‘Surprise mechanics’, more commonly known as loot crates or loot boxes have overtaken much of the industry. These are prevalent in many different games, from MMOs like World of Warcraft‘s Great Vault to FPSs like Overwatch. They offer no set reward for doing an activity, instead giving you a chance of different rewards taken from a pool of items, with the rarest and most sought after items usually needing tens if not hundreds of loot boxes to be opened before receiving one.

In the past, these sort of items would be purchasable with in game progression or currency. You would work to get enough of the gold, tokens, or similar coinage and purchase exactly what you wanted from another player or a vendor in game. Progression would just mean that you to reach a point in the game where the item was unlocked and now usable, needing both…