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 |