Lootboxes vs Online Gambling

Something, completely brand new to the 21^st Century is the concept of lootboxes, although Lootboxes have been considered to be part of the compulsion loop of game design to keep players invested in a game, they’re also linked with video game and gambling addiction. So, between lootboxes and online gambling is there much difference?

For those who don’t know, lootboxes are boxes of virtual items that you can buy in-game in various video games. The items you get inside these boxes vary from game to game, but they are generally a random selection of items, weapons, visual effects, pets, skins, costumes, shouts etc. Some of these items are rarer than others of course, leading to people adding a perceived value, and where the gambling part comes in.

For some games, such as Overwatch, the items contained within the lootboxes are purely cosmetic and do not provide any bonusses in-game. In Hearthstone, although you can win gold coins in game to purchase the lootboxes (or card Packs), to play at the higher levels you’ll probably need to sink more money in to get the rarer cards, or just be extremely lucky of course.  Star Wars Battlefront II came under fire as items that conferred actual bonuses to characters were contained within lootboxes. These items give actual advantages so the players who spent a lot of real money on these boxes, had an easier time playing the game. So, at the time of the open beta it had been described as “one of the more egregious “pay-to-win” systems for a full-price game”.

So, it’s clear that there is an element of gambling with lootboxes, so much so that many countries have now started putting in legislation in regards to how lootboxes are implemented within video games.

Though, there are also clear differences between them as well. For a start, there is nothing subtle about online gambling sites. Sites like Betway, for example make it very clear that they are an online gambling site. There’s no getting away from it. It screams it from every pore. Lootboxes on the other hand, stay under the rather misleading guise of video-gaming. They can trigger the same compulsions as online gambling, but it’s much more under the radar with lootboxes.

You also have to be a certain age to join an online gambling site. Sure, there are age classifications on video games, but these are a lot less of a barrier to the underage as they could be. I’m sure we’ve all heard stories of the child who got hold of his parents credit card and spent thousands on online purchases.

The good thing is, neither lootboxes nor online gambling are going anywhere for a while, but like online gambling, there is more legislation being implemented to protect us from videogame companies using lootboxes as massive cash-cows. So, the line between lootboxes and online gambling sites such as Betway88 will be getting bigger and the two can soon be treated as the completely different things that they are.