After reading the comments it is clear, regardless if you think lootboxes will be banned someday or not, that transparency is the way to go in this case.
Things like MagicTG are honest in what you'll get. Dota too. But there are some games where you can either get skins or sprays or emotes... In some games you can get gear or skins or... junk - or the same thing twice.
So they are not like Magic Booster Packs, because it gets only cards. In the other cases you get different kinds of items - and that's the problem.
Just make it consumer friendly and it will be fine. Make it "skin boxes" and "spray boxes" - make it so the kind of product you get is stated.
man there is some real reaching here to vilify RNG boxes. . .
I love how MTG is honest and good, and RNG boxes are sooo bad when they are the exact same thing. . .
some counterpoints: MTG posts the complete Odds for getting specific cards per printing? you also are guaranteed not to get duplicate cards from multiple packs?
please provide an example of a RNG box where one gets "Junk."
also show me an instance of a RNG box currently for purchase in an MMO where it is not clearly stated what is in them.
magic cards are not a good comparison. When I pay for 8 cards I get 8 cards. you don't know what you are getting in an RNG box and mostly it's just stealing your money for a 1 in 10000 chance and you do not receive anything of value comparable to what you paid
But...with lootboxes you pay for 1 item, and you get 1 item. You don't know what it may be, exactly like you don't know what Magic or sports cards, or blind-box collectible you will get from those boxes. With cards/collectibles you may get something you already have, or you may get the rarest or the rare...exactly the same w/ lootboxes. It's all relative, these are all things people assign a secondary value to. In card packs the secondary collectors market or game players determine how much value a card has, but in reality to someone who doesn't play, they are just useless pieces of cardboard, whereas in lootboxes it's a digital item, but the same principal applies.
The only difference is you have chosen to dislike loot boxes, despite them using the exact same principles as things you have probably bought in the past, like the examples I mentioned.
Once upon a time not all that very long ago, drugs such as opium were perfectly legal. There were places called Opium Dens, where the rich and affluent as well as the working class went and enjoyed a little puff. Now smoking a little opium here and there, really poses no harm and what one does with one's own body is really one's own business. But these things were made illegal, they were not made illegal because of the Black Market, it was a legal business and trade in Opium was done by law abiding businessmen. The trade became illegal because of the drugs addictive qualities and the damage it did to individuals as well as the communities because of those addictive qualities.
In many cases laws are made and/or changed to protect a small percentage of the population from themselves.
let's ban milk for the lactose intolerant
let's ban peanuts too
let's make women wear robes covering them from head to toe cause some men can't control their urges
let's ban automobiles because some people kill others with them, let's add guns too.
now that I think about it, we should just ban all food because some people can't stop themselves from eating it. . . .
. . .we must protect the rabble from themselves, because personal responsibility is out of fashion.
I'm sorry, but this is a list of nonsense. We aren't talking about telling well informed, responsible adults what they can and cannot do with their lives. What we're talking about is taking ill informed, not yet educated to the dangers, children and keeping them away from the early influences of gambling addiction.
Yes, I agree that adults can, and should, be making those decisions for themselves, and if these games had a way to screen the children from the adults very reliably, and keep the gambling aspect separate, then I wouldn't mind as much. However, since this is absolutely impossible, and since children are a major audience for video games, then I don't think gambling should be included in any form.
so let the goverment parent children instead of the parents. . .
Why not let parents decide what their children can and cannot play/watch??
. . .I understand it is hard to have personal responsibility, that's why it it so unpopular today.
but I do totally agree that gambling over the internet should not be accessible to children. . .but I also emphatically state that RNG Boxes are NOT gambling.
Comments
I love how MTG is honest and good, and RNG boxes are sooo bad when they are the exact same thing. . .
some counterpoints:
MTG posts the complete Odds for getting specific cards per printing? you also are guaranteed not to get duplicate cards from multiple packs?
please provide an example of a RNG box where one gets "Junk."
also show me an instance of a RNG box currently for purchase in an MMO where it is not clearly stated what is in them.
Why not let parents decide what their children can and cannot play/watch??
. . .I understand it is hard to have personal responsibility, that's why it it so unpopular today.
but I do totally agree that gambling over the internet should not be accessible to children. . .but I also emphatically state that RNG Boxes are NOT gambling.