What do we know about loot boxes?

In this episode of State of the Research we discuss the most common questions assoicated with loot boxes: Are they ethical design? Are they gambling and, therefore, regulated for players under the age of 18? And are loot box mechanics "addictive"?

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This video was written, produced, and edited by Dr. Rachel Kowert, PhD.

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[carbonide]

Loot boxes can be actually made good. Over the christmas and new years there was an event in the World of Tanks, where "holiday crates" were available to purchase - only with real money though - but they've listed all of the possible contents, all rates, there was always a guarantee item and some in-game premium currency of roughly same value as one box would cost and some low tier vehicles as well as premium account time and the big boys - new high tier tanks. Plus they implemented sort of a "pity timer" mechanic - where if in 49 crates there was no big reward - then it was guaranteed to be added to the 50th crate. Well - I got stupidly lucky, getting all 3 new high tiers in just 44 crates - the drop chance was like less, than 3% in general - for me it was more like 7%. The crates themselves were actually "a steal deal" - for the value of the amount of premium currency needed to buy 1 high tier premium vehicle, there was actually that + some extra + festive items needed to progress in-game events + new vehicles + premium accout time + low tier vehicles. So World Of Tanks did it quite nice this (or last?) year.

But there is Starwars Battlefront 2 (or something like such) - where lootbox system was so broken and embedded into the game, that, despite being overall ok game, as I heard - it gained abbysmal amount of negative reviews.

I see quite a bit of similarity with gambling. I have observed that my peers, which were into buing loot boxes, now do more gambling like sports betting.

[michelottens]

Thanks for the brief research overview, and the earnestly sciency verdict at the end. For kid me, they got me with the collectible dinosaur stickers and a thing called Flippo's. Can't say that it primed me for anything like a gambling addiction later on.