Future Loot Box
Classic Loot box
Definition
Etymology
The origin of the word 'loot':
early 19th century (as a verb): from Hindi lūṭ, from Sanskrit luṇṭh- ‘rob’.
How it works
History of the loot box
The first actual loot box system is believed to have been the Gachapon ticket. It was included in the Japanese version of the side-scrolling MMORPG MapleStory, which was launched in 2004. Each ticket was sold for 100 Japanese yen (0.75 euro). Players would use the in-game booth Gachapon to swap their tickets for game items.
[1]
This early model of loot bow was based on the Gacha machine and the price was fairly low. A more manipulative, monetized loot box model is considered to be the free-to-play 2007 Chinese game ZT Online.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ultimatepopculture/images/b/b9/Overwatch_loot_box.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20190823131234
Highly Recommend to read this page: >>>>https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/Loot_box<<<<
Notes from wikipedia about loot boxes
Loot boxes are seen by developers and publishers of video games not only to help generate ongoing revenue for games while avoiding drawbacks of paid downloadable content or game subscriptions, but to also keep player interest within games by offering new content and cosmetics through loot-box reward systems.
Loot boxes are often given to players during play, for instance as rewards for leveling up their character or completing a multiplayer game without quitting.
Loot boxes may also be given out through promotions outside of gameplay, such as watching certain streaming events. Players can also buy them directly, most often with real-world funds but also through in-game currency (sometimes, in-game currency can or has to be paid for with real-world funds to obtain lootboxes).
Some loot boxes can be redeemed immediately, while redeeming others requires further consumable items dressed as "keys".
The items that can be granted by a loot box are usually graded by "rarity", with the probability of receiving an item decreasing rapidly with each grade. While the set of items given are randomly selected it can come with certain guarantees, for instance that it will contain at least one item of a certain rarity or above.
In some redemption processes, yet-revealed items are presented with a colour that corresponds to its rarity level, further heightening the excitement of revealing the items. Some game systems include a "pity-timer" mechanic, which increases the player's chances to receive a rarer item from a loot box if the player has not received one in the last several loot boxes they have opened.
This pity-timer mechanic may also be used if the player purchases loot boxes in bulk rather than individually, such that one of the loot boxes in the bulk purchase is assured of having a rarer item.
Special Issue 17 Loot box
Our Definition
The definition of Loot box depends on:
- a) the definition of classic loot box
- b) what we want to subvert from a)
- c) our message
- d) ...
How it works
This will depends on our definition of Loot box / our message /
One-sentence loot boxes
- Loot box with ideas to subvert the loot box
- A loot box that brings out a random theory/ideology connected to gamification and explains it in a fun way
- A loot box that brings out a random statement/s (from those we created, as each of us can add as many as they want) about loot boxes & productive play we wrote/illustrated and explains it; and points to a collected reader
- Loot box with lyrics inside, each box brings one song and when you open it you can go at a karaoke webpage and sing it
- Loot box that holds more games inside
- An inverted loot box
- A reversed/semordnilap loot(tool) box
- A loot box tool box
- A loot box that can be deconstructed and reconstructed
- A loot box that becomes a poster/book when is unfolder/folded differently
- Tiny lucky charm paper loot boxes
- A piñata loot box (but not candy inside)
- A time capsule loot box
- A loot box that you need to build by yourself
- A loot box that contains the last page of all the books in a book store
- A loot box to be closed
- A loot box to be sealed
- A loot box that cannot be opened alone
- Loot box as a decorator
- Loot box as a skin
- A loot box that follows you around
- A loot box as a chimera
- A loot box that is a portal to another loot box (loop box)
Ideas
Temporality of the loot box
The loot box implies a specific temporal dimension: the one with instant rewarding. When a player opens the loot box she receives immediate feedback. Sometimes it is dressed up with an aesthetic of suspense, but this is just cosmetics and the built-up climax often becomes just something undesired that the user wants (and even pay) to skip.
In order to work with the idea of the loot box without re-enacting its toxic behavior and mechanics it could be interesting to hijack its temporality. By inflating the time between the purchasing and the result, we could create space for dig deeper in this complex and delicate topic.
note:
This reminds me of Reciprocity that I bumped into the other day filling out the glossary for our SI17.
It would be interesting to play with time for this SI 17, the question is how?
Loot box
pay ●-->○ get
SI17 Loot Box
pay ●---------things could happen here--------->○ get
This approach could help us in filling the loot box (tempo) without falling for the same addictive schemes that the industry is implementing for exploiting the players.
Inflating the loot box means that the player could reclaim her own leisure time. If we focus on the temporal fruition of the l~b we can imagine to produce not only an object, but a time slot that the person from the public can reserve for herself. If we define this time slot as leisure time then we could create a sacred and safe space to take a rest and to arrest the acceleration of capital. Something like a checkpoint, speaking from a gaming point of view.
An approach to deal with the temporal aspect in a way that doesn't feel forced could be to rely on real-yet-slow-time processes for the material production of the special issue.
More about this on the Soupboat
regulations to subvert the loot box
what if we create some regulations to follow in order to have access to the loot box, rules that are the opposite of what a loot box generally does?
the idea is --> create a SAFE environment around the moment in which the user will open the loot box.
Like an API, an example of the moment in which the person has received the loot box and has it in their hands:
from the outside, the loot box is really nice, but after you get in you can't go on opening unless you follow the regulations imposed by the loot box.
- outside label?
hello dear user, we want to congrats you on choosing this amazing loot box! you have done the best choice and we imagine you cannot wait to see what will happen inside.
a. after reading the welcoming letter, the user opens the loot box (with inside different closed packages/boxes/idk what
b. inside he will find another box (or many little ones or idk yet) ( + i am a lot into the idea of game in a game in a game in a game so can't really get rid of it eheh surry) where there will be another letter for the user: "find a nice spot that makes you feel relaxed, take a deep breath, look around, feel the breath, and now enjoy the surprise"
c. another box: "you are allowed to open this box just in presence of some friends (or random people you'd like to share this with !! here to remember not everyone has close friends to share things with therefore find a sentence to make it doable for everyone)
d. another box: "we recommend opening this box during a sunny day"
---to be continued
- additional thoughts on the temporality of the loot box:
.gain access to the work
.make the work to be done in order to get the loot box already valuable in the act itself
- further questions on the existence of the loot box
what is the context? what's the game around the loot box?
try to upsell something that the customer is already interested in
gambling feature to be subverted
think about the degree of political engagement of your public
For example: the McDonald game looked like other existing management games: it looks like something simple, an official game, but it includes sneaky ways to deepen into the topic --> using symbols or stereotypes to attract the audience to the loot box and then sneak in with what's the meaning, trolling the user.
LOOT—BOX—SEALING—DEVICE
imagine the loot box being 3D printed, and especially 3D printed on demand when the player want to buy it at Page Not Found or Varia or any other place we are going to distribute our work. 3D printing is a slow process, and in order to create a small piece you need to wait let's say an hour. When someone want to buy our loot box goes to PNF and ask for it, the 3d print begin and during the waiting time the player can access and navigate through the contents of our special issue. These contents are contained inside the temporality of the l~b, but they are not consumed instantaneously.
How do we want to deliver these contents? It could be related to the way of production of the physical l~b, for instance each player could contribute and shape the 3d model for the next player during the waiting time, and we can aggregate and collect narrations within and around the tools used in order to do so.
In order to cover the expenses of a similar process part of the SI17 budget could cover the cost for some small 3D printers and printing material. The term of services of our special issue could allocate a certain amount of money from each purchase to self sustain the process (buying new printing material, etc)
(I would like to elaborate more on this!) (I'm sorry I'm such a living stereotype white cis male talkin about 3d printers forgive me)
more about this on the SOupbpat
Pricing of the loot box
Mothers & Daughters, a pop-up bar in Belgium
"At Mothers & Daughters we use a pricing system that tries to address the documented gender gap in Belgium. (...) If you have a privileged position that means your wages, and access to opportunities and documented work are positively affected by your gender, sexuality and/or ethnicity, then choose menu B.
For the rest of us, because of our sexuality, ethnicity and/or gender we choose menu A."
https://www.mothersanddaughters.be/about
Caffè sospeso
Italian for "suspended coffee" or pending coffee is a cup of coffee paid for in advance as an anonymous act of charity. The tradition began in the working-class cafés of Naples, where someone who had experienced good luck would order a sospeso, paying the price of two coffees but receiving and consuming only one. A poor person enquiring later whether there was a sospeso available would then be served a coffee for free.
Network Imaginaries
This book can only be bought by 2 or 10 units at a time...
https://www.hackersanddesigners.nl/p/Network_Imaginaries_Publication
Multiplayer loot box
If the public of the classical loot box is made of individuals that are easier to exploit, our SI17 could research on ways to generate relations within the public.
The classical loot box assumes two main things: 1. That the public is an homogeneous group of individual users 2. That the relation between the loot box and its public should be always the same
Examples of Lootboxes
- A small installation for the main video work, <Peachblend/피치블렌드 (2015)> by Korean artist and filmmaker Iida Choi. (The artist said there is no title for this artwork.) As more people insert a coin and get an item from the Gashapon(Gachapon) machine, the more the artwork(?) get destroyed. [NOTE] Strictly speaking, this may not be a loot box, but I thought this is an interesting approach. Making this act of buying/getting an item leads to destroying/damaging the sandcastle installed inside the box.
- Kibrit gift box (Bulgarian small business): a gift box that you can buy without knowing the content; each month it has new contents (bio cosmetics selection).
- Hoppipolla indipendent culture by mail (from Italy!)
- Ludobox by Catherine Lenoble
- time vs. money
- STEM box DIY electronics subscription "empowering kids and adults through hands-on STEM experience"
