EA killed for "Surprise Mechanics", TencentGGG slides on "Mystery Box". How?

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Aynix wrote:

If you want mystery boxes to be gone, just dont buy them. They are making new ones just because there is a high demand for it.

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Baron01 wrote:

I would prefer if PoE does not have lootboxes. Alternatively, GGG should implement systems preventing duplication of items gained from boxes and also prevent obsessive spending, ie. limit number of lootboxes you can purchase during certain period.

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Aynix wrote:

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Baron01 wrote:

I would prefer if PoE does not have lootboxes. Alternatively, GGG should implement systems preventing duplication of items gained from boxes and also prevent obsessive spending, ie. limit number of lootboxes you can purchase during certain period.

Nah, they should start giving them for free! Or even pay us to open those mystery boxes.

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Baron01 wrote:

I do not buy lootboxes regularly because I do not agree with the principle. I only get them when they are given to buyers when you spend money in the shop. However, there is no denying there is a big draw in those boxes as you can get significant value for very tiny investment. I have gotten wings or pieces of armor that would cost 20+ USD for a mere price of 3 (or purchase of different MTX from a shop). This allure is dangerous as it tingles our gambling habits/addiction.

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Baron01 wrote:

I'm joining this topic very late and I did not read responses past first page.

@OP
One of major differences between EA's approach and what GGG is doing in Path of Exile is the fact PoE is free-to-play game. Very few, if any, games published by EA are free to play so they do not deserve to have free to play monetization schemes in them.

I would prefer if PoE does not have lootboxes. Alternatively, GGG should implement systems preventing duplication of items gained from boxes and also prevent obsessive spending, ie. limit number of lootboxes you can purchase during certain period.

I do not buy lootboxes regularly because I do not agree with the principle. I only get them when they are given to buyers when you spend money in the shop. However, there is no denying there is a big draw in those boxes as you can get significant value for very tiny investment. I have gotten wings or pieces of armor that would cost 20+ USD for a mere price of 3 (or purchase of different MTX from a shop). This allure is dangerous as it tingles our gambling habits/addiction.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

If they "have" to have them, thenhave duplicate protection, change the weights to equal, and offer a buyout for the whole box. They can still make money, and imo not be as shady.

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Mythreindeer wrote:

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Aynix wrote:

If you want mystery boxes to be gone, just dont buy them. They are making new ones just because there is a high demand for it.

Undeniably true, however, never underestimate the human fascination with wasting money.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

Actually if you had read through the thread, which understandably, 20 pages, isnt realistic, you would see that we agree nearly on every point.

I spoke about duplicate protection, and the weighted rng (designed to get dupes or "fail"), and the way the price point encourages purchase of more than you might otherwise intend. It preys on gambling urges.

However I do disagree with the premise that GGG is allowed to have these loot boxes because they are F2P. They didnt always have these boxes, and there are more ethical ways to offer them.

Bottom line (for me) is that real money loot boxes are bad, regardless of the monetization of the base game. If they "have" to have them, thenhave duplicate protection, change the weights to equal, and offer a buyout for the whole box. They can still make money, and imo not be as shady.

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鬼殺し wrote:

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Mythreindeer wrote:

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Aynix wrote:

If you want mystery boxes to be gone, just dont buy them. They are making new ones just because there is a high demand for it.

Undeniably true, however, never underestimate the human fascination with wasting money.

Such nonsense you people speak! >_>

But for real and jokes aside, *if* a person is invested in their aesthetic experience of PoE and regularly buys support packs (thereby gaining some GGGold to blow), then mystery boxes are incredibly good value compared to the off-the-shelf price of most of their individual contents. TencentGGG are 100% transparent with the odds as well. Duplicates keep the prices very low, as others have noted. As I said earlier, they've tried to be as morally upstanding about it as possible despite the shady nature of the practice overall. Does that excuse it? Not really, but it certainly puts how TencentGGG do it in a whole other realm to how EA does it. TencentGGG have never tried to justify it with idiotic doubling-down such as EA's 'surprise mechanics' -- it wasn't just the fact that EA do it that got them 'killed', it was the attempt to justify it as somehow part of the game. No one at TencentGGG is stupid enough to insult its players that way. They know we're gamblers and we know they know. It doesn't even need to be said.

And that's why EA was killed for 'surprise mechanics' but TencentGGG slides on 'Mystery boxes'. They're similar but different in very distinct, very significant ways. The reductionism required to put PoE's 'mystery boxes' on the same reprehensible level as some of the shit EA has pulled is borderline juvenile.

There's no way people are going to just stop buying these mystery boxes just because other companies use the same overarching concept in a far less tenable fashion. This is one of those cases where the numbers just don't lie, and leaning back on trite dismissals like 'people are stupid and gullible so they'll keep buying these things' ignores the very likely possibility that your average mystery box purchaser is somehow capable of weighing up cost vs benefit for themselves. I mean, you're insulting a lot of people to even imply otherwise.