This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes

Re:This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes by onychomys on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @09:41AM (#15861331)

The mention of Mass Effect 3's loot boxes (...which were also in Andromeda, for the twelve people who bought that game) is a little different, and I think the difference is important. In both ME games, it's a co-op player team against computer-controlled enemies. Yes, you could pay real-world money to buy loot boxes to gamble and hopefully get better gear, but doing so doesn't hurt any other player. If player A has amazing gear while player B doesn't, it's pretty much a non-issue, because they're always on the same team. That's very different than the PvP modes of both FIFA and the Star Wars game.

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Re:This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes by jellicle on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @01:50PM (#15863764)

Try playing a D&D game where one player is level 20 and everyone else is level 1. "Hey, we're all on the same side so it doesn't matter"... no.

"Dave paid the DM $50 so he gets the level 20 character. That's just the way it is, you can like it or leave."

Differences in player power will break cooperative games just as much as they'll break competitive games.

"Okay, so here's the kill stats. Dave: 1,422 kills. Sally: 3 kills. Bob: 4 kills. Lacey: 7 kills. Good job working together everyone!"

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Re:This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes by reificator on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @11:06AM (#15862131)

I've caused friction in my core gaming group for playing certain built-in characters in co-op games. To the point where it was mandated that we restart and lose hours of progress just so I switch characters.

Someone getting advantages from pay-to-win would absolutely make people upset, myself among them.

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Re:This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes by mattmanser on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @07:21PM (#15866436)

Ok, let's play Lord of the Rings.

You can be Nob, I'll be Aragorn.

Have fun tending the Prancing Pony while I'm off at Helm's Deep.

It's pretty obviously not a non-issue, no-one wants to be playing the Red Shirt/Peasant/Pikeman/Villager while their mate's running running around being a Jedi/Ranger/Paladin/Spock/Special Ops/Cyborg/etc. just because he dropped $100 extra on a game you both paid full retail for.

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Re:This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes by cheshire137 on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @10:44AM (#15861919)

> Andromeda, for the twelve people who bought that game

I was one of those twelve. First Mass Effect game I didn't finish, let alone play over and over again, because I realized I just didn't care about my party members.

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Re:This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes by jasonlotito on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @12:27PM (#15862925)

The argument is that loot boxes are gambling. The contents are not important. Either loot boxes are gambling, or they are not.

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Re:This Dumb Industry: Wilson Boxes by reificator on Thursday December 07, 2017 @02:09PM (#15872987)

The contents are important. For years I've been hearing about how people hate these kinds of systems but put up with it because "at least it's only cosmetic".

If Battlefront hadn't made it pay to win, the gambling conversation wouldn't be happening yet.

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