The all new gaming cancer.

[The Curmudgeon]

It's funny, as music has steered rapidly away from the pay model to streaming (at best) and stealing at worst, and people seemingly do anything they can to avoid paying for movies and TV, the one source of entertainment that is still commanding big bucks is gaming. And boy do they fucking know it.

So DLC is one thing. Day one editions, collectors editions, deluxe editions, remasters, subscriptions.. gaming companies are never short of ideas to rob us of our cash. And here's the latest, and easily the worst way; Loot Boxes.

I first came upon this gaming model a few years ago during the Simpsons: Tapped Out mobile game. There were prizes available, but you had to spend donuts (which you spend actual cash on) to see if you won them. You weren't buying the characters, vehicles, houses etc, you were buying a chance to win them. It was unbelievably unpopular, and it was scrapped and never heard from again (although they did make joking references to it later on in the game).

But it's never really went away, and now chances are if you're buying a new A+ title, you could be in for some fun with Loot Boxes. The most high profile culprit right now is Star Wars: Battlefront 2.

www.vg247.com/2017/10/11/lets-not-mince-words-star-wars-battlefront-2-loot-boxes-are-pay-to-win/


The obvious answer is "no-one is forcing you to do it", but that's not really the point. If you pay top dollar for a game, and then pay even more for the DLC, it would be nice to think you can enjoy a game and unlock everything through skill and perseverance, not because you're sitting with your credit card in hand.

And of course this is going to make money. And the ball is going to continue to roll, infecting more and more of our games. What can be done?

[trashcanman]

Man, this shit blew up FAST. Fact is, games have had these for years and years. And the worst offender of all is arguably Overwatch, which is probably the most hyped game of the decade. Yet nobody really seemed to care until Battlefront 2. I've never bought a single loot box and I never, ever will. And that's exactly what can be done. Anything that anybody is stupid enough to buy, somebody will be smart enough to sell it to them, but if nobody buys it, they'll have no reason to sell it.

[The Curmudgeon]

See, I've never played any of these games but from the comments I read the loot boxes were pretty much essential to complete the game 100%, is that not the case?

[trashcanman]

Well, most of the games give you loot boxes as you rank up and complete challenges. They just give you the option to buy more. I say if you're going to sell this nonsense, just sell it. Buying randomized loot boxes is absolute insanity. At least just post the things we want for sale instead of filling these stupid things with tons of crap nobody wants and maybe the possibility of perhaps one thing you could in theory want. I can't believe people subject themselves to this.