Gaming or Gambling
I absolutely enjoy the game and yes I purchase things to get a leg up to stay competitive. However I have yet to receive anything but the bottom of the barrel shards relic gear etc. it should be cu...
Forum Discussion
EA and Star Wars are not new to this idea of letting players gamble with their money for in-game purchases. In reference to that linked article it was "resolved" when they included the odds of each prize. Companies get away with it for two reasons; 1) people are willing to pay for it, and 2) governments aren't really doing anything to prevent it (especially in America). When people complain about the price of something they purchase I like to tell them "you can't complain because the price wasn't so high that you refused to pay the price".
Again, “gambling” is debatable in the cases the OP raised, as in all cases there is no possibility of the purchaser getting nothing in return. The legal definition of “gambling”, certainly where I live, requires at least some prospect that your stake could be lost completely with no return.
Pack-purchasers may not want to receive the less-desirable of the possible outcomes, and may consider those outcomes a rip-off, but as you and I have both pointed out someone should decide if they are prepared to pay the price to get the least desirable outcome. If the answers is “no”, they shouldn’t be buying the pack.
But it is gambling by pretty much all definitions and standards. That is also the reason why those deals, OP is referring to, are simply not offered in many countries, where gambling is prohibited.
It is gambling, that's not really debatable by definition. OP is stating that spending $10 should mean getting a consistent amount for that money, not a random odds-based amount or prize, which is the gambling. Of course when it comes to spending crystals players can save up to not lose real money, but it sounds like OP is noting that spending real money is not a consistent X amount of crystals with every $10 spent.
