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More and more games are using what I call gambling boxes. It is getting harder and harder to buy what you actually want in a game. You now have to buy these gambling boxes and take a chance where the odds are stacked against you. In Archeage you have a 10% chance at getting a thunderstruck tree in a pack and in Star Wars the Old Republic it feel like the odds of getting a Rancor in a gold mount pack are even less than that. They also pack these things with an incredible amount of crap you don’t actually want.
I have been trying to get a Rancor mount which currently goes for like 8 million on the auction house or I could try my luck with $12 to $15 gold mount packs. My buddy showed up last night with his rancor mount and I was all ga-ga over him and asked him how he scored it. He said he dropped $20 in the store, purchased two gold mount packs, opened them and got trash he did not want or could not sell. He then went to a gold farmers site and purchased 8 million credits for $16 and then purchased the mount through the auction house.
This got me thinking, maybe this is the answer for games like this. I’m in my 40’s with plenty of disposable income to throw at games but I don’t like gambling money away on crap. I like to buy what I want but game developers are making it harder and harder for me to do that. I have always opposed gold sellers in games and have been under the impression they are bad for game economies but now I am not so sure. If game makers could also include sought after items like the rancor in the store for $40 as well as the $12 cartel packs I would be ok but that is not the case.
What is your opinion on gambling boxes and do you think using a gold farmer is an acceptable alternative to get around them?
Comments
As to gold sellers and ever increasing prices in game, this is an unintended side effect of the transition from single-player to mmo RPGs. Most MMOs are constantly pumping more and more "money" into the local economy, through quest rewards, loot, pvp etc, but most MMOs do very little to take money out of economy (e.g. through repair costs). This leads to rapid inflation like you've spotted in SW:TOR. Its generally not an issue for long term players, but if you join the game late then it can be a pain at times trying to catch up.
I don't really have a problem with people using gold sellers in principle, but the reality of how gold sellers operate usually has a negative impact on the game. For example, "good" gold selling companies will have a lot of people simply farming stuff endlessly to make gold, but they'll also have teams of people who try to manipulate the market to their advantage, e.g. buying every single item of a certain type, then inflating the prices for that one item knowing they are the only supplier left. This leads to situations where you end up buying gold off the gold seller in order to spend that gold buying something from the gold seller. The gold seller wins twice.
At the end of the day, its personal choice. I don't think developers are pushing us towards using gold sellers (if they were, they'd just sell us the gold directly) but i do feel that developers have stopped putting in effort to develop sustainable ingame economies.
The developers took over the Gold Sellers.
Yah, don't try your luck, it's gambling.
First it is $15, then $30, then $100, and now you're addicted to spending money.
And just to remind you the value of $15, it will get you a final fantasy games, instead of silly mount.
You can also try FFXIV, none of that sillyness in that game.
I am quite surprise authorities didn't pick up on that yet.
Usually they are all over anything that shows half a nipple but if you get kids hooked on gambling, they don't give a damn.
Go and figure.
But you are right of course, selling expensive packs with mostly crap and a few rare good things is gambling. I don't think they expect you to buy gold from a cheap third party though, they want you to buy 30 or so packs for a fortune.
You don't need to be Admiral Ackbar to realize: It's a trap!!!
That's clearly a gambling device, It works exactly the same as the Slot Machines, with the difference that instead of winning cash you win an item, but in both you pay real money to have a tiny chance to win something big.
I don't even think you need to change the law for it, I am pretty sure that if someone starts a class action they can win pretty easy.
I guess we need to wait until someone gamble all his possession to win some Thunderstruck Trees and sues Trion lol
This is no different than physical or digital CCGs, and no one is trying to take them down yet.
A more valid attempt was to take them from the money side (taxing), but you can't get real money from the boxes just some virtual items, which you can sell for virtual currency, it's still in the grey area...
I think the title question is much more interesting than the lockbox crap. That's an easy one (saying this since years), just avoid them entirely. I just trash the dropped boxes right away, never buy keys, never buy lockbox items from the AH, etc. Don't support the lockbox gamble in any way, if you can
The title however... interesting topic. In the last few years almost every game countered external and shady goldseller sites by starting to offer legit, "official" gold selling. So yep, nowadays devs are indeed pushing you to buy ingame currency from them, since it's just free, additional income to their pockets. And to get two birds with the same stone most games are selling you ingame currency through lockbox keys, so with goldselling they're also fueling their lockbox gamble scam. Solution is easy again, just buy content and services for your games, and not the lockbox keys.
edit, sorry during the rant I missed the question Sure, if you have the money and don't mind aiding the gamble scam in the game, then just buy the ingame money and get the needed item from the AH. I'd never do that, but to each their own.
The devs are killing the gold farmers at their own game. Devs can create as much currency as they want with no costs, and also the demand for it (with lock boxes, sales, and what-not).
Gold farming is no longer a good business to be in.
It doesn't matter if you win money or a flying pony, what you win is irrelevant.
Anything that gives people a compulsory need to pay money in the hope of winning something they desire it is classified as gambling.
If the person that wants to win the pony plays the game until he gets one, that's the same as someone that plays Slot Machines until they win big money.
Both can cause addiction, and when an addiction involves money, that's called gambling.
It is not rocket science.
Herald of innovation, Vanquisher of the old! - Awake a few hours almost everyday!
Personally i don't see a problem as long as I do not participate. If someone wants to buy some pretty skin for their guns, or that p2w +1000 sword, who am I to disagree. It is a free world. I can always choose not to play a game if I think i am not enjoying it.