Loot boxes are one of the most widespread and popular items that video games offer to players, and players gladly accept them.
Loot boxes are attractive because they give players the feeling of excitement and adrenaline. In hopes of getting a package of different in-game items, weapons, skins, and so on, players are ready to pay unquestioningly for loot boxes that do not at all guarantee any value.
Loot boxes are so appealing to video gamers that many researchers now question the ethics of this phenomenon because of the excessive spending and gambling addiction that loot boxes can cause.
However, gamers keep paying for the loot boxes, even though they are disappointed more often than satisfied. Therefore, it makes sense to learn more about how loot boxes work, what reactions they trigger, and how to use them with more advantage – or, rather, with less damage.
How to Handle Look Boxes
One thing a gamer has to remember in the first place is that, even though they play a video game, look boxes introduce the element of gambling in it. This is not an exaggeration because loot boxes are purchases with unpredictable value. The player basically pays for a loot box without knowing what it contains but hoping that it has something valuable in terms of the game.
To be honest, even no deposit casino sites offer more advantageous conditions to their customers than video games do. At an online casino, a gambler can at least hope to win real money and cash it out. In video games, no such benefit is even possible.
This is exactly gambling, and one can even develop an addition to loot boxes and similar video gaming offers.
However, if loot boxes are gambling, the correct way to handle them is the same as experienced gamblers holding online casino offers – by deconstructing the offer and analyzing its features to find out whether they can take any advantage of it, if at all.
Below, we describe the characteristics of loot boxes and give recommendations on how to deal with them.
The Near Miss Impact
Sometimes, loot boxes feel almost like playing online slot games when the player sees that only one symbol on the reels is missing to hit a payline. This creates the impression of a near miss, as if a couple of more tries will eventually bring the desired result.
Loot boxes may contain some of the objects that are useful but not quite, and the player might believe that another try will end up successful. In reality, loot boxes are even worse than loot boxes. Slot games give random results caused by the algorithm, while loot boxes are designed by the publisher beforehand.
Keeping this simple fact in mind, the player should really avoid spending too much money on loot boxes, remembering that they were not designed to be valuable in the first place.
Escalation Tendency
The more the player wins in the game, the more they want to continue to win. The more the player loses, the more they want to recover losses and perhaps pay more money for a loot box to get more resources in the game.
Both outcomes fuel further play, and only the gaming platform will benefit from it eventually. So, the advice here is not to try and buy loot boxes specifically to win (or get to the next level). Loot boxes should be viewed only as additional fun that most often does not impact your game progress much.
Coins and Currency
One of the key problems with loot boxes is that often; players cannot buy them directly for the currency they used to pay for the game. First, they have to buy “gems,” “coins,” or other in-game currency and then use it to buy a loot box.
The exchange rate of in-game coins to real dollars (or other currency) is not direct, and one coin is always more expensive than one dollar. As a result, it makes it difficult for players to calculate the price of the loot box and track their actual spending in real currency. Players need clarification and pay more money than they probably would like.
As a result, it is always better to calculate the real value of the loot box in your local currency to get a realistic picture of what you pay and what you get. Most of the time, after players get disappointed again and again with the valueless loot boxes, they grow pretty indifferent to them.
Loot boxes can be fun, but if you expect to get any predictable value for your money, it is better to research the matter thoroughly before buying a loot box.
