Gambling for Loot

Lootboxes are making the news. Ars Tech reports on how Belgium is calling them into question and how Chris Lee (state representative from Hawaii) calls them predatory. If you’re like me and have ever played Overwatch or Heroes of the Storm, you’re quite familiar with them as items you can win as you achieve levels within the game. The problem is you can also pay money for tokens that allow you to buy them. And, because they are randomized, some are considering this ‘pay to play for random odds’ a form of gambling. It will be interesting to see where this goes with the ESRB in the US as that is what my dissertation is on.