--- title: What is a loot box? credits: XPUB contents: - pic: what-is-a-loot-box.jpg - A closed box with objects inside. - A digital or physical box. - A virtual box inside video games containing randomized items. - |- A virtual box of hidden motives, designed to persuade and trick players. - |- A virtual box where the user can pay and access products. Those items can be useful to develop you character in the game or can be collectable. - A lottery box. - |- It looks like a real gift, but you purchase it for yourself. - You choose it. - You get something nice. - |- A box embedded in a context. - It works within the context of a game. - It works outside the context of a game. - When the game gets tough, the loot box offers you a shortcut. - nw: Payment se: Reward - A virtual feature that players can purchase with real money. It is usually available in free-to-play games or full-price games. - "You don't get it for free, and you don't know what you get." - A promise for a virtual treasure that is purchased with real money. You buy a virtual treasure hoping it contains something valuable within the world of the game. - Fast-thinking - It is what motivates immediate irrational purchases. - It can be rational in the context of the game. - A quest, narrative or social pressure can justify any loot box. - It appears and disappears quickly in order to seem exclusive. Thus, it makes the player buy it without thinking too much. - Time pressure creates artificial urgency (jeopardy). - Excitement and anticipation - A feeling of excitement and anticipation could be related to the excitement of gambling. - You know that there is a chance of getting some items that you desire. - It is desirable because it creates rare chances to get powerful items. - It is like gambling because you anticipate what is inside. - Surprise mechanism - The element of surprise is a highly appreciated aspect of the loot box. - A secret treasure that is not worth the money you pay for it, nor the expectations you have for it. However, that is somehow exciting. - |- Addictiveness is connected to the surprise mechanism: the moment of anticipation is addictive. It makes you feel that anything is possible. - "It's like the cat in the box: is she dead or is she alive? She is both until you open the box." - An entertaining element. - |- It keeps the players hooked to the game by using an element of surprise. - The player never knows what is inside of it. - |- Surprise that comes with consequences. - The immediate reward makes it fun. The risk comes with pleasure. - It derives from the loot, a bunch of goodies that you can get as a reward after you conquer a super boss or level up. - A reward after accomplishing a really heroic task. - An immediately rewarding response preceded by a generally customized trigger. - A guaranteed reward in exchange for money. - Progress in the game - You have more power in the game. - Sometimes the game doesn’t reach its full potential without buying a loot box. That makes players feel compelled to make a purchase. - You will get better if you buy a loot box. - sw: Emotional trigger ne: Collectible item - Strong emotional reactions are tied to the financial elements. - nw: Excitement se: Disappointment - ne: Desire sw: Exploitation - "Even if you don't get exactly what you wish for, you will get something, and you feel somehow rewarded." - Incremental rewards - It is disguised as safe and innocent. - You can keep opening loot boxes forever. - It interfaces the game and the real world. - "It’s an alternate reality experience of collecting things you can't own in real life." - |- It’s a pulse in the circulation of resources between a virtual game and the reality outside of it. - Loot box as currency exchange - ne: Game coin sw: Real money - nw: Power-Up se: Pleasure - Designed to be addictive - Very real addictive mechanisms. - A repeated scheme that ensures constant spending into virtual game currencies. - Designed to be desirable and to be purchased again and again. - Some rewards are rare and that makes the loot box desirable. - It puts you in a condition for purchasing without thinking too much. - Its timespan is similar to the discount periods or Black Friday. - Looking under the hood. - |- A trigger for addictive behaviour. - |- A gambling mechanism, exploitative by design, that promises immediate in-game rewards to the player. - |- The rewards of the loot box can affect both the gameplay and the social environment around the game. - |- It sets the beat for repeated microtransactions. - |- It's a repetitive rhythm for the player's temporality. - It builds a habit by triggering the attention and the emotional response of the player. - "It's fun." - |- It ensures that you keep playing potentially forever. - From habit to addiction. - You pay money to obtain something new. - sw: Ritual ne: Thrill - nw: Risk se: Destiny - It hacks the temporality of a game. - |- It allows you to customize your game character. - It shifts the dynamics in the game. - |- It provides you with collectables or power- ups that make you progress inside the game. - |- A temporalized tool for the distribution and management of resources. - The potentially endless collection creates artificial needs. - The benefits for you are emotional. The benefits for the game platforms are financial. - "A money-making mechanism that uses real-world money in video games' worlds." - |- It targets vulnerable players. - |- A trigger for addictive behaviour. - |- A trigger for toxic behaviour. - An escape from real life. - Fake promises. - |- FOMO (fear of missing out) - The surprise mechanism and exclusivity of the loot box creates a constant FOMO. - Peer pressure - ne: Social pressure sw: Individual engagement - A personalized 1 to 1 interaction - 1 to machine interaction ---