Valve loot boxes have always worked that way. They didn’t change them to skirt regulations. I don’t really find it very scummy at all. Nothing in the loot boxes can give you an advantage in the game. Most of the games that include this feature are free to play. This is how they make money from their game. The vast majority of people don’t pay very much at all. You can play the games and have tons of fun and never interact with the loot box system. It’s an optional thing for people who like the game so much that they want to pay. It’s basically donate to valve and have a chance to unlock a cosmetic item in game.

Valve, however, has managed to neatly skirt regulatory efforts by charging players not for directly purchasing loot crates, which can be earned during gameplay, but for the keys required to open them.

Wow, that’s fucking scummy

Hall said that even he is frustrated by the “Paradox model” of paid expansion and DLC packs his studio RocketWerkz chose for its survival game Icarus after moving away from a free-to-play scheme.

For Paradox games, it’s mostly nickel and diming since they know they’re working in a niche market. For Icarus, it’s a problem of wanting the game to stay relevant, paying for servers and not knowing when to say “ok, we’re done”.

FIX YOUR GAME DEAN!.. sorry old habits

Valve loot boxes have always worked that way. They didn’t change them to skirt regulations. I don’t really find it very scummy at all. Nothing in the loot boxes can give you an advantage in the game. Most of the games that include this feature are free to play. This is how they make money from their game. The vast majority of people don’t pay very much at all. You can play the games and have tons of fun and never interact with the loot box system. It’s an optional thing for people who like the game so much that they want to pay. It’s basically donate to valve and have a chance to unlock a cosmetic item in game.

No, being able to find items for free and sell them is not the problem or what makes it gambling

Oh, I thought this was going to be about the trading cards they implemented in steam. Those are so lame and cheap I wasn’t bothered by this.

For any non-readers-of-articles, this is about a loot box mechanic added to counterstrike (which is fair criticism imho)

Selling is the problem, it makes it actual gambling.

Selling is not gambling. It’s kind of the opposite of gambling.

I agree.

But it’s important to note that just because it flies under the radar of most people, doesn’t mean it isn’t an absolutely deplorable system that exploits the difficult to control tendencies of vulnerable people.

It’s evil, and while it’s “only a little bit of evil” compared to most similar system, there is no amount of evil that is ok.

I’ve bought games just from sitting there for an hour and selling those cards. All these years and i still have no idea why people buy them.

Is valve buying the boxes and destroying them?

Being ‘least shitty’ isn’t really a worthwhile acolade.

I’ve bought games just from sitting there for an hour and selling those cards. All these years and i still have no idea why people buy them.

If you complete a set you get xp and level up your profile. I sell the expensive cards I get from my games and buy the cheap ones to get a full set. I’m on level 52 and I never put any money on steam for any reason other than buying games. My profile looks cool because of this and I like it.

That doesn’t make any sense.

If valve isn’t buying them and destroying them, then where are they going and why?

You’re trying too hard.

I’m not the one promoting gambling on a gaming platform.

This guy will get tons of flak and maybe even death treats for criticizing Valve. For whatever reason there is a rabid cult like following for Valve and Gabe Newell. I remember several years ago I said something like “Valve is still a company that’s out to make money at the end of the day” and several of my gaming friends instantly were no longer friends. It’s quite hilarious for me to just think about that even today.