[kjsbfkjbf]

But there was still exchange value.

Furthermore, the scale and ease of purchase of lootboxes vs. baseball cards are incomparable.

[cortesoft]

People do sell loot box items in a lot of games... that often just makes the gambling problem worse, because people buy the loot boxes thinking they will make real world money.

[Bartweiss]

Good timing for this - the Team Fortress 2 hat market just collapsed over a change in drop rates.

It's probably worth differentiating tradeable loot boxes, which end up used like stock speculation, from untradeable ones, which seem to be used more like slot machines.

[lonelappde]

Indeed, letting players try to scam each other seems slightly less evil than scamming the players directly.

[falcolas]

Being unable to resell, or even often gift, the output from lootboxes makes a significant difference as well.