OpenCritic has stated in a series of four tweets (first, second, third, fourth) that they will be "taking a stand against loot boxes" by making some additions to their platform to better inform their customers about the inclusion of them in games.
OpenCritic is a review aggregation website similar in function to sites like Metacritic but with a broader array of websites represented. It was co-founded by Matthew Enthoven of Riot Games and engineer Charles Green in 2014 and the site originally launched in late 2015. (The website's FAQ acknowledges potential conflicts of interest and establishes how they counter it through policy and the overall design of the system.)
A new upcoming facet of the site's game listings will be business model information for individual games. This information will include differentiation between the following axes of information:
- Random items and/or loot boxes vs. "sure things" and/or direct purchases
- Cosmetics vs. buying power
- Exclusively paid vs. items that can be acquired in-game
- Purchase prompts during gameplay vs. a dedicated store
- 100% unlock completion time with no payment
OpenCritic aims to categorize these facets of the business side of games in a "fair and scalable way". They're currently soliciting feedback on how to implement this feature and which elements should be included on their site; toss them a response on Twitter if you feel the need to speak your mind on the matter. If you've never used OpenCritic before, you can have a look at their site over at OpenCritic.com. TechRaptor has been featured as an outlet on OpenCritic since June of 2016.
What do you think of OpenCritic as a website? How do you think they compare to Metacritic and other review aggregation websites? What do you think of their planned features regarding loot boxes and other paid content added post-launch? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
