Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the latest game in Ubisoft’s
Assassin’s Creed series. Early listings on the UK Xbox store gave it an ESRB rating
of Adults Only (ESRB, n.d.; If the rating stands – which seems
unlikely – it would have a devastating effect on the game’s sales. The rating
was initially thought to be due to the game including loot boxes –
something that has since been firmly denied by Ubisoft. Loot boxes are often
used by game developers to monetize in-game assets and can usually be purchased
for some relatively small amount of money (hence the related term
microtransactions).
Loot Boxes
The way games use loot boxes differs from game to game, but
the basic idea is the same. Loot boxes can be obtained in one of two ways. The
first is direct purchase with actual money. The second is by paying with
in-game currency earned by playing the game. This latter method has no actual
monetary cost to the user other than the original game purchase.
The contents of loot boxes can be quite different between
games. In Blizzard’s Overwatch, loot boxes only contain cosmetic item (such as
emotes, skins and so on). Loot boxes from other games contain assets that
increase player’s abilities, thereby affecting game balance. However, one
characteristic common to all loot boxes is that they have a small chance of
containing rare, desirable, items. Acquiring these rare treasures can be
expensive, either in time or money.
Players reacted negatively to the use of loot boxes in Star
Wars Battlefront II (released in 2017). Some of the most sought-after content
such as popular Star Wars characters and powerful upgrades were primarily
obtainable through loot boxes. To have a reasonable chance of gaining such
content solely though game play would take many hours – it was estimated that
unlocking Darth Vader alone would take 40 hours of game play.
There are many controversial issues around the use of loot
boxes, including their effect on game design and concerns around fairness in
competitive games. The controversy that has received the most concern is the
similarity of loot boxes to gambling and the negative effect this has on gamers
with addictive personalities.
Discuss whether you believe that the use of loot boxes
purchasable by microtransactions is ethical. Express a reasoned opinion on
whether their use should be controlled by law (for example by making it illegal
to market loot boxes to minors). Your answer to the question “Is it ethical for
game designers to use loot boxes?” should be in the form of a 1,500 to 17,00
word essay. You should analyze the issue using at least two of these
ethical theories: Kantianism, Utilitarianism and Social Contract Theory.
Format
Essay should be formatted following the most recent APA
Style Guidelines for a Student Paper.
Rubric
Grammar and Formatting (20 points): Have grammar rules and
style guidelines been followed?
Sentence Quality (20 points): Have individual sentences
expressed clear ideas?
Cohesion (20 points): Did the writing smoothly transition
and flow when considering sentences, paragraphs, and ideas?
Ethical Controversies (20 points): Did the essay describe
the controversial issues in sufficient detail?
Position (20 points): Did the essay provide a clear and
focused position that was then explained in the context of at least two ethical
theories?
Note – Essay should not be AI generated.
