Trading cards have been around forever, but I gave this thought the other day, and I don’t know if they understand the culture has changed.

The casual curiosity that used to exist around baseball cards isn’t pervasive around monetary loot boxes and unlocks. I don’t think that fun is even there for physical cards anymore. That fun has shrunk back to only a small portion of fans, the very youngest and the extremely niche enthusiasts of any game. Now even casual players and preteens, constantly having ads and full markets shoved in their faces for these things, are avidly into the financial and profiteering aspects that only the most business-minded used to fixate on.

It’s like that police charge a month or two ago about the parents that let the small child go to the park alone ahead of them. It used to be accepted, but now less so. It used to be a fun casual excitement to find a rare item. Now it’s investments for everyone.

I’m willing to give Valve some benefit of the doubt, that maybe they think a non-trivial portion of people are having fun with this stuff. (I’m sure most will disagree, and that’s fine.) But it feels so evident that I feel they must know most are playing the lottery. Knowing or not before now, now they need to come to terms with running a gambling enterprise or remove that aspect entirely.