LogFAQs > #924244152

Zeus posted...

Given that Hearthstone is a CCG, its lootboxes make sense.

Even then, not entirely. The collectible mechanic makes sense with an actual real-world CCG because you're talking about physical product. But in a video game where every card is literally just 1s and 0s and no card theoretically has any more or less inherent value than any other card, there's no reason why you have to import that collectible aspect directly over.

If I'm playing an online Magic: the Gathering game and I want to play with a deck of 59 Black Lotuses and 1 Fireball, then fuck you, I should be able to play that way. If I want issues of rarity, exclusivity, age and availability, and other limiting factors of which cards I can and cannot own, I'll just go play the actual card game (where if nothing else my cards actually have tradeable/sellable cash value). A video game should absolutely allow you the opportunity to play with cards you'd literally never be able to own in the real world, and not just slavishly model the real world mechanics.

I'd be willing to concede the point if a game has, say, "competitive" and "freeform" modes (where one mode has limited card availability to enforce some degree of player parity while the other allows you to put any card ever printed into your deck for "free" so you can play with fun permutations and not be limited by real world restrictions), but too many games just copy everything directly over from the real world and wind up limiting themselves in unnecessary ways. And once you add in "Well, you CAN buy this rare card in-game for real world money", then it just becomes even more predatory and scummy.


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