“We didn’t allow Joe Camel to encourage your kids to smoke cigarettes, we shouldn’t allow star wars to encourage your kids to gamble.” -Chris Lee, Hawaii State Representative
What is a Loot Box and how is it facilitating underage gambling?
A Loot Box (A.K.A. Loot Crate, Loot Chest, etc.) is a virtual chest that can be obtained and then consumed in order for the player to gain further randomized, virtual items, which can range from purely cosmetic items for characters (such as costumes) to tangible gameplay advantages (like weapons, armor, and new characters). The practice originated in free-to-play mobile games as an alternative method of monetization. In essence, since the game is free, the game developers make it grindy, and the price you pay is being psychologically bombarded with advertisement for Loot Boxes that will speed up your gameplay.
They were generally harmless and not widespread until their inclusion in Activision-Blizzard’s Overwatch. Despite a 60$ base price tag, Overwatch’s use of Loot Boxes popularized their inclusion in premium games. Most pundits defend Overwatch’s Loot Boxes because they are used entirely for cosmetic items, and the loot within does not offer any gameplay advantages.
But if Overwatch’s Loot Boxes are uncontroversial, what does a controversial take on randomized monetization look like?
Enter Electronic Art’s Star Wars: Battlefront II, a game that was mired in controversy after it’s release in November of 2017 when players discovered that the multiplayer’s core gameplay progression system was rooted in Loot Boxes. Unlocking a single new character required a nearly 40-hour time investment (or, of course, you could save time and just pay real money!).
The game spurred lawmakers to take a closer look at randomized loot systems in video games. China, Japan, Australia, The Netherlands, and Belgium have already officially banned Loot Boxes in video games and officially recognized them as a form of gambling.
Video games are marketed towards children, and children are not psychologically mature enough to handle the stress of gambling. Having these predatory micro-transactions in games can cause immense harm to them. Likewise, there are people who suffer from addictive personalities, who have maybe had problems with gambling in the past, who are now being underhandedly exposed to these practices through an activity they would otherwise be able to enjoy.
It sounds kind of lame but I’m a defender of video games as an art form. I think that it’s a unique medium that can give you an experience books or movies can’t–you really feel like you’re involved in the world of a video game. You matter. When video games force micro-transactions in the name of profit, they undermine their game’s core gameplay experience. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was a Lord of the Rings game with a unique Nemesis system. The idea of the game was basically to go around catching Orcs like Pokemon. The Orcs themselves would have unique personality traits, weaknesses and strengths, but if an Orc managed to kill you (you’d come back), he’d get promoted. It created interesting rivalries and unique player-NPC interactions not seen in other games.
In the sequel, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, the developers introduced Loot Boxes. You could pay real life money to buy a Loot Box that’d have a random powerful Orc. This entirely avoided the most important system of the game: The Nemesis system. You have no relationship with a random Orc. In order to pressure the player into spending real money, they made the base game an incredibly tedious grind, a boring slog, one that requires a ridiculous time investment.
At that point, the Loot Boxes existed in order to save the player time. You could pay to skip the grinding. There’s something wrong when you’re paying in order to avoid playing part of the game.
When a lot of politicians were starting to come down hard on violent video games, game companies protected themselves from legislation by self-regulating; they created the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and marked certain games as M for Mature and E for Everyone. Their adamant refusal to self-regulate now will hopefully result in their own downfall.
-M.C.
Please Don’t Litter
By now everybody in the United States knows about the government shut down due to President Trump’s petty squabble for boarder wall funding. We have seen government workers go for weeks without pay, these people who are our friends, family, and most importantly living/breathing human beings were forced into a terrifying but not all that uncommon scenario of having to worry about how they were going to feed their families. While the government has gone back up and running, and government workers can take a sigh of relief at their once again regular paychecks, there remains one source of damage that may prove to be irreparable; our national parks.
During the shut down our national parks remained open on the backs of an unpaid bare-bones crew. Yellowstone National Park, an area of over 3,000 miles was left open to the public with no gate attendants, no administrative offices, no way of protecting the vast amount of land set aside for natures sake. Signs of inappropriate human interaction were found after the government reopened. Trash and plastic litter were found in fields that were previously completely unavailable to the public, alongside of signs of tire marks from cars and ATVs. Staff also reported major damage to human built infrastructure. Damage which included bathrooms found completely flooded and backed up, and windows of offices smashed in.
Now from the outside I could see how this might all seem like a sort of over reaction. Litter can always be picked up, and smashed windows can always be replaced. But this is no over reaction. The damage done to the soil from cars and the strewn aside plastic will have an effect on the ecosystem of Yellowstone for years to come. Animals may die, entire fields of filled with a blooming ecology may find that their populations decreasing. There is no telling how extensive the damage has been, or just what the repercussions may be.
This is a plea to anybody who reads this post; PLEASE protect our national parks. There is just over eighty-one thousand miles of land protected by national park laws, which may sound like a lot but is only 2.7% of the total land area of the U.S.. Setting this land aside was no accident, it was not chosen at random. The national park lands are areas of both immense beauty and importance due to their density of ecological life. The U.S. needs these spaces, needs these animals to live in an environment with as little human interaction as possible. At the end of the day it is our duty to protect these spaces, to make sure that our human arrogance doesn’t overtake our empathy. I am no tree-hugger, but rather a concerned citizen who is scared for the future of these set aside spaces. The national parks are so much more than trees and pretty mountain views. They contain an entire food chain of life that most people can only see the surface of, but which contains an immense depth. And it needs you to keep it safe.
-Tim Caston
It is an interesting phrase to say “It is 201X and (insert social bigotry/injustice here) still exists.” I always respond with an emphatic “DUH DUMMY!!!” because this is the stuff our great nation was made out of.
The other day, musician/performer and star actor on the Empire, Jussie Smollett, was jumped by two men who were yelling racial and homophobic slurs in Chicago. Reports said that the men put a noose around his neck after the beating. The initial reports stated that Smollett was hospitalized and had several rib fractures. However, the other night, Smollett took to the stage in West Hollywood’s Troubadour club and told the audience that he wanted to clarify that following the attack. He stated that he was bruised but not broken. Smollett said that he was not rushed to the hospital but took himself for medical attention immediately after the assault. He took to stage and performed with great bravery and boasted being blacker and gayer than ever.
Though Smollett’s future appears ever brighter, the common everyday man does not have access to that privilege. According to HRC’s website, as a community, “…LGBTQ people face higher rates of poverty, stigma, and marginalization, which put them at greater risk for sexual assault. The community also face higher rates of hate-motivated violence, which can often take the form of sexual assault. Moreover, the ways in which society both hypersexualizes LGBTQ people and stigmatizes our relationships can lead to intimate partner violence that stems from internalized homophobia and shame…”
The site also shares rates of sexual and violent assaults.
The CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found for LGB people:
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44 percent of lesbians and 61 percent of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 35 percent of heterosexual women
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26 percent of gay men and 37 percent of bisexual men experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 29 percent of heterosexual men
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46 percent of bisexual women have been raped, compared to 17 percent of heterosexual women and 13 percent of lesbians
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22 percent of bisexual women have been raped by an intimate partner, compared to 9 percent of heterosexual women
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40 percent of gay men and 47 percent of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence other than rape, compared to 21 percent of heterosexual men
Within the LGBTQ community, transgender people and bisexual women face the most alarming rates of sexual violence. Among both of these populations, sexual violence begins early, often during childhood.
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The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 47% of transgender people are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime.
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Among people of color, American Indian (65%), multiracial (59%), Middle Eastern (58%), and Black (53%) respondents of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey were most likely to have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime
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Nearly half (48 percent) of bisexual women who are rape survivors experienced their first rape between ages 11 and 17.
The HRC also shares:
According to a 2014 report on hate violence against LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities, Black survivors of hate violence were 1.3 times more likely to experience police violence than their non-Black counterparts. Black survivors were also twice as likely to experience any physical violence, twice as likely to experience discrimination and 1.4 times more likely to experience threats and intimidation during acts of hate violence. Additionally, Black transgender women face the highest levels of fatal violence within the LGBTQ community and are less likely to turn to police for help for fear of re-victimization by law enforcement personnel. According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 38 percent of Black transgender people who interacted with police reported harassment; 14 percent reported physical assault from police and 6 percent reported sexual assault. Such high rates of re-victimization by police is a major barrier to dealing with anti-transgender violence.
It takes a lot of courage to come back from an attack like the one Jussie Smollett endured. It was something to be applauded. In the same sense, we have to shed light on the stories that would never make it on primetime news and understand that this attack is not the first or the last for many in the LGBT of color community.
– WIB
The Junction Journal 