I am creating a wiki for a recently released game and was wondering if someone could help me by giving me some tips / info on formatting. The main things I am looking for are info boxes and a character select page like the that is here on this wiki. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
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What makes gambling a problem is it's link back to real world consequences and addiction / compulsion cycles. Playing a card game with your friends is fine. Playing a card game where you bet your car or the deed to your house is a problem. There's a reason why gambling is regulated.
Once money gets into the mix is where problems start. You can use money to gamble for loot in the same way you would gamble for a payout in a casino. The designers of loot box systems implemented them using the same psychological conditioning techniques used in slot machines to further hook players and convince them to part with their cash. Developers KNOW that they are addicting which is why they are in there in the first place. They aren't ignorant on the matter.
The accessibility of online games to people is also a problem. At least in a casino you have to be 21 to enter and you have to go to a specific location (in most cases) to gamble. Even online gambling you need an ID and a credit card / bank account to gamble. There's not much of a barrier when it comes to video games as you can go to a convenience store, purchase a PSN, XBL or STEAM card to pay for your habit with cash. Or borrow a parents credit card.
The legal definition of gambling is also how gaming companies have skated the laws in the first place. They aren't adequate enough to protect consumers from predatory business practices and so game companies have designed these systems to ride the edge of what would constitute legal gambling as to avoid legal penalty. It's very obvious what developers are doing, and its very obvious that they know what they're doing.
There needs to be regulation and discussion on the matter for sure because it's pretty much tainted the entire industry. IT was always going to be a matter of time.
There's plenty of research backing up that loot boxes check all the same boxes that gambling does. Game companies know this because they researched it and designed the system to intentionally replicate those aspects while skirting a legal gray area.
Boss drops / loot drops are on the borderline of that same compulsion cycle, the difference is that loot drops don't ask players to spend cash to get those drops, you play to earn them. Even so there's a real problem with game addiction because of RPG's that use mechanics similar to those implemented in gambling, to keep players hooked. Video game addiction is a real and documented phenomena that harms real people and has real consequences.
Card packs also give you physical cards which have monetary value that you can sell. There was already legislation in attempted to regulate baseball cards / card packs in the past but it wasn't successful, however one could create an argument that they are also a form of gambling ( cause technically they are ).
Just because something has long been part of our community doesn't make it right. There are plenty of stories of child gambling addicts spending thousands of dollars on loot box based systems so there is the harm is serious. We need to be smart as a community and compassionate as well to look at and evaluate these systems so that the least amount of harm occurs as possible. Balancing gameplay with compulsion cycles so that they are fair, fun and above all else safe.