Everyone knows video games have to make money somehow, but the question over how games make money became one of the central arguments in 2017, as various big name publishers brought one of the most popular ways to monetize mobile and free-to-play games—loot boxes—into the mainstream. Now, governments around the world are looking into whether loot boxes should stick around. Austin, Rob, and myself got together to break down the past, present, and future of loot boxes.
On forming coalitions: when you gather people into a coalition, you don’t cherrypick anyone. Absolutely anyone can claim to belong to a coalition. What gets the central message of it through is leadership. That way, no matter what crazy shit a member says, it only has weight if the leadership says so.
I think this is maybe more complicated than that, unfortunately. There are lots of cases where coalitions can and should involve a degree of gatekeeping. Populist movements across the US care about labor issues–but some of them are also filled with white nationalists. Labor unions don’t often build coalitions with police unions, and for good reason.
You’re def dead on re: need for strong leadership in cases like this, though!