Hello everyone, just a quick news post here. While this is a retro game blog, I can't help but keep tabs on what's going on in the world of gaming as a whole. One such thing is the massive beast that has become micro transactions. These things are everywhere in modern gaming. The most newsworthy of these as of late have been loot boxes and the fiasco that is EA's Star Wars Battlefront II. For those of you who don't know what the whole loot box craze is let me quickly fill you in. Many games such as Blizzard's Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm offer loot boxes as a reward for progression. In the case of Heroes, each time you level up a hero you get a loot chest that can contain a variety of cosmetic items, mounts, and even new heroes. If you don't like what you got you can use in game currency to re-roll the box.
These progression type boxes are certainly rewarding and using in game currency that you earn by playing to re-roll the boxes most do not take issue with. The problem is that these boxes can also be purchased with real money. Some games offer intensives to spending money. To use Heroes of the Storm again as an example. If you buy any loot boxes with real money, you get a guaranteed rare item. For Heroes this is not a big deal as again, the majority of the stuff you can get is cosmetic. While purchasing loot boxes in Heroes may not effect the game, it still runs into the same problem as this model... Purchasing loot chests that may or may not contain upgraded weapons or heroes. This was a major problem upon the release of EA's Star Wars Battlefront II. The best heroes were locked behind loot chests. You can get chests by playing, but it will take an incredible amount of time to get what you want, so the company really wanted you to gamble to try and get the best heroes.
The controversy over these loot boxes has gone on for months now. Nobody really seems to know exactly what to do about it. Many people say that it is straight up gambling. I can see the argument. You are buying something without knowing if you will get what you want and it's up to some computer randomly generating your winnings. If you don't like what you get you might be able to pull the level on the slot machine and try again. Like I said, I can see that argument big time.So in response to all of this and games potentially having more purchases than the game itself (DLC), the ESRB will be adding "In Game Purchases" on the label of games that have to option to spend money once the game is purchased. In today's gaming market that means that you will be seeing this label more often than not.
It makes sense to have it in my opinion. I've heard so many stories of parents not paying attention to what their kid is doing, having them blow a bunch of money on DLC or loot boxes, and then seeing it on their bills. Well yeah, parents should be paying closer attention and I think that's a big part of why ESRB is adding this to the labels. It gives parents that heads up that the game has the option of in game purchases. Overall, I think this is a good thing. The loot box debate is one that continues to exist and grow as to whether or not it should be officially labeled as gambling and fall into gambling laws and what not. Is it? Hard to say, but it certainly is something all gamers should at least keep one eye on as it is quite an interesting debate.
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