Rant: Paid Loot Boxes. F*ck 'em.

For those of you who got the reference of the relation operand commonly used in Java as to express "not equal to," well done to you! However, if you're new here and came because of the coding joke, go read something else on the blog.

'Cause today I get angry.

For those of you who haven't been following recent gaming news, loot boxes are becoming more and more prominent in video games. Which usually isn't a problem, until I rectify my original statement which was incorrect as to build for a more dramatic effect: they're paid for. That's right kiddos; you pay you 60 dollars for your video game and then get to keep spending money to get a box that will randomly get you loot that you may or may not have wanted or already had. *Excessive and Angry Sigh*

I don't like this practice(If you couldn't tell). But the ESRB is fine with it apparently. They said in an email to Kotaku that the "ESRB does not consider loot boxes to be gambling." It's profoundly frustrating, but there's little to be done about it. Gambling is a legally defined thing, and expanding that definition within the ESRB could lead to lawsuits directed at it. However, there should be something done about this.

The nature of loot boxes are simply predatory, nothing more. But the lack of outrage is something I find worrying. The reason it should worry you is that it severely affects a game's pacing. Just like writing a book, designing a game requires attention to detail: everything must be looked at. A such, a developer who wants to input some form of a loot box system can simply tweak the pacing of the game to be a little slower so that more people are more tempted to buy loot boxes. So even if you are committed to not buying a single loot box, your game is now left, purposefully, flawed as to get you to pay more money.

There are plenty more people who can tell you a but-tonne more information about this subject, such as Totalbiscuit or Jim Sterling, but I figure that I'd give my own two cents as well. And to any readers of this-

Boycott these games. Seriously. If the practice becomes unprofitable, the developers will stop doing it. The GTA modding scandal, where thousands of players of GTA 5 gave the game bad reviews on steam as to lower it's overall score due to the producers throwing out a popular modding addon to, is proof that consumers can speak with their wallet. And no, you can't "just not buy the microtransactions." You have to make it so they lose your business. Otherwise it will still be profitable to them.

And they'll keep doing it.