--- title: Loot boxes and the surprise trap — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Loot boxes and the surprise trap», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Kai wanted the golden helmet. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/) / Loot boxes and the surprise trap # Loot boxes and the surprise trap Lesson 413 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 34 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/0/) — Kai wanted the golden helmet. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/1/) — It had a one-in-a-hundred chance of dropping from a loot box, a box you pay for without knowing what is inside. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/2/) — He opened one: a green scarf. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/3/) — Another: a blue scarf. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/4/) — Ten boxes later Kai owned a rainbow of scarves, no helmet, and no gems at all. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/5/) — Every time a box shook and glowed before opening, his heart jumped — and that jump, his dad said, is exactly what the box is built to sell. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/6/) — Leo's dad called loot boxes «a fruit machine for kids». - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/7/) — Leo thought that was a bit much, so his dad explained: a fruit machine takes your money, spins, flashes lights, and now and then pays out, so you keep feeding it. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/8/) — Leo thought about the spinning, glowing, «almost!» box and went quiet. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/10/) — Theo had the opposite problem: he got a rare item in his very first box and decided he was lucky. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/11/) — The next twenty boxes gave him nothing special. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/12/) — One early win had made him keep paying for a long time. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/13/) — Mrs Okafor did the maths with the class. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/14/) — «A one percent chance means one in a hundred. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/16/) — Then she showed them: each box is a fresh try that does not remember the last one, so even after a hundred boxes, about one person in three still has not won. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/17/) — The class groaned so loudly the next classroom knocked on the wall. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/18/) — Priya had already learned a similar thing: the YouTuber who opened a hundred boxes in a video had been given them free by the company — the luck on screen was an advert. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/19/) — The cast found their own ways out. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/21/) — Ollie and Jayden made a pact — no loot boxes this term — and saved enough to buy a whole new game together. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/22/) — Zara noticed she was logging in every day only for the free box, not for fun, and stopped. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/23/) — Kai's mum switched off in-game spending in the console settings; Kai was furious for a day, then found the game was just as fun without the shop. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/24/) — Noah's uncle showed him an old game with no shop at all, and they played it until dinner went cold. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/26/) — Rare items in loot boxes are made rare on purpose, so that people keep buying. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/27/) — A one percent chance means about one in a hundred, on average, not one in every hundred tries for sure. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/28/) — Each loot box is a new try; the game does not «owe» you a win because you lost before. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/29/) — With a one percent chance, about one person in three still has nothing rare after a hundred boxes. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/30/) — Paying money for a random chance at a prize works like gambling, and some countries, such as Belgium, have treated paid loot boxes as gambling. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/31/) — Lights, shaking and near-misses make opening a box feel exciting, so you want to try again. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/32/) — An early lucky win can make people keep paying for a long time, hoping it will happen again. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/33/) — Countdown timers on offers are there to rush you, so you buy before you think. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/34/) — Videos of people opening many loot boxes are sometimes paid for or supplied by the game company. - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/35/) — A pact with a friend helps, because saying no is easier with someone beside you. - [36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/36/) — Parents can switch off or lock in-game spending in the settings of most consoles, tablets and phones. - [37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/413-loot-boxes-and-the-surprise-trap/37/) — Age ratings such as PEGI and ESRB add a note when a game has in-game purchases with random items. - ← previous: [In-game purchases and skins: the dancing banana problem](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/412-in-game-purchases-and-skins/) - next →: [Mum's card: game money is real money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/414-mums-card/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)