The scale isn't all that different though: Pokemon, Digimon, Yugioh, Silly Bandz were all insanely popular and operated under the same principal.
If you're willing to allow the skinner box to in in-game then we have to include arcade games and pinball machines which all optimized for quarters.
Another precursor was WoW in which the rewards are entirely in-game but aggressively designed with random rewards and growth to keep players paying their subscription. I lost years of my life to WoW and everyone I know who used to play it talks about like they're in recovery.
Look, I think the trend of lootboxes is terrible and has made a lot of games worse but I think your argument falls flat since cash for serotonin is basically the definition of the entertainment and gaming. "High replay-ability" is basically code for how addictive a game is and people actively seek out these types of games.
The thing that feels different is that in modern games you can waste money instead of just time with your addition.
If you're willing to allow the skinner box to in in-game then we have to include arcade games and pinball machines which all optimized for quarters.
Another precursor was WoW in which the rewards are entirely in-game but aggressively designed with random rewards and growth to keep players paying their subscription. I lost years of my life to WoW and everyone I know who used to play it talks about like they're in recovery.
Look, I think the trend of lootboxes is terrible and has made a lot of games worse but I think your argument falls flat since cash for serotonin is basically the definition of the entertainment and gaming. "High replay-ability" is basically code for how addictive a game is and people actively seek out these types of games.
The thing that feels different is that in modern games you can waste money instead of just time with your addition.