The article says that the incubators are limited use items rather than permanent upgrades to your account, so if people are inundated with more eggs than they could ever hatch it could reasonably be described as a loot box system - the same way that TF2 gave everyone free crates but sold keys for real money.
Indeed, but you still have to walk with them, and can only have a certain number of eggs at a time anyway: an aggressively low 9. The gambling section of the brain can't really get tickled, unless someone enjoys marathons.
The people addicted to this game aren't walking legitimately to do all their work. Most are driving at low speeds or abusing numerous other methods of appearing to travel distances. In many areas, those might be the only people still playing the game.
Heck my local collage has a bunch of free golf carts that just travels around campus for "public transportation" due to its size, which are always just filled with Go players.
PLUS, you can earn 50 free coins towards buying those incubators every day by keeping lots of Pokemon in gyms (you get paid out when they get kicked out, so clearing a gym of no-motivation guards is doing their trainers a favour).
As far as loot boxes go, it's not that bad. I mean, the eggs never stop anyway, you get them from pokestops and gifts from friends. You never run out.
Lvl 36, gold in most gyms within a half-mile radius of myself. I've been walking at least a mile a day (weather and health permitting) for the past year or so.
The article says that the incubators are limited use items rather than permanent upgrades to your account, so if people are inundated with more eggs than they could ever hatch it could reasonably be described as a loot box system - the same way that TF2 gave everyone free crates but sold keys for real money.
Indeed, but you still have to walk with them, and can only have a certain number of eggs at a time anyway: an aggressively low 9. The gambling section of the brain can't really get tickled, unless someone enjoys marathons.
I spent thousands of hours clearing the same dungeons in MMOs to get good drops. It's hooking into the same thing gambling does, intermittent reward.
If you're constantly walking 10km in order to hatch the eggs, though, arguably you're not paying a gambling addiction, you're paying a gym membership.
The people addicted to this game aren't walking legitimately to do all their work. Most are driving at low speeds or abusing numerous other methods of appearing to travel distances. In many areas, those might be the only people still playing the game.
Heck my local collage has a bunch of free golf carts that just travels around campus for "public transportation" due to its size, which are always just filled with Go players.
PLUS, you can earn 50 free coins towards buying those incubators every day by keeping lots of Pokemon in gyms (you get paid out when they get kicked out, so clearing a gym of no-motivation guards is doing their trainers a favour).
As far as loot boxes go, it's not that bad. I mean, the eggs never stop anyway, you get them from pokestops and gifts from friends. You never run out.
Lvl 36, gold in most gyms within a half-mile radius of myself. I've been walking at least a mile a day (weather and health permitting) for the past year or so.