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Gambling in the Gaming World

Since the beginning of time, it seems, gambling has been around. If it were a profession, it might tie with the oldest profession in the world. Recently it's come to the forefront of the gaming world and it has caused some interesting issues, discussions, and developments. Are loot boxes gambling? Seems to depend partially on who you ask and what the reason behind the loot boxes are, and they're just the tip of this slightly muddled iceberg.

Gambling in Gaming

Not many know the true roots of the gaming mega-giant, Nintendo, but it does trace back much further than one might think. It's safe to say that Nintendo is the oldest gaming company in the world as they date back to 1889. Did videogames exist back then? Of course not, but card games did, and that's exactly what the company started out doing, and where there are playing cards, there tends to be gambling. So one could argue that gambling has always been a part of gaming as we know it today. Though in the early days of videogames, there wasn't really anything to bet on unless you counted if people took bets on whether a game would succeed or fail. We all know someone out there probably did that.

Gambling in videogames only recently became a topic of discussion with the largely publicised Counter-Strike:Global Offensive (CS:GO) lottery scandal of 2016. Seeing as the CS:GO lottery sites were similar to slot machines, it's understandable how they drew people to them. There is something relaxing about playing a slot machine, we've all probably played a few either on a casino floor or in an online or mobile game. There are safer ways to gamble online if you really have the urge, and interestingly, some online gambling sites that include such things as slot machines also include card and live dealer games. Best part, you don't even have to leave the house to visit them. Nowhere near Atlantic City, no problem, the best online casinos in New Jersey can come to you instead and they're licensed and regulated! On top of the CS:GO lottery incident where some YouTubers had to apologize for quite a few things, we had the outcry regarding Star Wars Battlefront 2. Developer EA included loot boxes in the title, which wasn't the original issue, exactly. It was the contents of the loot boxes and what it turned the game into.

Let's dive into this a little bit deeper.

The CS:GO Lottery and EA

In the summer of 2016, it was revealed that several CS:GO YouTubers were owners, part owners, or had a stake in CS:GO lottery websites they were promoting on their channels. These websites worked similarly to online slot machine games. For a little less than £2 you get a chance to spin and see what you'll win. What was being bet on was fortunately cosmetic, skins to change the look of a type of weapon in the game such as a handgun, rifle, or shotgun. The different skins had different drop rates from common to immortal, the last being a skin that has been discontinued and will be almost impossible to get in a lot machine or loot box drop. When the YouTubers were promoting these websites, it was revealed that young viewers were finding ways to go to these lottery sites and try to get the odds that the YouTubers were presenting with amazing finds. Little did they know that the odds were in the YouTubers' favors as they had a stake in the website. Unfortunately many of these websites still exist to this day, just do a Google search, but at least regulations are being put in place to try and protect younger gamers from being scammed.

EA, on the other hand, announced that their loot boxes would have cosmetic and enhancing items such as skills and upgrades. This meant, more or less, that Star Wars Battlefront 2 was "pay to win". Players were encouraged to buy more loot boxes to get enhancing items specifically as it would give them a leg up compared to other players. Let's compare these loot boxes, or crates, to those found in Blizzard's Overwatch. Players can expect anything from character skins to emotes and voice lines, but nothing in Overwatch's loot boxes is enhancing, keeping the game play to win instead. Fortunately, EA has seen the error of their ways hopefully as in March of 2018 they did announce that paid loot boxes wouldn't exist going forward. In fact, they're still cleaning up the mess the pay to win crates caused them and some players, myself included, decided to just avoid the game entirely as it didn't seem fair. If two players have the same skills but one has a more powerful gun and better armor, then one of them is going to have a bad time. No one wants to be the player who's going to lose through no fault of their own, it takes the fun out of the game.

Gambling and Gaming

There have been a lot of rules and regulations changing over the past few years since the CS:GO lottery scandal and even more changes since EA's faux paux. EA is still facing issues in Belgium specifically due to not just Battlefront 2 but FIFA loot crates as well. On top of that continued adventure, YouTube saw another loot box scam hit its platform at the beginning of 2019. Not even a day into the new year Youtubers Jake Paul and Ricegum both promoted a loot box style website where one would gamble with real money in hopes of opening a loot box with amazing items in it such as a new iPhone. The odds that Jake Paul and Ricegum presented in their videos seemed too good to be true and in fact were. Not only that, but the website doesn't seem to be too good at mailing out the items that have been won by patrons. So the saga continues.

All in all, gaming has seen a lot of changes in the past few years as gambling becomes more and more of a topic of interest. With EA still facing issues and this latest controversy on YouTube, it's clear there's quite a ways to go too. Granted at least the website promoted by Jake Paul and Ricegum wasn't connected to a videogame, but it's clear where the company got the idea from. Will loot boxes be banned in the future? We're still waiting to see. For now, as long as the drops are cosmetic, it's fair to say many gamers will be alright with them. It's when things become pay to win or when children end up lured into gambling through influencers they trust that it becomes an issue. The internet is still largely the Wild West when it comes to rules and regulations, we're all learning as we go, and gaming is just as rough. It's challenging to regulate something that reaches so wide of an audience, but regulations are coming. Hopefully they're coming for the best to improve gaming for everyone.