Massively.com: The Daily Grind: Do you play the MMO lockbox game?

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Filed under: Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Buy-to-Play

The infamous marketing phenomenon known as the lockbox has been the subject of much disdain since F2P took over the MMO market because lockboxes are perceived by players to be an annoying lottery mechanic, but they don't seem to be going away. Studios like Cryptic have gone on record as saying they're incredibly profitable, and that means lots of players do buy them (or the keys to open them, as the case may be).

Or do they? The top-supplied item on the Guild Wars 2 auction house is the locked Black Lion Chest. As of this screencap last week, almost 7,000,000 lockboxes are sitting on the market unbought, waiting for someone with a purchased or looted key to come along and crack them open. Add to that number the 50 or so sitting idle in my bank! That's a lot of dropped lockboxes that failed to entice someone to whip out his wallet and pay for a key.

Are you among the resistant players, or do you play the MMO lockbox game?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Do you play the MMO lockbox game? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Feb 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I have 20 of these things sitting in my bank. I have I think 4 or 5 keys. Have yet to use any of them. Once I hit max level, I will use what I have.

Now, I understand the business model. I am enjoying the game. If I make it to max level and thoroughly enjoy end-game content I will be plunking dome some real life coin to support the game. That is just how I roll in F2P. I am admittedly a bit of a loot monger. I love loot. I always have since my days as a kid playing DnD. If I were in an action movie, I'd be the guy getting rescued for staying that extra second too long to grab loot. Some of that money MIGHT go to keys depending on how my "free" keys play out. But, more than likely it wil go to more useful items like the never-ending axes/picks/etc... or perhaps some buffs or cosmetics.