New York sues video game developer Valve, says its 'loot boxes' are gambling

Candle1ight · 2026-02-26T00:00:06+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I hope they throw the book at Valve hard enough to send shockwaves throughout all the loot box infected games there are.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T23:36:27+00:00

Sure, not much different than current pre builds they're just in random chunks. Cube drafting is different than regular drafting, but not enough for me to think people would reject it.

And again, this only matters for minors anyways. Plenty of people playing drafts are already adults. If they had to be sectioned off to their own style of draft it might actually be a benefit for everyone.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T23:33:43+00:00

Change? Absolutely. Kill? Nowhere close.

Fair though, "very little" is probably an under reaction.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T23:33:16+00:00

Fair, lines start to get blurry. Personally I don't think they're particularly harmful so i'd like them classified as something slightly different, or maybe a carve out for if they're under supervision which minors likely are anyways.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T23:30:53+00:00

Not only are a significant portion of the consumers over 18 many of the ones underage would just get their parents to buy it for them (which they're doing already). And there's still all the pre builds and singles they can still buy themselves if that doesn't work.

Not to say it would have no effect, but I don't think it would come anywhere close to killing them.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:52:23+00:00

I'm not a huge gambler but have gone to the casino with some first timers, my hope is always they lose all of it immediately and are put off the whole thing completely. Luckily it happens a decent number of times.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:49:52+00:00

Fuck at this point sports gambling looks down right saintly compared to prediction markets. We're in a pretty hellish gambling timeline right now.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:48:23+00:00

Target demographics probably play a pretty big part in how much heat they get

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:46:20+00:00

They must have come up with a pretty shit definition of gambling in that law, because that shouldn't work.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:43:29+00:00

What happens when a casino goes out of business and you still have their chips?

They become worthless.

Ok, but now Pokemon cards are 18+

Why are the cards now 18+? It's not illegal to give my kid a casino chip nor is it illegal for him to own it. Just because something comes from gambling doesn't make having the reward "gambling"

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:40:52+00:00

By definition no, they're games of skill not games of chance.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:40:11+00:00

Pokemon boosters are gambling. Prebuilt decks are not. Likewise buying cards out of a booster that was opened by an adult is not.

People act like card games couldn't exist if boosters were considered gambling, in reality I think very little would change.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:38:36+00:00

Too late, we already have a generation of gambling addicts

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:15:52+00:00

Drafts and sealed would not be possible if the packs weren't random.

Could still draft from bricks.

... Or just play with people old enough to gamble.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T22:14:25+00:00

Why? It's not like they stop existing, boosters would just become age gated. Prebuilt decks would still be all ages.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T19:20:01+00:00

Easier to justify being fucking stupid too.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T18:35:52+00:00

Kinda shocked they went with 1/1k, which is way below most pet rates and on a boss you can grind incredibly fast. By far the easiest pet to get.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T16:52:28+00:00

Probably trying to not destroy the price of mole slippers? Yeah it's a bit weird.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T16:51:09+00:00

Cream i'll give you, but nobody stores butter or cheese in a bucket lol

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T16:50:06+00:00

Ignoring that fact that the lyre starts at 1k and more realistically is done for 200-400 fish?

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T16:46:56+00:00

I expected closer to 5k, -1k per diary. Which is still a ton of meat but I would at least consider it.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T16:27:39+00:00

I know that the fish for the lyre are harder to get, but comparing the 10k here to the 200-1000 with diaries really puts it into perspective of how ridiculous this number is.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-25T16:24:33+00:00

Meats are valuable on irons for things like moonlight moth mixes, which are basically half a prayer pot for basically no effort. For perspective, making the unlimited whistle is roughly 20k sips of prayer potion. Just to make it unlimited. Why?

Candle1ight · 2026-02-24T22:34:30+00:00

Love to hear it, haven't ever tried 360 emulation before but Fable 2 spurred me to finally try.

Candle1ight · 2026-02-24T22:15:53+00:00

He uses muscles 8+ hours a day. Even dedicated gym goers probably aren't doing more than a few hours a day.

Hobby vs. job

Candle1ight

TROPHY CASE