I've bailed on Facebook and its related sites. I left Twitter ages ago. I've given up on LinkedIn (again). And I'm pretty sure no one cares about Google+ even if I didn't want to slowly back away from Google too. I guess that means that if I find something cool I want to share it either goes here or I get my Jekyll stuff back up and running (either by fixing my OrangePi, or installing it on my Pi-Hole RaspberryPi that's currently hosting a backup) and update my website. Here is easier, and so...
Op-ed: Game companies need to cut the crap—loot boxes are obviously gambling
Regulations that tightly restrict or absolutely prohibit loot boxes will definitely hurt the gaming industry and will hurt, perhaps even fatally, games I love. There will definitely be economic harm, and games companies will have to figure something out to fill the monetary gap. It's no surprise that game companies are defending the practice. But here's the thing: loot boxes are gambling. The essential features of the transaction match those of gambling, the reward pathways and addiction mechanisms are those of gambling, and playing dumb about it, as the industry is currently doing, is a bad look.