You cannot select more than 25 topics Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.

210 lines
6.8 KiB
Markdown

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters!

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters that may be confused with others in your current locale. If your use case is intentional and legitimate, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to highlight these characters.

---
title: What is a loot box?
credits: XPUB
contents:
- PLACEHOLDER COVER
- 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.
- Payment
- 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."
- Surprise
- 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.
- Reward
- An immediate reward.
- 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 doesnt 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.
- Emotional trigger
- Strong emotional reactions are tied to the financial elements.
- Pleasure.
- Thrill.
- Excitement.
- Desire.
- Disappointment.
- "Even if you don't get exactly what you wish for, you will get something, and you feel somehow rewarded."
- "It's collectable."
- Incremental rewards.
- It is disguised as safe and innocent.
- You can keep opening loot boxes forever.
- It interfaces the game and the real world.
- "Its an alternate reality experience of collecting things you can't own in real life."
- |-
Its a pulse in the
circulation of resources
between a virtual game
and the reality outside
of it.
- Loot box as currency exchange
- The game coin.
- Collectible item.
- Real money.
- Power-Up.
- 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.
- Risk.
- Ritual.
- 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.
- Exploitation
- The potentially endless collection creates artificial needs.
- Exploitative fun.
- 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.
- Social pressure.
- Individual engagement
- A personalized 1 to 1 interaction.
- 1 to machine interaction.
---