Loot boxes are gambling-like elements in video games with harmful potential: Results from a large-scale population survey

Meduna, Marc von; Steinmetz, Fred; Ante, Lennart; Reynolds, Jennifer; Fiedler, Ingo

doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101395

Cited by 61 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…These gamblified systems and the potential for their play by children have elicited significant controversy in many countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the United States (Batchelor, 2020; Kent, 2020; Matney, 2019; Miral, 2020), as well as within the European Union (Carvalho, 2020), South Korea (Crecente, 2018) and mainland China (Gartenberg, 2017). Recent studies in this area have included examinations of the psychology of loot box consumption and its commonalities with other forms of gambling (Drummond and Sauer, 2018), the extent to which loot box purchasers might be at risk of gambling problems (von Meduna et al, 2020), the techniques that regulators might use to limit the volume of loot box purchasing (Gong and Rodda, 2020), regulatory frameworks that might be relevant to loot boxes (Cerulli-Harms et al, 2020), the potential for regulating loot boxes and similar forms of play within both the game industry as a whole and in the context of specific companies (McCaffrey, 2019) and the legality of loot boxes and whether such monetised ‘random reward mechanisms’ should be understood as gambling (Xiao, 2020). In the broader context surrounding loot boxes, we have also seen studies of shared risk factors and experiences between gambling and ‘problem’ gaming (King et al, 2020), the relationships between the purchasing of random items and gambling behaviours (Lee et al, 2020), yet a rejection of the possibility that gaming might be a ‘gateway’ into gambling, especially in an era of gamblified gameplay systems (Delfabbro and King, 2020).…”

Section: Existing Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gamblification of digital games

Brock

Johnson

2021

Journal of Consumer Culture

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Section: Existing Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gamblification of digital games

Brock

Johnson

2021

Journal of Consumer Culture

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“…Moreover, authors who had pre-prints were contacted to check the status of the study. One of them provided the published study, which was included in the final selection [15].…”

Section: Inclusion and Exclusion Criteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of the selected studies (Table 1), nine were carried out with samples from a single place of origin. In four of these studies, the sample was limited to Europe: two to the United Kingdom [35,36], one to Denmark [2] and one to Germany [15]. In three studies, the sample was from the USA [6,33,34] and in two from Asia [37,38].…”

Section: Characteristics Of the Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on all the above and, with the main purpose of protecting children and adolescents, a legislative debate has been initiated about whether loot boxes should be considered a bet as such. Some authors emphasize its virtual, uncertain and random nature, pointing to a relationship with the reward systems present in gambling [15,16]. In the same line, others claim that loot boxes are a clear hybrid between slot machines and collectible card packs [17] and have similarities with bets [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Loot boxes: A scoping review on primary studies of prevalence and association with problematic gaming and gambling

Im¹,

Basterra-González²,

Machimbarrena³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Loot boxes are a type of random microtransactions that are increasingly common in videogames, so there is some concern about its true extent and entailed risks. Although many papers have been published recently about this topic, the actual prevalence of loot boxes use is uncertain and there is still controversy over the nature of its relationship with problematic gaming and gambling. Objectives: The aims of this scoping review are to summarize the characteristics and findings of published primary research studies about the prevalence of loot boxes and/or its relationship with problematic gaming and gambling, taking into account the operationalization of loot boxes use in these studies. Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute Guidance for conducting a systematic scoping reviews and the systematic reviews and meta-analysis extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) are followed. Searches in three academic databases provided 299 articles. Results: Sixteen primary studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. All the studies were cross-sectional, only four used samples of adolescents and males were overrepresented in ten of the samples. The annual purchase prevalence rate in gamers is higher in adults than in adolescents (22.7 - 44.2% and 20 - 33.9%, respectively), but in general samples (gamers and non-gamers) it is just the opposite (from 24.9% among 13-14 to 7.8% in adults). Prevalence rates are also higher in the samples made up of gamers and gamblers and in studies that measured monthly or lifetime prevalence. In general, studies suggest a positive and significant relationship between loot boxes and problematic gaming and gambling. Conclusions: The overrepresentation of male adults with gaming and/or gambling problems in study samples do not allow to generalize their results. An enhanced standardization in measurements and methods for future research in this field is recommended. Also, further longitudinal research is needed to improve the understanding of these problems.

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“…This should not be interpreted as an indication that only these features might affect player behavior. Emerging evidence shows that a large range of nuanced and continuous design features, including the degree of competitive advantage/pay to win (von Meduna et al, 2020), the precise odds of receiving each item (Kwon, 2020), and audiovisual components like "juiciness" (Kao, 2020) are likely to have meaningful effects on player behavior, experience, and spending. Instead, we present these features as those that could feasibly be discretized.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hidden intricacy of loot box design: A granular description of random monetized reward features

Ballou¹,

Gbadamosi²,

Zendle³

2020

Preprint

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Loot boxes are the focus of growing research and regulatory attention. While they are frequently treated as a monolithic feature of games by researchers and policymakers, loot box implementations are not uniform: the features of loot boxes vary from game to game in ways that may have important consequences for player spending and behaviour. Despite this, previous attempts to classify loot boxes have either not focused on the impact of loot box features on player behaviour and spending, or have not attempted to fully map the different forms that loot boxes currently take. In this work, we attempt to illustrate the nuance present in loot box implementation in a featural model. Using our lived experience, a qualitative coding exercise, and consultation with an industry professional, we identify thirty-two features of loot box-like mechanics that might be expected to influence player behavior or spending, which we group into five domains: point of purchase, pulling procedure, contents, audiovisual presentation, and salience. Each feature is broken down into two or more categorization tags for a given loot box, and illustrative examples of each feature are provided. This work may serve to guide researchers in studying how different types of loot boxes may affect players, aid regulators in ensuring that any proposed legislation is sufficiently nuanced to handle the wide variation in loot box design, and help parents and players to better understand the inner workings of loot boxes during play.

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Loot boxes are gambling-like elements in video games with harmful potential: Results from a large-scale population survey

Cited by 61 publications

References 17 publications

The gamblification of digital games

The gamblification of digital games

Loot boxes: A scoping review on primary studies of prevalence and association with problematic gaming and gambling

The hidden intricacy of loot box design: A granular description of random monetized reward features

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