You bring up some excellent points, in general, I agree with your thoughts on lootboxes, and that cosmetic items are a much better way forward.

That said, there are a few points that I can perhaps help you with (this is coming from 'Tenzin, Community Manager for Hash Rush'). I've had about a decade of experience working with Free2Play games and have seen terrible monetisation models, and some pretty impressive ones.

Starting with cosmetics, I would say that there is a third group of people that spend more significant amounts of money on microtransactions for cosmetics. Some people buy items just because 'they look good' without regard for the cost. From my personal friend circle, there are several that play the MMO 'Aion' and while, over time, they gradually stopped playing the game, they would always log in when new clothes are added to buy the items and have in-game fashion shows. This behaviour is not that uncommon; whether it is with games that have outdated graphics, or more modern graphics, as long as the players can put on a show, there will be groups of people that play 'just for the clothes'. I noticed the same behaviour with other games (that I worked on).

On Lootboxes, I've made my distaste for these items known many times when writing on Steemit, but going back to my time working with f2p games that made use of them, I do understand some reasons why they are used. One of the biggest reasons is that you cannot really put the hugely powerful/rare items in the item shop, (items do not need to be 'weapons' but also stat modifiers like +20 bonus) - because the cost would need to be balanced according to the other items. As greedy as publishers can be, they do not like having items that cost upwards of 50e for a single piece, so they are put in relatively 'cheap' lootboxes/mystery boxes but with a terrible drop rate, to be clear, I disagree with this tactic, but it is one of the original reasons why they were created. There are obviously other ways of adding the item to the game - e.g. rare monster drops, but then you need to consider that developers (especially good ones) do command a large fee - you need to pay them well, or they will move to a company that does. Free2Play games really have to have a source of income that doesn't stop or at least lasts a very long time. Cosmetics and skins (whilst I really like seeing them) do stop once the player has acquired them.

I do think that lootboxes need to stop - or at least be brought under control (they have no place in pay-to-play games like Battlefront) but when you look at mobile and Free2Play games, they are, unfortunately, a vital means of survival.

That's my wall of text ended, it's food for thought if you were not aware of them. If you want to discuss them, I'm more than happy to talk through a few other points and reasonings why the gaming scene is as it is!

That said, I am happy to be working for Hash Rush now, where we are using Blockchain tech to finally give players back power and move away from the shady lootbox tactics and locked premium currencies, so check us out if you're interested in the project.