D&D General Interview with D&D VP Jess Lanzillo on Comicbook.com

[Oofta]

yeah, not a good analogy, there is no independent verification here, you either agree or disagree with the arguments.

You are not convinced loot boxes are gambling, I am convinced. Some countries have passed laws that treat them as such, other countries with a history of weak consumer protection laws have done nothing. Who is right?

There's no evidence that they will offer loot boxes. Even if there is at some point, we already have the equivalent of loot boxes when it comes to minis. Why is there any difference? Other than you just personally don't like them?

 

[Malmuria]

This from the person who claims says loot boxes are basically the same as gambling and should be banned for 14 year olds?

Much of the European Union agrees that loot boxes are gambling and should be banned for 14 year olds

I'm not pro-WotC and I get tired of that accusation, it's an unwarranted accusation of explicit bias.

I think it's just that you take people on a gaming site discussing WOTC as a business as...

If someone comes up and says "The house is on fire!"

...where no one is really saying that the house is on fire. We are just discussing where we think wotc is as a corporation and where we think they may go. It's not some big attack on wotc as being "evil" or whatever. But it is analysis of them as a business that says, 'hey, it's logical that they would go in X or Y direction." And so when you jump in saying this is hyperbole, impossible, and an attack on the good folk who work at Hasbro, it does come off as being very pro-wotc.

 

[Oofta]

I absolutely agree.

What I would like to see done, if there were some sort of "loot crate" thing, is award them for meeting goals...much like other places have Badges.
Maybe:

• Every X hours of being in the DM role
• Every X hours of being in the Player role
• Every X hours running your Campaign
• Participating in special events like virtual conventions and Extra Life
• etc...

Reward the users for interacting with the product.

I have no problem with promotions like that and could see them doing something. Much like you get a fancy version of the gold dragon if you pre-order the rule books. Way back in Living Greyhawk (3E) days if you ran enough games they would actually send you special things. I still use the ship tiles they sent me now and then, although most were tokens for special benefits you could use at the table to get a small benefit. You couldn't buy them, only get them as rewards. It was kind of a nice perk.

 

[Oofta]

Much of the European Union agrees that loot boxes are gambling and should be banned for 14 year olds


I think it's just that you take people on a gaming site discussing WOTC as a business as...

...where no one is really saying that the house is on fire. We are just discussing where we think wotc is as a corporation and where we think they may go. It's not some big attack on wotc as being "evil" or whatever. But it is analysis of them as a business that says, 'hey, it's logical that they would go in X or Y direction." And so when you jump in saying this is hyperbole, impossible, and an attack on the good folk who work at Hasbro, it does come off as being very pro-wotc.

The house on fire was the best analogy I could think of. But it's just an analogy that you seem to be taking way too seriously.

I don't see a logical path from "WotC is going to have a VTT" to "bad things probably going to happen".

 

[mamba]

There's no evidence that they will offer loot boxes.

I did not say they would, I only said lootboxes need not be pay-to-win

Even if there is at some point, we already have the equivalent of loot boxes when it comes to minis. Why is there any difference? Other than you just personally don't like them?

there is very little difference, it’s mostly in the ease of access and how shiny and desirable you can make it. I do not like random minis or MtG cards any better.

Are you saying we are not allowed to learn from mistakes and if we made them once are obligated to repeat them forever?

I don't see a logical path from "WotC is going to have a VTT" to "bad things probably going to happen".

I mean I can see a possible path, how probable it is remains to be seen

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I absolutely agree.

What I would like to see done, if there were some sort of "loot crate" thing, is award them for meeting goals...much like other places have Badges.
Maybe:

• Every X hours of being in the DM role
• Every X hours of being in the Player role
• Every X hours running your Campaign
• Participating in special events like virtual conventions and Extra Life
• etc...

Reward the users for interacting with the product.

Cool! I like rewards! And so do my gaming buddies Sorcerers Apprentice2, Sorcerers Apprentice3, Sorcerers Apprentice4 and Sorcerers Apprentice5.

 

[Pedantic]

This is rather different from random minis or even TCG cards (despite some similarities) not only because those are physical and you have to go get them, which reduces addiction and overspending issues in all but the most dedicated, but also because those tend to contain stuff that's more or less useful, and that you can at least trade/re-sell, whereas lootboxes typically have contents that cannot be transferred and are next to worthless if they don't have the 1-2 things you're after (especially if they contain consumables or the like).

I really don't think booster packs or random mini deserve any apology here. There is no pro-consumer reason to sell things that way. The secondary market is entirely a product of manufactured scarcity, the actual use value of the products is unchanged if the consumer knows what they are buying ahead of time. There's drafting, which is a cool game mode, but absolutely does not require predatory marketing to exist, and there's the Garfield dream of every player having a different collection to enforce variety in gameplay....which is immediately shattered in the least consumer friendly way possible by the extensive secondary market. If you actually want that, you have to build a sealed format or an extensive cube.

The beneficiary is just the company that gets to produce a bunch of extra unwanted cardboard/plastic and profit off the forced inefficiency of their end purchasers. That's not good for the world, and shouldn't be allowed (or at least not encouraged/celebrated).

 

[Lanefan]

Wow! I didn't know you could skin dice! Ew.

Pointless endeavour, though; as how do you tell which side is which after you've peeled all the numbers off?

 

[Lanefan]

Not everyone is stuck on the idea that digital possessions aren’t real.

If it can't be touched in its physical form, it's not real.

 

[Lanefan]

Let's take WotC out of the equation. Dwarven Forge sells a terrain sampler with random pieces. Why is that bad?

It's bad because if there's a particular piece I happen to want/need I've no way of knowing whether I'll have to buy 1 of those samplers or 15 in order to get it.