Loot boxes are great and I’ll explain why

Every gamer knows them and most hate them: loot boxes. Hardly any other mechanic has had such a bad impact on the video game industry. Several scandals, political discussions and financial losses included. And yet I like the colorful boxes – provided that a few conditions are met.

The blind hatred of loot boxes

“What the hell?!” one or the other reader will most likely think when reading the headline of this article. And while on Facebook already angry comments just based on the headline be typed, I would like to briefly invite you, who are obviously reading the article, into my world of thoughts.

I understand that the headline “A heart for loot boxes” triggers enormously. After all, loot boxes are considered the spearhead of the hated microtransactions and are symbolic of everything that is going wrong in the gaming industry.

They have spread like the plague through the video game industry and are responsible for why games like Star Wars Battlefront 2 or the various FIFA offshoots unite the general public rather questionable reputation to have.

The colorful boxes are now especially in the smartphone section Standard and a tangible problem. They mostly encourage underage players to permanently invest real money in the as slot machines to invest in camouflaged games.

However, this article is not about mobile games at all. Rather, I want to state in advance that, as the author of this commentary, I am aware of the negative influence and the many problems in connection with loot boxes.

And that leads me to the following thesis: Loot boxes are not just loot boxes.

While the mechanics work mostly the same, so a digital box contains some random digital content, but implementation is crucial for me. The otherwise hated loot box mechanism can be implemented correctly wonderfully motivating and rewarding be. And without the negative aftertaste of real money and Pay2Win.

Not all loot boxes are bad

An excellent example of this is Forza Horizon 5. The Microsoft exclusive racing game has a sophisticated loot box mechanic. Ironically in the form of Wheelspins, a literal slot machine. However, players can use the loot boxes only play, do not purchase. An essential difference.

And since players in Forza Horizon 5 are also rewarded for almost every action, they also get new spins regularly. As a user, you never get the feeling that you have to buy more Wheelspins. Blunt grind is therefore eliminated.

There is one though paid VIP membership, which includes weekly Super Wheelspins, but interested players can only purchase VIP status once. It is therefore not possible to buy an infinite number of wheelspins.

And this loot box mechanic works. Completely without a catch. What also convinces me that the mechanics themselves are not bad. How could she? It is a completely natural and deeply human reaction to be happy about a present and to be curious as to what the contents of the pretty box might be.

And the principle of chance is also attractive in this context. Being able to get a rare item or coveted skin that few other players have gives us a spark certain thrill out of.

Or to put it another way: Loot boxes are fun. Quite simply because they fuel our childish curiosity and the element of surprise never gets boring.

So the problem with the whole thing is not the loot boxes themselves, but (again) the greedy publisherswhich often force their developers to corrupt the mechanics to the point of creating a Star Wars Battlefront 2-like disaster.

It makes me all the sadder that the system of Forza Horizon 5 and its predecessors unfortunately the proverbial exception forms. Because the majority of all loot boxes are not aimed at the fun of the game, but still at the player’s bank account.