post-it-contents/what-is-a-loot-box/contents.md

---
title: What is a loot box?
credits: XPUB
contents:
    - 1. what are the characteristics of the lootbox?

    - unknown items
    - closed boxes
    - surprise mechanism
    - a gift to yourself
    - emotional response
    - fast-thinking
    - gambling
    - payment - cost
    - progress in the game
    - immediate reward
    - hacks the temporality of a game
    - exploitative
    - designed to be addictive
    - target vulnerable player
    - FOMO
    - interfaces the game and the real world
    - loot box as currency exchange
    - from game-coins or collectible items to real money
    - works within a context

    - Gersande
    - The loot box is a virtual feature players can purchase with real money in free-to-play games or full-price-games.
    - It can be assumed to be a certain item or feature but is random to the player.
    - The element of surprise is a highly appreciated aspect of the loot box.
    - Because of the way this feature has been embedded in games, it has very real addictive mechanisms to it.
    - Some players might even feel cornered into purchasing loot boxes as the game cannot reach its “full potential” without it.
    - This repeated scheme ensures the constant spending of the players into virtual game currencies.
    - The context of the loot box is very demanding to the player.
    - It is what motivates immediate irrational (can be rational in the context of the game) purchases.
    - The urgency of a narrative, quest, social pressure or else can justify any loot boxes.
    - The immediate reward makes it fun, the risk comes with pleasure.
    - This thus combines cost, addictiveness, gambling, reward, fun.
    - Strong emotional reactions are tied to finances.
    - The surprise mechanism and exclusivity of the loot box creates a constant FOMO.
    - The endless collecting potential of loot box creates fantasy needs for people to be exploited by the fun.
    - The benefits for the game platforms are financial, for the player emotional.

    - Carmen
    - 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 its 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.
    - Is like the cat in the box, is he dead is he alive, he is both until you open the box.
    - In that sense, this feeling of excitement and anticipation could be related to the excitement of gambling.
    - I think the reward is also connected to the collectionable feature.
    - You feel that even if you don't get exactly what you wish you will get something.
    - So you feel somehow rewarded, and the fact that there are more tries available make this reward feeling safe, thus repeteable or collectionable.

    - Jian
    - The lootbox is a digital or physical box that contains random (or unknown) items.
    - The box is embedded in a context (for example in the fictional world of a game).
    - "There are 2 main characteristics:"
    - Payment
    - Surprise
    - The main characteristics or mechanisms of the lootbox are the payment and the surprise.
    - You don´t get it for free, and you dont know what you get.
    - "The combination of payment and surprise can have the following effects:"
    - gambling, addiction, pleisure,
    - thrill, excitement, reward,
    - disappointment, risk, ritual,
    - exclusivity, time pressure,
    - social pressure, desire,
    - destiny, exploitation, FOMO
    - etc.

    - Chae
    - In video game the loot box is
    - a virtual object containing randomized items
    - from making your game character more unique to shifting the dynamic of game.

    - 1. an entertaining element, keeping the players hooked to the game by using the element of surprise and;
    - 2. a money-making mechanism in video game by using real world money to get it.

    - Mitsa
    - A loot box is a virtual box inside video games that provide a player with collectibles or essential items
    - that make them progress inside the game.
    - It derives from the loot
    - a bunch of goodies that a player can get as a reward after they conquer-win a super boss or level up.
    - But the loot box in its more recent and exploitative version is getting purchased with real money from a player.
    - The player never knows what is inside of it.
    - But they know that there is a chance of getting some items that they desire.
    - Many times a loot box appear in the gameplay and it disappears quickly
    - in order to be exclusive and make the player buy them without thinking too much.

    - The loot box are designed for making profit and its latest form are getting purchased directly by the consumer.
    - In order to be really essential for the player/consumer for keeping them more on the game
    - and making them purchasing it again and again they are designed in order to be desirable.
    - They are desirable because they create the chances that a player gets a really rare or powerful item out of them.
    - But they are like gambling because the player doesn't know what is inside of it.
    - They look like real gifts -they are closed boxes- but you purchase them for yourself.
    - And at some point you get them as a reward after accomplishing a really heroic task.
    - Also the fact that the loot boxes are rare makes them again desirable
    - and put the player in a condition for purchasing them without thinking too much.
    - This last characteristic is similar to the discount periods or black friday.

    - Supi
    - a loot box is a virtual box of hidden motives designed to persuade and/or trick players.
    - an alternate reality experience of collecting things you can't own in real life
    - surprise that comes with consequences
    - risk, reward
    - trigger for addictive/toxic behavior

    - surprise mechanism
    - how does exposing the inner workings and real motives of the loot box affect the players' behavior/decision making?
    - looking under the hood
    - time constraint or the lack thereof
    - how this contributes to the risk / pleasure / adrenaline rush that comes with every loot box unlocking experience

    - Flem
    - 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 collectable.
    - This lottery box is based on a surprise and gambling mechanism
    - in which the user excited for the "new-things-idea" would pay weird amounts of money to obtain something.
    - a player pays real money to buy a virtual treasure box
    - HOPING it contains something valuable within the world of the game

    - no limitations (not good both for who is addicted or for children)
    - the idea that you will get better if you buy one
    - rewarding experience
    - you choose, you get something nice (idea of the gift to yourself)
    - you have more power in the game (and in your life?)
    - guaranteed reward in exchange of money
    - "the characteristic that worries me the most is:"
    - game as escapism from the real life

    - Kamo
    - A loot box is a gambling mechanism, exploitative by design, that promises immediate in-game rewards to the player.
    - Those rewards can affect both the gameplay and the social environment around the game.

    - Grgr
    - The lootbox is a temporalized tool for the distribution and management of resources
    - between the inside of the gameplay and the outside of the gameplay.
    - Lootbox is like a pulse in the circulation of resources between virtual game and the reality ouside of it.
    - Lootbox is temporalized because it sets the beat, it's a repetitive rhythm for the player's temporality.
    - It builds an habit by triggering the attention and the emotional response of the player
    - (surprise element + gambling + reward + it's fun)
    - and ensuring that the player keeps playing potentially forever
    - (from habit to addiction)
    - The lootbox is also a mechanism that focuses on individual engagement, a personalized 1 to 1 interaction, or 1 to machine interaction.
    - an immediately rewarding response preceeded by a generally customized trigger.
    - but these are also the things I would like to change or make them fairer in our lootbox.

    - 2. what characteristic do we want to subvert?

    - "subvert - /səbˈvəːt/ - verb - gerund or present participle: subverting"
    - undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution).
    - "to overturn or overthrow from the foundation : RUIN"
    - to pervert or corrupt by an undermining of morals, allegiance, or faith
    - When you subvert something, your words or actions criticize or undermine the usual way of doing something or common values.
    - The girl who wears a tuxedo to the prom might subvert traditional ideas about beauty.

    - To subvert an institution like a school or a government is to overthrow it or stop its normal way of functioning.
    - Subvert comes from the Latin word subvertere, which combines the prefix sub, under, and the suffix vertere, to turn.
    - So you can imagine something that subverts as overturning or flipping the usual way of doing things.
    - Like a student who subverts a teacher's authority, causing chaos in the classroom.

    - Examples of Subvert in a sentence

    - In the movie, the rebels sought to subvert the tribunal’s power and replace the body with a democratic government.
    - My stepmother is slowly changing things in our house in an attempt to subvert my mother’s traditions.
    - Since the prince was in a hurry to become king, he planned to subvert his father’s influence by convincing everyone the leader was  - insane.
    - The dictator ordered the execution of every insurgent who sought to subvert his authority.
    - When the first mate tried to subvert the captain’s position, he was thrown overboard.

    - Our approach to subvertion

    - taking something and making you own but also a bit of not conflictive way
    - if we want to subvert the lootbox, how it is used in a manipulated way
    - make fun of it, change it, turning it around
    - intention to reveal / question the mechanisms of the lootbox
    - part of the loot box is that it keeps a secret
    - chenging the context but not the functionality, it doesn't transform everything
    - There are multiple ways/strategies to subvert something
    - change direction or orientation of something
---