Why loot boxes and microtransactions should be illegal and why Blizzard should listen

It’s basically gambling, and ruins people’s lives financially. Most loot boxes are completely random causing people to buy more and more until they get what they want and then do it again for the next item wasting even more money.

By using loot boxes and microtransactions it allows these companies to make sub par games that lack quality. Because their making so much money through gambling aka loot boxes, they can spend both less money and time on quality since people can’t stop them themselves from buying them.

It allows “free progression”. So rather than letting these companies give us these items by doing things in game, you get great gear and/or cosmetics and other things by using real time money rather than using in game money or earning it. Sad part about this is that you truly never own these things. So you’re paying more real money for digital items that the companies themselves own. So that $15 you spent on a horse mount? Useless. Only money you should be paying is for the game itself and subs if the game is a subscription based game(WoW).

WoW has ignored to focus on quality as a hey still get lots of money from microtransactions, and so as long as people still pay for that stuff, keep saying goodbye to quality content and say hello to more BFA quality stuff as they don’t need sub numbers like before and can live off of microtransactions.

So all in all, loot boxes need and microtransactions need to be banned so we can get more quality games, 70-80% of games these days are trash.

This is all I can think off the top of my head and I’m typing on my phone and I’m in a rush so if anybody has other reasons please list below and what you think about the whole situation.

11 Likes

WoW has loot boxes? WoW has microtransactions with items that help you progress in the game? This is news to me…

13 Likes

Wow does have microtransactions, but other blizzard games do have loot boxes

5 Likes

Maybe you meant to post this on one of the their forums that actually does this?

8 Likes

Only the wow token helps you progress in the game. Loot boxes in other games are visual options that you can buy for ingame currency.

Sorta? i admit you have to look sideways in wows case but it has been encroaching on enough titles it warrants some concern.

1 Like

Taking advantage of your spontaneous spending is what gaming companies are suppose to do now-a-days OP. Can’t you see from the reaction of these few posts? They don’t care if it’s the same company that is running their game. Just that it’s not their game (yet).

1 Like

WoW has no lootboxes. Overwatch and HotS are that way ----->

2 Likes

I think there are states in the US and countries around the world working towards labeling loot boxes as gambling. At least in America this would have significant consequences to them being in a game.

1 Like

Example. ^ This guy.

Imagine having no self control. And then playing a video game.

Now imagine adults being held accountable for their own actions.

Prohibition failed because people like drinking. Outlawing gambling just pushes it into the dark recesses.

7 Likes

But even though prohibition failed, there’s still areas/times where we’re not allowed to drink.

Addiction =/= Learning control. Not all people work/think/function the same way. Get off your high horse.

2 Likes

So what? I’m an adult. I adult whenever I want.

You can gamble legally in Vegas 24/7. So what?

2 Likes

Name checks out.

Are you insinuating I partake in this kind of behavior? Because, if you are. You couldn’t be further from the truth. Keep your nose pointed down though.

Are you insinuating I can’t handle my own impulses? Are you telling me what I can and cannot do based on someone elses character flaw?

Let’s all hold hands and sing kumbaya.

3 Likes

Because giving a crap about someone other than ourselves is just plain absurdity isn’t it?

1 Like

Why are people thinking wow doesn’t have this. Your correct WoW doesn’t have loot boxes but it does have microtransactions which I also talked about. Race changes. Mounts, cosmetic helms, pets, are all microtransactions.

Okay, but you are posting on a WoW forum and specifically called out WoW in your post. and you specifically said they allow “free progression”.

Anyways, WoW does not have loot boxes. Yes, some of Blizzard’s other games (like hearthstone) does. Okay… go complain on their forum.

WoW does have some microtransactions. You can buy some pets and mounts from the store. They are purely cosmetic and offer no benefit to game progression.

And I get that even that is frowned upon by some people. Something about how it means less content added to the game, more content added to the store, or whatever. But I mean there are hundreds of mounts and pets in the game, and like a dozen on the store. I know the principle is still there, and a lot of people will wag their finger with “slippery slope” arguments, but as of right now, there is overwhelmingly more content in the game than in the store. And the store has been around for years; not some new thing.

This is a big problem in a lot of other MMOs. And I will not deny the seeds are planted in WoW, but it’s barely even grown into a sprout at this point, so it’s kinda not fair for you to be acting like it’s already a fully grown tree. I mean your post isn’t even about warning how it may get there one day if they continue watering it. You’re just straight up acting like it’s already a full grown problem.

But I will not deny it’s more of a problem with some of Blizzard’s other games. But again I invite you to go post on the relevant forums where it will have more impact.

Wish I could upvote this more. So irritating how many people these days don’t want to take responsibility for themselves, wanna blame everybody everything else for what they do.

I’m not saying stuff like loot boxes and microtransactions aren’t a problem. But it’s never going to be solved to anybody’s satisfaction until people start seeing it for what it is, and start owning themselves more.

Companies do stuff like this because it works. And it works, because we (the consumers), buy into it. The companies aren’t forcing us to buy it. The root problem is we, the consumers refuse to recognize how easy we are duped with quick reward systems, shiny things, etc. We refuse to mentally strengthen ourselves against it, and we refuse to stop throwing money at companies for taking advantage of it.

We will never, ever win the war on companies doing everything in their power to take money from us in the most devious ways possible. It is our responsibility to stand up and tell them “no.” If enough people stand up and tell them “no, we will not buy this”, then they will change.

Because companies don’t give a crap about lootboxes or microtransactions, except that they work for getting your money. If it stops working, they will find the next best thing that does. All they care about is getting your money. How they do it is incidental.

So if you want them to stop selling them, then stop buying them. People keep writing this off as a cliche statement and try to find some other solution, because accepting it means accepting that it’s our fault, and it’s on us to do something about it.

7 Likes