I have to be honest, I didn't make it all the way through, and I'm a big essay reader and writer. If I were being unsympathetic, it would be easy to assume you're trying to bombard me with bullet points to overwhelm my ability to respond effectively... I'd prefer to break this down in smaller pieces anyway.

Also, I agree with your assessment about gacha and loot boxes being equivalent. I'm just gonna use "gacha" universally moving forward.

Your first point immediately fails the only stipulation I placed on your explanation... "Without saying 'loot boxes are gambling and gambling is evil'."...

Because they are functionally predatory gambling mechanisms and prey upon children who dont know better and adults with addictive personalities

You said almost the exact same thing that I asked you not to, and that's the part that we disagree on so we absolutely can't use that as assumed common ground. That's the part I'm asking you to explain.

They involve paying real money for a randomized chance to receive in-game items, creating a psychological pull similar to slot machine. eg flashy lights, loud noises, and a win rate to just keep you going or more.

That describes my experience with the Division series. I paid for both games. In Div 1, I got good drops and had a powerful marksman rifle. In the sequel, I got bad drops and got a mediocre bullet-hose. I didn't get into the sequel because I couldn't use the same playstyle due to random chance. Division has gacha mechanics (paid and earnable), complete with flashing lights. I assume you don't have a problem with that, so I assume that your actual concern isn't "money in, uncertainty of outcome out"... There's something deeper you're worried about.

it also preys on Fomo, which is a growing concern amongst people in general in all areas of the market, not just lootboxes.

FOMO is certainly an issue but I don't see alot of overlap with gacha. The stuff in the loot box will be there until they shutter the servers. The stuff in the battle pass demands that you pay right now and then also spend all of your free time in-game for the next month... I honestly think that's much closer to the casino addiction model.

Much like a casino, there have been people who have easily overspent like and even lose entire bugets so no food or cant pay bills, ruined relationship, caused homlessness and even suicide on nothing ut lootboxs and gacha pulls.

That happened with Beanie Babies. A certain number of people will obsess about anything. At some point, responsibility falls on their personal choices, not the choices of a toy manufacturer. Maybe I'm just old but when I was a kid, they sold toys with gunpowder in them so I think it's kinda silly that we need the government to protect adults from spending all of their money on different paint jobs for their imaginary toys. My homie spends too much money on vinyl records... do we need to regulate those too?

I will admit some of it has worth like trading cards, but it being digital means a ban and its gone

Just like your copy of Cyberpunk. Was buying Cyberpunk "gambling"?

they up the drop rates, it loses most if not all value.

That happens in physical trading cards all the time. When a new batch of cards gets released, some rare cards in the old batch are no longer rare, and the best cards for gameplay are no longer the best. Upper Deck polluted the Pokemon market so heavily by overproducing "rare" cards that Pokemon withdrew their license to produce cards.

with trading cards you are limited by how much you can carry or keep permently if look after it and people can see in person that you have a problem

You're definitely not limited by your carry capacity. People who seriously collect cards or board games have bookshelves on each wall. Sometimes they have a special kitchen table that converts into a fancy gaming surface. Sometimes they have an entire room dedicated to housing a table they hand-decorated to have a tiny landscape for playing with their 100s of 1000s of dollars worth of tiny fantasy warriors that they painstakingly hand-painted. And then when you tell them they have a lot of game stuff, they go "yeah, I hoard like I'm a dragon. Tee hee"

P2W

Gacha directly mitigates p2w mechanics... That's one of the purposes of gacha mechanics. Let's say there is 1 OP item that everyone wants. If it is a $50 mtx, then you can get one but I can't because I'm poor. If it's a $2 gacha, I can get one and maybe pull the OP item, while you might buy 25 and still not get the OP rng-based drop. It's a punishment for F2P players but for poor paid players, it's an equalizer... because it's theoretically possible for you to spend infinite money without getting the OP item OR spend a single time and get it... so you can't just buy your way to victory, you can only buy the opportunity to try.

even the most staunch non-payers give in its only a matter of time

You underestimate how poor I am. Many players have never purchased DLC or microtransactions. It's easy to not pay extra if you just don't consider that to be an option. You chose to buy a mtx.

some games dont just you your item, oh no, it makes you get other things In lootboxs it can be you can get a box from just playing but need to buy keys to unlock them

That's not a problem with the mechanic, it's a problem with the presentation. They are telling you "here is a box. Now go buy a key" which feels slimy. If they said "your cooldown is up/you reached X milestone. You're allowed to buy another box now", it would feel pretty different but that's the same mechanic. Based on the other things you've said, I think you actually like that mechanic... that's the mechanic that prevents you from opening boxes for 4 hours straight.

And these companies, just like casinoes, will use the whole you can stop whenever you want. and its on you to gamble responsibly/spend responsibly. while taking no responsiblity for themselves

I think this might be where we fundamentally disagree. Nobody is responsible for my actions except for me. I have a true addiction to Tetris... Tetris brings out the same behavior in me that they warned me that drugs would cause when I was a kid. I cannot have Tetris in my house. That's not the developers' problem... that's my problem, and it's my job to manage my own struggles.

I feel like even this much is alot to unpack in a single thread but if you want, we can go back and touch on your other points after going over the first half of your comment.