--- title: Loot boxes and "free" skins — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Loot boxes and "free" skins», a lesson of the money course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A loot box is a paid mystery prize in a game: you pay, it opens, and you only find out afterwards what you got, which is usually something commo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/) [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/) / [Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/) / Loot boxes and "free" skins # Loot boxes and "free" skins Lesson 17 of the money course of Mova's primary school: 17 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/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/0/) — A loot box is a paid mystery prize in a game: you pay, it opens, and you only find out afterwards what you got, which is usually something common. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/1/) — Jake pays £2 for a box, gets a sword he already has, says "one more go" and opens 5 more: 6 boxes cost him £12 for one rare item, because the hope of the next box keeps you buying. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/2/) — "Rare skin: 1% chance" means 1 in 100: on average you would need about 100 tries, which at £1 each is about £100, and you could be unlucky for much longer. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/3/) — Many experts say loot boxes work like gambling, because you pay money and hope; some countries have limited or banned them, it was reported, while game companies say they are just surprises like a card pack, so people disagree. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/4/) — "Free" skins are often paid for with your time watching ads, and YouTubers who open 50 boxes often got them free and edit the video to show only the lucky bits. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/5/) — A loot box is a paid mystery prize in a game; you do not know what is inside until after you pay. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/6/) — Gambling means risking money in the hope of winning something worth more. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/7/) — Many experts say loot boxes are like gambling; game companies say they are just surprises; people disagree. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/8/) — Belgium was reported to ban paid loot boxes, and other countries have argued about limiting them. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/9/) — A 1% chance means 1 in 100; on average it takes about 100 tries, but it can take far more. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/10/) — "Free" things in games are often paid for with your time and attention to adverts, which earn the game money. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/11/) — Videos of people opening many loot boxes are often edited to show only the best results, and the boxes may have been given to them free. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/12/) — Mystery packs usually give you less than you paid, because most people get common items. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/13/) — Buying the exact item you want is certain; paying for a chance is not. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/14/) — Spinning wheels with "win up to" prizes work like fruit machines: the top prize is very rare and most spins win small amounts. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/15/) — Setting a spending limit before you start helps you stop when hoping makes you want "just one more". - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/17-loot-boxes-and-free-skins/16/) — "Gutted" is British slang for very disappointed. - ← previous: [In-game currency: coins and gems are real money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/16-in-game-currency-coins-and-gems-are-real-money/) - next →: [Mum's card, in-app buys and subscriptions that renew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/18-mum-s-card-in-app-buys-and-subscriptions-that-renew/) - ↑ back to [Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/)