free.

The problem with Battlefront is that it's not free. Costs around 80 euros and you don't get to do the things you expect to do with a Star Wars game for that price (playing with Luke or Darth Vader). The discussion in point is not about loot boxes which are usually cosmetic things, it's about getting what you're paying for. That's the only point where consumer protection comes into play. Not when talking about whales.

Whales are these rich users that spend thousands of dollars in the game constantly. If once you spent 100 euros, you're not a whale. If you don't get special customer support, you're not a whale. Must likely, if you're not rich and flexing about it, YOU ARE NOT A WHALE.

Whales are not addicted users spending their mortgage money in loot boxes. A company can't have a sustainable business with those. Whales are rich guys. Here are some stories from my days as a F2P developer:

• Someone wanting to cap out in-game currency because he wanted to be the richest guy in the platform.
• Someone asking for a special level just for him to play PVE.
• Someone buying thousands of euros in cosmetics to give them away in Christmas to other users.
• People that wanted to have weekly automated wire transfers for in-game currency.

Whales don't need protection and don't want it (videogame whales, other whales might be in danger). The issue with Battlefront is that EA thought for a second that EVERYONE is a dolphin. And nope.