When you think of loot boxes do you think about games in general how they have changed from you unlocking everything in a game to instead buying loot boxes which maybe will not even give you what you want.
Welcome to the future of video games.

What the average lootbox looks like

It all started with facebook with the free to play mini games. You got hooked to a game but it would be you either wait for a certain thing to happen in the game to do anything or you would pay money to have access to core gameplay mechanics. If you do not pay then you just would have to be patient. This evolved into the mobile type of gaming that blew up and shortly after that you had the first game that had official loot boxes.

TF2.

Everyone has played TF2. I even got the game when it was like 40 bucks on steam. My friend said that it was going to become free 2 play soon and I disagreed like why would they do that? How would they get money? I was totally oblivious to the facebook and mobile scene at the time. Low and behold my friend was right with the update coming out that was free to play. I feel a little ripped off. Like someone stole money away from me. But I soon got over it because right after that all of the servers were full and it was more fun because there was so many more people. How does the loot boxes in TF2 work? A crate will drop after you kill people or get killed and it goes into your inventory.

TF2 Crate.

It has an annoying popup that comes up that you got it. Thats all cool I will ignore it for now. Once in a while you will get a new weapon but it is not in a crate it is just free circulated to you. Weapons do a bunch of different things to keep the game fresh and addictive. When you do get a crate though for the game you need to buy a key to open it. Once you buy a key you can open any crate. Sometimes like the above picture they have holiday events that last a few weeks and the game is changed to mimic the holiday in the game.

What can you get from a Crate?

Well you get cosmetic items that make characters look different. People took that very seriously in that game. Sometimes there was free drops for cosmetic items but they are super rare. That is compared to the the weapon drops at least. You could get taunts, dye spray, nameable weapons, different variations of the cosmetic goods, etc. It is not pay to win so that is a good thing. This is loot boxes done correctly inside of a game.

Soon after the success of TF2 many free to play developers made their own versions of Loot boxes. Alot of the games were mostly worse with it being focused on pay to get loot that upgrades your character to compete with other players. The problem with this is the other type of player who is not wanting to dish out cash will have to do a lot more work to get that item. That system is known as the Pay - to - Win system that plagues our modern gamesphere. Mass effect 3 and CS:GO were the next two games that had loot boxes. CS:GO is made by the same people who made tf2 and they carried the same lootbox mechanics to counterstrike. This had lead to many titles adopting loot boxes after this surge in popularity. Most triple A titles have loot boxes in the games. Everything was doing ok till controversy struck.

Skin Gambling.

So people got smart. They see a opportunity to make more money. They use the rare items that they get to bet on tournaments of the game they are playing. This became a really lucrative way to make money. How much money of virtual items were being passed around??? 5 billion. This controversy actually lead to CS:GO becoming one of the most popular competitive games. This lead to slot machines and other types of coin machines to be made with one reward in mind CS:GO skins.

Regulation

Quite of a few countries regulated loot boxes so it tells you what are the chance of getting the item. That does not do enough and in 2016 Valve shut down the skins gambling websites.

The myth of a 59.99 dollar game.

Credit goes to Jimquisition someone who is not afraid to call out what is happening in the games industry

This is a point that goes along with the problems of lootboxes.

Back in the day every game you could have access to everything in a game. There were secrets scattered throughout the late game or hidden in the game. That changed with achievements where it listed it out to you. No longer will you come across something randomly in the game it is all planned. Next was DLC. DLC happened with oblivion's horse armor back in 2005? 2006? That lead to every game having a season pass. So now to enjoy everything in a game you have to buy a 60 dollar game right? No you need to pay another 60 for the season pass. Now this is where it is starting to get tricky.

Single Player Loot Boxes

Pictured above the new assassins creed title and the loot boxes shown.

The new lord of the rings game that just came out has single player loot boxes.....You need to buy DLC and you can either grind a really long time for the ending of the game or you can just skip everything and buy it. Are games in the future going to be cheaper 20 dollar episodes and there is going to be 10 or so episodes? What is going to happen next. We cannot get 59.99 dollar games anymore. Unless you are happy with the shell of a game that might not even have an ending. Or that sweet weapon that you wanted so you buy the game with the possibility of getting it with a loot box. Also screw every single person who tries to actually get something from achieving in a game. Also Assassins creed and battlefront 2s single player modes will offer loot boxes. Hopefully it is not exactly like LOTR or there will be outcry from fans on all fronts.

Hopefully developers announce that they need to make a price adjustment to games or there is some truth to what is coming. I hope this will not lead to another video game crash. It feels like the only decent developers are indie some playstation some pc some nintendo. Its hard to find a gem when everything is a turd and marketed as a gem. I hope they really get rid of this cash tactic in gaming. They already created the game why would you limit people what they can access with money? This does not make any sense and I hope it is just a fad that withers away and crawls into the hole it came from and never comes back out.

Sources: Valve for tf2
A random skin gambling website
Jimquisition for his good subject manner
and
Assassin's creed origins for bringing lootboxes to their singleplayer games.

Well thank you for checking this article out yo. I will catch you on the flipside @sinned. Wish you all well steemians