Current Events > Are lootboxes gambling?

(+) Yeah! (+)

There are a lot of issues that are being brought to the forefront with BF2s lootbox controversy. Some places are talking about banning the game outright because it is a gambling mechanic. Many gamers rejoice saying take that, EA!

However, what about the underlying issue? Should gambling even be illegal? Yeah, fuck the lootbox system, and Im on board with that. But using gambling as a mechanic to combat it seems shortsighted. I dont see anything wrong with gambling. If someone wants to spend their money on a chance to make more, then theyre not harming anyone to do that. They should have the personal freedom to make that choice.

Another issue with classifying this as gambling is it is so analogous to blind decks. Baseball cards, Magic the Gathering cards, Pokmon Cards, and even Disney Infinity has power up discs that were bought as blind packaging. I dont really deal in any of those things, but I see the necessity of blind packaging for those games to function properly. If lootboxes are gambling, then so are these.
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no but i think it's a very shady business practice that has the same psychological effect on a player as gambling, which is very bad when you factor in that most of the people who are probably interested in loot boxes are children
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I've been thinking about these exact points. Gambling should be legal. Lootboxes are terrible, but they're no more gambling than buying a pokemon card booster pack.
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are gumball machines gambling?
are booster packs gambling?
are toy capsule machines gambling?

It should be legal, but we should still have a huge upcry when a game does it to prevent them from doing it

I think games where you can sell the contents of lootboxes for money verge pretty close to gambling.
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Nomadic View posted...

If lootboxes are gambling, then so are these.

Correct. Those are also gambling.

The difference is that the payout is still ultimately for entertainment purposes in all the above scenarios, as opposed to a monetary payout. The latter is illegal because it can create a predatory feedback loop of winning money -> buying more gambling opportunity -> losing even more than you started out with.

BF2 lootboxes and booster packs in general don't enable that exact behavior, although the latter is enabled by private/online/3rd party sales.
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No. Gambling implies you can win. Even if you got what you wanted, you still lost.
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