EA Have Compared Loot Boxes to Kinder Eggs, And I Agree With Them

Yanks like me get the nuttier version of kinder egg.

I'd argue that if you purchase a Kinder Egg, even if the prize sucks, you're still guaranteed at least some chocolate (and Kinder chocolate is the best chocolate on the planet, don't @ me). If you purchase a loot box, you aren't actually guaranteed anything good. Regardless, it's an interesting comparison.

This spoke to me on a deep level, Sam -- you're not the only one...

This comparison doesn't work. At least here in the EU physical goods are treated differently than digital goods. With a Kinder egg you're always guaranteed to get chocolate and a toy. Also: The odds have to be disclosed. The same goes for trading cards and Panini stickers.

you mean because is forbidden in US?

Minus the chocolate.
If I bought a loot box that comes with chocolate I’d be happy because I’d had the chocolate. It’s an an analogy but a bad one because they’re only selling 1 thing not 2. You could compare them also to happy meals and cereal boxes that come with toys.

to quote one of my favorite comedians, Bill Bailey, "Kinder Surprise. Horrible chocolate; nasty little toy: a double-whammy of disillusionment! Sometimes I eat the toy out of sheer despair. I call them the Eggs Of Numbing Inevitability. And when I buy them, I always ask for them in the third person: "Bill Bailey would like the Eggs Of Numbing Inevitability."

reforc3 said:Here the states. We have a nuttier version. One side is the food and other is toy. It more package then aegg shape candy.

Vega said:But lootboxes have the same argument, you ALWAYS get something, even if it's shit and not what you wanted, you still got a prize either way, there is no scenario where you walk away with nothing.
NOT trying to argue for lootboxes here of course! (I want them to go away as much as the next person) Just pointing out it's kinda the same as the egg in that regard.

@Sam

Kinder eggs are actually available in the US, I have bought them at Wal-Mart within the past 2 years (and still see them at the checkout lanes). They may have changed the way they are from other territories though (toys are in the plastic egg but not inside the chocolate) but they are available here.

I agree about loot boxes not being considered gambling. They are no different than baseball cards, collectible cards, Magic the Gathering (or any similar CCG) or the capsule toy machines at the entrances of grocery stores. Random does not equal gambling, that is only one criteria. There also has to be a chance of loss, meaning you spent money and received nothing (aka losing your stake). Since every loot box has something inside, they is no loss of stake thus not gambling. recieving duplicate items are irrelevant to the discussion, you still received something from the box.

Shady or underhanded, possibly but in no way illegal.

I've made that same comparison over the internet and also in a college paper (my term paper). Despite the similarities, I also agree that they (LBX) aren't justified by that. Lootboxes aren't good for players, only for companies and are a very greedy way to make mooney through games. If you want to put that sort of mechanics in a game, do it without it having anything to do with real money. And, honestly? It's still pretty boring. The mobile Capital Games/EA Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes I'm currently playing is proof of that. There are at least 7 different types of in-game currencies and everything unlockable seems to be tied to chance in that game, which makes it grindy and repetitive. You get a new unit of "energy points" every 6 or 12 minutes, but you need a bunch of them in order to get a chance to "spin" the odds of fortune and unlock what you want. And many characters (KotOR's Bastila Shan is a good example) have a very small probability of showing up. Oh, and you need to find and gather many fragments of one character in order to finally unlock them, so there's also that. Once you unlock it you need even more fragments to level them up to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 stars. There's also the need to level up their armor, by this same logic and system. Oh, and you also need to level up the characters themselves besides their stars and armor. So, yeah, they've created one of the worse grinding systems ever and, of course, you can speed it all up with real money. But remember, there's always chance involved! Even if you decide to use real money (which I don't do), you can't simply and directly buy and unlock the characters you wish, only increase the odds of finding them. Ridiculous. And to think there are gamers out there advocating for this kind of system, hypocritically saying there's no harm, etc, etc. It's disgusting.

That's fine but with baseball cards etc theres a finite amount of possibilities. With EA they change the available option by the thousand. For example a Christian Ronald card with the shooting skill boosted one week, a christiano Ronaldo with his speed increased the next week etc. With the digital nature of this, EA keep moving the goalposts in a way that is impossible to collect them all, or actually keep up with their mates. It's impossible and EA can manipulate their young audiences far too easily, when kids haven't developed responsibility or understanding of the deeply deceitful techniques gaming companies like EA use in their loot boxes.

Whole heartedly agree - whats next, ban videogames? because science shows they're far more addictive than lootboxes - dont like them, dont buy them, simple.

@dlCHIEF58

Finally someone who sees things the same as I do. I have been likening loot boxes to trading cards since the begining. And I've been called "stupid" and "uninformed", mostly just because people don't want them to be the same. I'm so tired of the digital vs physical arguement. Loot box is to trading card as iTunes album is to CD. Simple.

Screw it, ban Kinder Eggs and lootboxes!

Vega said:I see your point, but it's still a good analogy and I've also mentioned all of those before.

But consider that disclosing the odds are not mandatory everywhere in the world, unfortunately.

Besides, if I'm not mistaken, China imposed Blizzard and others to disclose the odds for their digital products such as LBX if they were to be sold in their country. Look it up and see how the companies managed to get around that imposition. Greed is a bitch and it should stop. More gamers have to grow a concience about this.

Author, your opinion is based on your own experience with a piece of food with a random toy inside. Just like EA, comparing this to online, digital gambling is a false comparison.

From dictionary.com:

"[sic]Gambling, n.:
1. the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.
2. the act or practice of risking the loss of something important by taking a chance or acting recklessly."

I've posted elsewhere on TA a list of links to reputable sources on the definition of the psychology of gambling as a disorder, how it is different than trading cards (Kinder eggs), and how some government committee studies have found them to be exceedingly similar to traditional gambling.

The IRS in the United States classifies raffle tickets to be gambling. Lotto tickets are gambling. Online gambling in the US is illegal. Gambling in most states is illegal.

Loot boxes are nothing like Kinder eggs. They are a form of digital gambling. They behave like gambling. They affect our behavior like gambling. They meet the legal criteria for gambling. They are evidenced by numerous governmental and scientific studies as more akin to gambling than not. They are gambling and they must be regulated.

Wow, a TA article that's NOT devoid of intelligence, logic, and/or common sense, great opinion piece Sam!

*About frickin' time, the news team needs a serious shake-up, someone better make Sam head editor soon*

lol no
1. When you buy a Kinder Egg you are GUARANTEED the chocolate, the toy(ish) is a bonus
2. All Kinder Eggs have the same value of "surprise" in them. You don't open one Kinder Egg to find a toy worth 5000$ and 5c in another