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Comment by lelima | Hacker News Reader

I'm so happy with this, it will create a precedent.

I know people that have spent a lot of money in counter-strike boxes, it works like slots machines, designed to keep you exited while you get a reward. The worst thing is now is the rule in every game (pubg, heartstone and so on..).

Good job Belgium!

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Counterstrike boxes contain purely cosmetics. I can't get wound up about that. You can even buy the thing you actually want on the open market.

CS:GO is not a game using lots of shitty in game mechanics/restrictions etc to drive people to spend money in order to play/compete. Same with Dota2.

It's still gambling... even more so if you can exchange the cosmetics back for real money. Which means it's still exploiting some people's gambling addition tendencies, which is the justification for gambling regulations in the first place. They don't regulate video poker because the gambling is making that arcade machine less fun.

The thing I actually care about is computer games. Good ones, well made, and designed around being fun. I enjoy opening my dota2 chests - but they have (basically) no negative impact on the game.

I actually agree - it's "pure" gambling in that sense. You're spinning a wheel and getting a random payoff. I just don't think that's an inherently bad thing

Hearthstone is pretty reasonable imo. You get a fairly consistent amount of dust per pack and even like a ‘lucky’ pack isn’t that great. Just saves you from having to dust a few extra cards to get the one you want. I wish the prices were lower given how many cards they release a year now, but it’s not very much like gambling.

For me Hearthstone is a big offender of the practice - the way they gate the new cards behind an expansion pass which you have to pay for is very predatory, not to mention a portion of newest cards always form the metagame as they suffer from power-creep.

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