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    Loot Boxes

    Concept »

    Boxes of random items, usually able to be purchased using real money currencies.

    Have you bought a loot box using real-world money?

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    BeachThunder

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    Poll Have you bought a loot box using real-world money? (572 votes)

    Yes, many times 14%
    Yes, a few times 30%
    Yes, only once 8%
    Never 48%
     • 
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    Lanechanger

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    Used to play hearthstone, casually play Heroes of the storm, occasionally play overwatch. Have never dropped a dollar on lootboxes.

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    49th

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    I bought a ton of TF2 crates back when I used to play, but I have only bought a couple in Overwatch. In my defense I eventually sold all of my TF2 items for around £100 of steam credit which is probably only slightly less than I spent.

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    damodar

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    ripelivejam

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    I just want to be a top poster under the Loot Boxes section.

    Couple times with Overwatch if my memory serves. Don't regret it, haven't felt compelled to do so with any other game. I'm a weird completionist when it comes to DLC for games I haven't played yet, though! :(

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    SchrodngrsFalco

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    Hearthstone and DOTA, because they're free to play and gave me a ton of quality play time.

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    Mage_

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    only time i get a loot box is by random drop.

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    FacelessVixen

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    Not exactly. I never bought a loot box in the Overwatch sense and I feel no impulse whatsoever to do that in Destiny 2, but I have bought around $30 worth of fake currency in Warframe as a way of saying "Hey, this free-to-play game that I've somehow put over 150 hours in is kinda cool."

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    nicksmi56

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    Nope, and no way it's going to happen either.

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    MeierTheRed

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    No, never had a reason to.

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    deactivated-5e851fc84effd

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    I think maybe twice. So rarely that I don't remember.

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    fnrslvr

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    I was going to say "never", but then I remembered all those MtG boosters I bought as one-offs over the counter.

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    Neurogia

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    Do the gem chests for Smite count because I wanted a Tier 5 skin? (Which is guaranteed once you buy all the goodies in a season)

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    mems1224

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    Yup. I've put a lot of money into getting a bunch of smite skins from their chests. No regrets. I've out hundreds of hours into that game.

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    zeushbien

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    No. Don't like their random nature so I'm not going to support them.

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    ltcolumbo

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    #15  Edited By ltcolumbo

    Oh sure. I've spent probably $50 on Overwatch, maybe that on Hearthstone. A while back when I had an unexpected hospital stay and nothing on me to pass the time but my phone, I found myself playing a lot of Fallout Shelter, for some reason. It kept me entertained for hours so I spent like $40 as a means of after-the-fact payment.

    I don't regret any of it and would gladly do it again. Opening loot boxes Is fun, often more fun than actually getting the stuff inside through other means. If I had the chance to just pay real money for my Torbjorn Christmas skin, I probably wouldn't have done it. *shrug*

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    thecraigchild

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    No I haven't, don't think I ever will either. If I feel the "need" to get lootboxes it's progression system is damaged to the point where I won't enjoy the game with or without them.

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    Teddie

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    I bought $10 of card packs in Hearthstone back in the day, and got a bunch of garbage cards. Haven't spent a cent on microtransactions outside of that.

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    TopCat88

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    #18  Edited By TopCat88

    Never: 60% (at the time of writing.)

    I'm surprised it's this low. What a shame. If 40% of the discerning, intelligent, and game savvy GB audience are buying them, just imagine the global %s.

    However, people can do whatever they want with their money, (unless they're Palmer Lucky :p)

    More evidence these things are here to stay. I know I will never buy one.

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    Rem

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    I spent over $100 during the first Overwatch halloween event.

    I didn't get the skin I wanted from the first $50 worth of boxes and didn't get enough in game currency to buy it so i bought more. I never got the skin from boxes and ended up having to purchase it in game after the second $50.

    Opening over 100 boxes and getting so many duplicates but still not getting the skin I wanted made me never buy boxes again. Then I realized how long it would have taken for me to earn the same number of boxes through normal progression. I haven't wanted to play Overwatch since.

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    TheManWithNoPlan

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    #20  Edited By TheManWithNoPlan

    I may uhh... may have spent more money on loot boxes in Overwatch than the price of the game at this point. Only game I've ever put money into that stuff though.

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    misquared

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    Only Overwatch. I got sucked into that event loop of really wanting a legendary skin > splurging "because I deserve it" and get some loot boxes > Nearing the end of the event, still not enough to buy the skin with in-game money > buy more loot boxes or else I would have wasted my money with the first purchase.

    Looking back, feels really stupid. Tried to take a chill pill vis a vis Overwatch since then.

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    FrodoBaggins

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    Never and never would. Even my 2nd favorote game of all time, Overwatch, not a penny.

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    fisk0

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    #23 fisk0  Moderator

    I did buy a few in Defiance back when it was fairly new and I felt like supporting the developers because I liked that game. I think I may have spent about $20 on it across PS3 and PC.

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    deactivated-5b031d0e868a5

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    Nope.

    Huh, I just realised that the card packs in Hearthstone are loot boxes.

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    Panfoot

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    I probably put about $100 bucks in total in TF2 keys, I would buy 2 or 3 every so often(usually the Halloween or Xmas limited time ones) because it was free to play and i've got about 2,000 hours out of it. The only time I've every bought a loot box in a paid game was once in CS:GO when it first got added to that game. After that I've never bought any loot boxes in a full price or free to play game and I don't plan on ever doing it again.

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    mak_wikus

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    Once, for Fallout Shelter. Few days later I got a new PC and I found out that the terrific Bethesda Launcher does not support cloud saves.

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    WasabiCurry

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    I bought a few loot boxes before but never really huge. Maybe around 2 or 3 in rocket league, none in OW, but I think the majority goes to Dota 2 since I enjoy playing dressup.

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    ll_Exile_ll

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    #28  Edited By ll_Exile_ll

    @topcat88 said:

    Never: 60% (at the time of writing.)

    I'm surprised it's this low. What a shame. If 40% of the discerning, intelligent, and game savvy GB audience are buying them, just imagine the global %s.

    However, people can do whatever they want with their money, (unless they're Palmer Lucky :p)

    More evidence these things are here to stay. I know I will never buy one.

    If it makes you feel better, the poll doesn't distinguish between free to play and full retail releases. Several people that have responded here have mentioned spending that money in free to play games that they got a lot of time out of and felt like it was a good way to support the developer of a game they played a bunch but didn't have to buy.

    The real issue are games with free to play economies that cost full price upfront. Free to play games with microtransctions are an entirely different situation.

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    Fezrock

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    Three times. All during the Overwatch 1-year anniversary event. I felt like I had gotten so many hours of enjoyment out the game that I didn't feel bad dropping $5 to show my appreciation.

    But even though I wasn't trying to get anything specific, I didn't get any of the outfits that looked really good. So I dropped another $5, and then $2 more. I realized I was going down a bad path, so I stopped; stopped playing Overwatch for a couple months too, just to he safe.

    Never again.

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    lylebot

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    I would consider it in a free-to-play game as a way to support the developers. I never have and never will in a full-price game.

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    avantegardener

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    I occasionally do it once for a game I'm enjoying, usually out of curiosity about the mechanics of the micro transaction system.

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    AlexW00d

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    I played Dota 2 for 2600 hours, I don't feel bad giving Valve money for it at all. Same with CSGO, sure I paid £12 for it originally, but I've since put in nearly 900 hours, I'll happy give them money occasionally for cosmetics when all actual content is added via free updates.

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    SeanFoster

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    I have for some Free to Play games that I felt deserved a few bucks.

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    bobafettjm

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    I never have and never will. I am already someone who does not spend money on cosmetic items anyway, and that is picking the ones I would want. I definitely would not spend money on a random chance to maybe get what I would want. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy opening loot boxes, but only so much that I will do it if I can earn them in game.

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    cikame

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    This probably counts, i purchased a load of keys to open Rocket League crates mostly because i love the game so much, but i've slowed down a lot now, mostly because i have what i want but also it's easier to get what you want through trading, i also bought a few keys for CS:GO crates before i stopped playing a couple years ago, but i felt that i'd put so many hours into CS since 1.5 that Valve deserved some of my money, it kinda paid off though because i won a knife worth £140 (i sold it after a while).
    I've played a fair few games which have loot crates and i don't put money in to get more, PUBG, BLOPS3, CODWW2, i don't even buy costumes or characters for real money in SF5 because i was so disgusted with the meager offerings at launch it didn't deserve it, if a game gives me value from the start i don't mind supporting the devs at all.

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    BoFooQ

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    #36  Edited By BoFooQ

    if you mean random loot boxes which is what I read the question has, than no. I have paid for extra stuff in games like costumes or special weapons or bonuses. When doing so though I have always known what I was getting ahead of time. I have no problem with the idea of pay for bonuses has long has you know what you are getting. Free to play games are odd cause they are trying to get money out of you, they have to cause the gave the game to you for free. I still play these games but usually what makes me stop playing them is when I feel that there is no way to move forward any more without paying. On the other hand if I play a game for awhile and enjoy my time with I don't mind giving the dev some money. Clash royale falls into this group for me, I've been playing for a long time and have bought about $20-30 worth of those "special offers". Even those I don't really consider loot boxes, cause I knew I was get X amount of gold and X amount gems and some random box. I don't mind the money spent there cause I never had to pay for game, so for the year plus clash had been my lone phone game its worth the money.

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    ItsaCorey

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    I started purchasing loot boxes in Team Fortress 2 and then in Counter Strike: Global Offensive. In each of these games, the "loot" you received can be sold for real money. This was the principle reason for my purchases: strike it rich. I eventually realized I was essentially gambling after spending around $150, so I stopped. The chance of getting any super rare loot was extremely slim.

    I then got into Hearthstone and Overwatch where I again purchased loot boxes. In these two games though, I was just supporting the game, not gambling.

    I might be the problem.

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    Dave_Tacitus

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    I bought the starter pack thing in Destiny 2. I received some one-use items and, I think, a ship.

    I'll not be buying any more.

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    Corvak

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    I've bought microtransaction items, but never random boxes.

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    AsherV20

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    Yes, and I'm tremendously ashamed of it. Destiny, Destiny 2, Overwatch. ...and Halo 5. The amount of money I sunk into Halo 5 is tantamount to a well of infinite sorrow.

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    Nodima

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    #41  Edited By Nodima

    I put hundreds of hours into MLB The Show, and would purchase a $50 or $100 stub bundle to open card packs or purchase specific players whenever I felt like I'd played that game enough that I wanted to, for lack of a better phrase, "buy a new game." In lieu of getting something new, I'd just put more money into The Show. Between last year and this year, including the purchase price, I'd estimate I've spent nearly $500 on MLB The Show, but it's also been the only game I'd play for an entire summer two years in a row, rather than buying 7-8 full price AAA games over that time.

    What I can't justify is the roughly $300 I put into NBA 2K's My Team mode last year. I've written about it enough in other microtransaction threads, but NBA 2K is an amazing basketball simulation shrouded in some highly predatory systems, and its MyTeam mode is absolute garbage. I simply realized too late how broken it was; by the time they were releasing highly rated versions of cards that could only achieve that rating because their 3PT rating was in the high 80s, and you had Kareem Abdul Jabbar making long range shots any version of Steph Curry below the red tier couldn't hit reliably I realized that mode was a total abomination. It took advantage of my love for the sport and its history and I fully recognize that. I'm still struggling to get back to enjoying the MyLeague mode this year as a result of how sour my experience with this franchise was lat year. I'm just glad I;m not a MyPlayer guy.

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    elmorales94

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    For loot boxes specifically, I've probably spent around $100 on them in Overwatch. It's more than I'd like to have spent in retrospect, but I'm not particularly upset or bitter about it.

    I've also bought into microtransactions in other games, just not loot boxes. I feel a lot worse about those, for what it's worth.

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    ajamafalous

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    Only TF2 and Dota

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    hippie_genocide

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    Yep. Somewhere between a few and many, but I chose a few. Maybe it's many. I bought like three of the "best value" packs of chests for Overwatch, and up until a year or so ago I was deep into the multiplayer for Black Ops III. I would save up my cryptokeys for chests when they released new weapons and camos, and when there was a weekend sale on CODpoints, I did that a few times which I would later spend on chests.

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    Sharpless

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    Yep! I play Overwatch and I really like how Blizzard has handled those loot boxes, for the most part. It's only ever cosmetic stuff, and they even tuned loot boxes to give fewer duplicates recently. When an event comes around, I'll often drop $20 on a stack in an attempt to get the new skins. I have no problem with the concept of loot boxes in general.

    I would never, on the other hand, buy a loot box from a game like Battlefront. I'm dumb, but I'm not stupid.

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    Atwa

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    Absolutely, I have no problem with it. I played Overwatch for 300+ hours and spent 50 dollars on loot boxes, was completely satisfied with the purchase.

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    themisfit138

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    #48  Edited By themisfit138

    No to all loot boxes, I find it to be a completely deplorable practice. I also don't willingly buy games with them in it, which is helping me catch up on my backlog.

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    isomeri

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    I spent some leftover Microsoft currency (2-5 bucks) on my account for Halo 5 boxes.

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    PDXSonic

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    I spent about $20 on Madden Ultimate Team packs a few years ago and regret it as nothing it does carries over to the next year.

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