---
title: What is a loot box?
credits: XPUB
contents:
- what are the characteristics of the lootbox?
- closed box with objects inside
- The loot box is a digital or physical box.
- A loot box is a virtual box inside video games containing randomized items
- a loot box is a virtual box of hidden motives designed to persuade and/or trick players
- a virtual box where the user can pay and access products/items that can be useful to go on with the game, or can be collectible.
- A lottery box
- payment
- The loot box is a virtual feature players can purchase with real money in free-to-play games or full-price-games.
- You don´
- A player pays real money to buy a virtual treasure box HOPING it contains something valuable within the world of the game.
- surprise mechanism
- The element of surprise is a highly appreciated aspect of the loot box.
- The loot box is like a secret treasure that is usually not worth the money you pay for it, or the expectations you have for it, but that is somehow exciting.
- I think the addictiveness is very connected to the surprise mechanism, I think that anticipation moment is what is addictive. How that makes you feel. Anything is possible.
- Of course then you open it and its disappointing. But there is a moment before opening it when ANYTHING is possible. I like that state of being.
- It's like the cat in the box, is he dead is he alive, he 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
- a gift to yourself
- They look like real gifts, but you purchase them for yourself.
- you choose
- you get something nice
- emotional response
- Strong emotional reactions are tied to finances.
- pleasure
- thrill
- excitement
- desire
- microtransaction
- the user would pay weird amounts of money to obtain something new.
- you will get better if you buy one
- 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 the player in a condition for purchasing without thinking too much.
- Its timespan is similar to the discount periods or Black Friday.
- Looking under the hood
- "Time constraint or the lack thereof: how does this contribute to the risk/pleasure/adrenaline rush that comes with every loot box unlocking experience?"
- trigger for addictive behaviour
- A loot box is 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 the player keeps playing potentially forever
- from habit to addiction
- fast-thinking
- It is what motivates immediate irrational purchases.
- it can be rational in the context of the game
- A quest, narrative, social pressure or else can justify any loot boxes.
- it appears and disappears quickly in order to seem exclusive and to make the player buy it without thinking too much.
- time pressure creates artificial urgency
- gambling /excitement-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 the chances that you get a really rare or powerful item out of it.
- It is like gambling because you don't know what is inside of it.
- immediate reward
- The immediate reward makes it fun, the risk comes with pleasure.
- Loot box 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 rewarding experience
- a guaranteed reward in exchange for money
- progress in the game
- you have more power in the game (and in your life?)
- some players might even feel cornered into purchasing loot boxes as the game cannot reach its full potential without it.
- 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 collectibles or power-ups that make you progress inside the game.
- a temporalized tool for the distribution and management of resources
- exploitative
- 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.
- repetition
- a rewarding mechanism
- Even if you don't get exactly what you wish for, you will get something, and you feel somehow rewarded.
- It's collectible.
- incremental rewards
- it is disguised as safe and innocent
- disappointment
- You can keep opening loot boxes forever
- risk
- It targets vulnerable players
- trigger for addictive/toxic behavior
- It has no limitations
- Escapism from the real life
- FOMO
- The surprise mechanism and exclusivity of the loot box creates a constant FOMO.
- Peer pressure
- Social pressure
- It interfaces the game and the real world
- It is an alternate reality experience of collecting things you can't own in real life
- It is a pulse in the circulation of resources between a virtual game and the reality outside of it.
- Loot box as currency exchange
- game coin
- collectible item
- real money
- Power-Up
- The box is 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.
- How does exposing the inner workings and real motives of the loot box affect the players' behavior and decision making?
- "The combination of payment and surprise can have the following effects:"
- gambling
- addiction
- risk
- ritual
- destiny
- exploitation
- etc.
- risk
- reward
- surprise
- disappointment
- this loot box found you for a reason
- general individual engagement
- a personalized 1 to 1 interaction
- 1 to machine interaction.
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