"Jaconis;c-1808156" wrote:
"Snowlock2017;c-1808129" wrote:
"Jaconis;c-1808117" wrote:
I see you chose not read the rest of my post. This is not a gamble. You WILL achieve your goal if you spend enough here. This is not true in a casino.
You are paying for a chance to receive a reward. Whether you are buying a lottery ticket, or a meat raffle or placing a blind in poker, you're doing no different.
What you are trying to say that is unlike the lottery, you will achieve the same thing simply because there is an alternate, less attractive path (made intentionally far less attractive to push the user to the gambling option). And that may be true, assuming this mobile game goes on indefinitely or close to it, but that doesn't make the more expedient path not gambling.
That is not what I’m saying at all. My point has nothing to do with the fact that these characters will be made available F2P eventually.
My point is that when you buy a marquee pack, there is a minimum non zero number of shards you will receive. Therefore, there is a theoretical maximum to your spending to achieve the goal of maxing the star of the character. There is variance in the number of shards you will receive, but it is always >0. You are not gambling in the sense because the reward will be achieved.
In your example, you could spend millions of dollars playing the lottery or poker, but not win a cent. You are gambling your money because there is a chance you will win more, but there is also a chance you will win less than you spent, or none at all.
In other words, there is a guaranteed return on your investment in these lootboxes. It may be better or worse, depending on how “lucky” you are. There is no such guarantee in true gambling.
So at the casinos what happens when you win a jackpot? Blinky lights and cool sounds. When you pull an extraordinary reward from Bronzium, chromium, or limited time packs you get a cool sound when you win an extraordinary one and cool effects surrounds it.
So psychologically a player’s brain is pumping out endorphins and your brain is hit with that “feel good rush” which is very similar to gambling.
Furthermore there are folks from the community who have come out with their stories of how they spent thousands on the game and were absolutely addicted. Some to an unhealthy level where they are spending money they can’t afford to spend.
Not everyone has an “addictive” personality. But there is a portion of people that absolutely does and it’s tricky to find the balance between making money and “exploiting” those who do.
Years ago Facebook spent $$$ researching how to get people to spend more and more time on their ap. They studied human behavior and have managed to get more people to spend more & more time on FB.
Mobile games do the same exact thing. They study behavior and do various things to get people to spend more time in the game. I guess I’m just saying this is because to dismiss gambling/addiction as a part of the game is... not well thought out. (Though you do have some great points on the differences between the two bro).
