What do you think constitutes gambling in video games?

I think snores reply sums it up perfectly. When it comes to things like that I wouldn't spend money on it personally, I don't want to gamble for a digital product I could only make use of in that rather narrow spectrum. I have however gambled a maximum of £10 a month before on lottery tickets because hey, if I do win, I can spend that shite on anything right?

When I noticed I wasn't really making anything besides earning some small satisfaction of having a moderate win, I instead decided to increase the money going into my savings account every week.

As a retail assistant, I've seen some really sad cases, a member of staff I know goes to purchase scratchcards every time she goes on break, someone turned in around £50 worth of tickets to only get a fiver and a free dip.

It's weird isn't it? From what I've heard it's as though people never criticise the lottery, but those in game lootboxes in which you get at least something guaranteed every time are the devil.

I'm not a big fan of neither reality's take on gambling but generally hold something like a raw cash prize to spend on anything you want (which could cover the bases of in game content if you so choose), at a higher value than something locked to one game.

I don't really think lootboxes are going to go away based on the general hate for them, it just makes too good business sense to do them or other microtransactions in some form, however in some cases I do wish more people would have a better grip on what is valuable to them, and learn how to watch and spend their money carefully.

Thankfully nobody I've seen looks like they've spent so much that it impacts their lives, usually it's OAPs looking to increase their pension money stocks.

(When you realise your reply is a mess in some places but can't alter it because of work)

I tried to edit my response. I did think about that afterward. I think greed is the unseen evil that drives all these behaviors. This conversation is helpful for me because I am wishy-washy when it comes to gambling. I've bought some scratch-off cards and I think that's my extent at 'gambling'. It's not really affected my family or me personally like alcohol or drug addiction has. That's probably why I think the way I do about it. 

That's why I wanted to talk about this. Several people were calling the chests 'loot boxes' and calling it 'gambling'. 

But I wasn't really sure it is gambling. I don't have much gaming experience and even less with loot boxes so I'm not even sure how that works. I watched an anime where a character put money on their account and got loot and all that so I think the majority of the time it's something being paid for. But I also thought it might be called a loot box if it's some kind of in game 'prize' you win. 

I would certainly classify them as gambling, and I find them silly TBH. That said, this is the only game I've ever played, but I understand that some other games have gone down this route. I can't say I'm surprised that WG is offering them as I feel that they have chosen a path long ago regarding maximizing profits at the expense of improving core game issues such as balance, MM, physics, etc.