loot box

You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All
by Adrian Hon
Published 14 Sep 2022

Rocket League’s Crates were just one instance of the “loot box” mechanics that have come to dominate the video game industry. There’s nothing wrong with game developers wanting to earn a living, but the aesthetics of opening a loot box, combined with the variable reinforcement ratio of the randomised loot box contents, are strikingly similar to the same manipulative, finely honed mechanics used in slot machines.3 And like gambling, loot boxes are exceptionally profitable, with a minority of players spending far more than they can afford.4 To its credit, Rocket League’s Crates were quite tame compared with other games’ loot boxes, and were removed entirely in 2019, though that didn’t stop Epic, Psyonix’s owners, from paying up to $26.5 million in order to settle a related class action lawsuit two years later.5 But loot boxes remain in countless games, growing in sophistication to the point where they resemble miniature games themselves.

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Their use in video games is essentially the same, with players paying the equivalent of a few dollars in virtual currency for loot boxes that contain anything from useful gameplay-altering weapons and armour (as in the wildly popular Genshin Impact) to purely cosmetic items like costumes and vehicle decals, like those I bought in Rocket League.35 Often you’ll gain a few loot boxes for free as you play, to whet your appetite. These games within a game are not currently regulated like gambling—and they can be played by children.36 Loot boxes have become a contentious political issue. In 2020, NHS mental health director Claire Murdoch said, “Frankly no company should be setting kids up for addiction by teaching them to gamble on the content of these loot boxes. No firm should sell to children loot box games with this element of chance, so yes, those sales should end.”37 Later that year, the Gambling Health Alliance, an organisation established by the Royal Society for Public Health, found that one in ten young gamers had borrowed money they couldn’t repay to spend on loot boxes, and one in four spent over one hundred pounds on loot boxes over the course of completing a game.38 A 2021 report for GambleAware by Dr.

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No firm should sell to children loot box games with this element of chance, so yes, those sales should end.”37 Later that year, the Gambling Health Alliance, an organisation established by the Royal Society for Public Health, found that one in ten young gamers had borrowed money they couldn’t repay to spend on loot boxes, and one in four spent over one hundred pounds on loot boxes over the course of completing a game.38 A 2021 report for GambleAware by Dr. James Close and Dr. Joanne Lloyd found that while most players spent modest amounts on loot boxes, the minority of high-spending whales were not wealthy people who could afford the spend (as often insinuated by the games industry) but simply problem gamblers.39 Some players may be more affected than others. Journalist Laura Kate Dale argued loot boxes prey on gamers with disabilities like ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder.40 Referring to her own experience as an Overwatch gamer with autism who became obsessed with completing “meaningless collections,” she said, “The loop of giving me free items from an incomplete set, setting up scarcity and then offering a way to pay my way to hopefully completing a collection that was nearly complete, really got its claws in me for a while.… I was an Overwatch whale, not because I had disposable income and wanted to reward the developers.

Who’s Raising the Kids?: Big Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children
by Susan Linn
Published 12 Sep 2022

In addition, CMA flags app and game features that might encourage gambling—like loot boxes. Loot boxes are virtual versions of the blind bags or boxes that I describe in chapter 4 that are used to keep kids searching for the one rare toy they need for their set of collectibles. In apps and games, loot boxes can appear as treasure chests, or other kinds of containers, filled with unknown contents and purchased with real money. The catch is that the loot box you buy may or may not contain what you want or need to succeed at the game. If a loot box does contain what you hope for, it’s exciting and gratifying enough to incline you to buy the next one you encounter.

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If a loot box does contain what you hope for, it’s exciting and gratifying enough to incline you to buy the next one you encounter. And if it doesn’t, there’s always the possibility that the next loot box you buy will get you what you want. The reviews I found on these sites and others are helpful. They don’t, however, capture what I find most troubling about the Lego City racing app. They don’t answer the crucial question: What does the program, game, or app teach children about what’s most important in the world? The reviews don’t talk about values—the fundamental guiding principles, goals, or motivations, that shape our life choices, our behavior, and our priorities and how we distinguish right from wrong.3 It’s commonly accepted that children learn values from their families and from active affiliation with religious, cultural, and educational institutions, all of which are overtly committed to transmitting values from generation to generation.

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See also smart devices intrinsic motivation, 8, 97–103, 107–8 iPads, 35, 107, 129, 235 distribution in schools, 163–64, 183– 84, 235 Finance Parks and in-school advertising, 163–64 YouTube videos of babies playing with, 17, 19 iPotty, 107 Iran, 116–17 Ishihara, Tsunekazu, 104 iTunes, 93 Jain, Amrita, 157 Jefferson County, Colorado, 233–34 Jobs, Steve, 129 Johns Hopkins University, 188 Johnson, Lyndon, 69 Julie Albright (American Girl), 139 The Jungle Book (film), 164 Junior Achievement Finance Parks, 163–64 Juul, 165 Kahn, Lina, 203 Kaji, Ryan, 72 Kasser, Tim, 91 Keltner, Dacher, 23 KIDS Act (Kids Internet Design and Safety Act), 204 Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), 204 Kids PRIVCY Act, 203–4 “kids tech industry,” 4 Kindle e-reader, 134 Koch, Charles, 171, 172 Koch Industries, 171–72 Kohn, Alfie, 93, 191 Ku Klux Klan, 158 Lady and the Tramp (film), 159 Lancet (journal), 83 language acquisition, children’s, 41–42 Lanier, Jaron, 130 Larian, Isaac, 85, 86 Latinx communities, 155–57 legislative efforts to limit Big Tech and protect the rights of children, 199–205, 230 Britain’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, 200–201, 203 COPPA, 135, 201–3 KIDS Act, 204 Kids PRIVCY Act, 203–4 KOSA, 204 Minnesota’s Digital Wellbeing Bill, 236–37 state legislatures, 204–5, 236–37 Lego apps, 4, 93–94, 95, 100, 119 blocks, 93, 100 Ninjago empire, 94 revenue, 58 Lego City apps, 93–94, 95, 100 Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu (TV series), 94 Lego Ninjago Movie, 94 Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game, 94 Lesley University (Massachusetts), 209 Let Grow, 255 Levin, Diane, 13 “likes,” 46, 47, 63, 72, 73, 152, 153 Little, Brown and Company, 139 LiveMore, ScreenLess, 235–37, 257 Log Off, 237, 257 LOL Surprise dolls, 25n, 85–86, 87 London Times, 62 Look up, 257 loot boxes (“blind” boxes or bags), 86, 95 Lost Kitties, 86–87 Luddites, 34–35 Ma, Yo-Yo, 25 Macy’s, 58 Marcum, J. Paul, 131 “market segmentation,” 51 Markey, Ed, 38 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 44 Masters of Spinjitzu online games, 94 “material culture,” 154, 158 materialism and materialistic values, 8, 79, 82–92, 96–100 advertising and exacerbation of, 83 Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” 90–91 buying happiness, 7–8, 79, 88, 98, 16 and Channel One News in schools, 182–83 and children’s relationships, 89 climate change and consumption, 83, 88 and “collectibles,” 83–88 defining, 83 external rewards, 8, 97–102, 104–8, 193, 194 retail therapy, 90–91 Mattel, 57–58, 142 American Girl Dolls, 139 Aristotle smart device, 36–38 Barbie, 85, 142, 155–57, 162 McDonald’s, 177, 199 as “American institution,” 59, 60 brand loyalty, 66–67 fast food SEMS and advertising in schools, 165, 167, 172 Happy Meal toys, 84 “McTeachers’ Nights,” 165 school-based nutrition program, 172 social media followers, 63 McNeal, James, 66 Me Too movement, 152 Mead, Margaret, 230 media literacy, 205, 222 Messenger Kids (MK), 74–75, 219 Meta, xiv, 46, 74–76, 151–52, 176, 240 algorithms and racial biases, 151–52 Russian interference in 2016 election, 176 See also Facebook; Instagram; Instagram for Kids MGA Entertainment, 25n, 85–86 Microsoft, 53–54 millennial parents and families, 120–23 Minecraft, 53–55, 110, 218–19 minimalism, 88 mining (data mining), 47–48, 81 Minnesota State Legislature, 204–5, 236 Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, 3 MIT Technology Review, 190 Molnar, Alex, 167–68, 197 mommy bloggers, 87–88 Monster High fashion dolls, 59 Montgomery Ward catalog, 158–59 Morrison, Toni, 155 Mosseri, Adam, 75 Motivation external rewards, 8, 97–102, 104–8, 193, 194 intrinsic, 8, 97–103, 107–8 MTV, 114 Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), 120 Museum of Science (Boston), 119–20 My Little Pony (TV series), 19, 28 Myers, KK, 235–37 Nabisco, 105–6 nagging, 78, 109–24, 227 and child-targeted advertising, 78, 109–24 and early adolescence, 110 and “free” apps, 46, 119, 217 harm to families, 78, 82, 109–11, 115, 117–20, 122–24, 231 international market research on strategies to encourage, 116–17 marketers’ work to neutralize parents as gatekeepers, 111–12, 122–23 and millennial parents, 120–23 “The Nag Factor Study” (1998), 113–15 nagware and pop-up ads, 46, 186–87, 189 “persistence nagging” and “importance nagging,” 113 “pester power” (“nag factor”), 112–15, 117 saying “no” to children, 227 and Toys “R” Us free camps, 60 nagware (pop-up ads), 46, 186–87, 189 A Nation at Risk (1983 report), 166 National Association of Manufacturers, 182 National Education Association, 166 National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado, 192, 195 National Football League (NFL), 4 National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), 179, 238 national parks, advertising in, 7 National Public Radio, 68 nature experiences advertising in national parks, 7 awe and, 23–24 spending tech-free time outdoors, 224 Nestle, Marion, 163 neurotypical children, 9, 12 New York Times, 36, 38, 54, 68, 71, 105, 119, 131, 170, 184 Newton, Isaac, 22 Niantic, 102–3 Nickelodeon, 86–87, 90, 114, 142–43 Nike, xiv, 121, 169 1984 (Orwell), 68 Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S.

Reset
by Ronald J. Deibert
Published 14 Aug 2020

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 38(4), 451–468. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915619859852 Why many of us habitually pull out our phones: Berthon et al. Addictive de-vices. Through “loot boxes” containing unknown rewards: Wiltshire, A. (2017, September 28). Behind the addictive psychology and seductive art of loot boxes. Retrieved from https://www.pcgamer.com/behind-the-addictive-psychology-and-seductive-art-of-loot-boxes/. See also King, D. L., & Delfabbro, P. H. (2019). Video game monetization (eg,‘loot boxes’): a blueprint for practical social responsibility measures. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17(1), 166-179; Drummond, A., & Sauer, J. D. (2018). Video game loot boxes are psychologically akin to gambling. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(8), 530-532.

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Take a scan (discreetly, of course) of what people are doing with their devices as they ride your local public transit system, and you’ll see a sizable number of them glued to their mobile device screens as they swipe and tap their way through the levels of brain teasers or primitively animated games of skill. These mobile games work by a process known as “variable rate reinforcement,” in which rewards are sought after but delivered in an unpredictable fashion (e.g., through “loot boxes” containing unknown rewards).118 Variable rate reinforcement is most effective at shaping a steady increase in desirable behaviour, and it has effects on the release of dopamine, another hormone that plays an essential physiological role in reward-motivated behaviour.119 Game designers use variable rate reinforcement to entice players to continue playing the game repeatedly.

Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles--And All of US
by Rana Foroohar
Published 5 Nov 2019

It would be a wise strategy for the companies to listen as they draw increasing scrutiny for everything from privacy to monopoly to the health effects of technology. The Federal Trade Commission announced in late 2018 that they would follow the lead of European regulators and begin investigating the use of those “loot boxes” that my own son Alex found so addictive, with the aim of determining whether gaming companies, who make up an industry that is forecast to be worth $50 billion by 2022, are knowingly using gambling techniques to hook kids. “Loot boxes are now endemic in the video game industry and are present in everything from casual smartphone games to the newest high-budget video game releases,” said New Hampshire senator Maggie Hassan, who called for the investigation.31 Since then, there has been a spate of other sorts of legislation designed to shift how technology companies market to children and how content and advertising can be presented to them.

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But alas, the real stars—like his heroes Ronaldo and Messi—were not always to be had for free. They could, however, be bought with “FIFA cash”—purchased in real dollars, of course. Then he discovered something even cooler—for more money, one could obtain packs that allowed you to arm your players and your team with even more tricks and skills—something known in the industry as “loot boxes.”1 Sure enough, with better players, winning was easy. Alex won more games, laid on more FIFA cash, and then won more still; in $1.99 by $1.99 increments, his team ascended through the ranks as if it was the real Real Madrid. FIFA Mobile recorded Alex’s scores, his stats, and where he stood in the rankings—not just against local teams, but globally.

A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend Them Back
by Bruce Schneier
Published 7 Feb 2023

Step four consists of the emotional investment, which increases the player’s propensity to re-enter the loop; everyone loves a winner. All it takes is another push of the button and—who knows?—there might be a jackpot, and you might be a winner again. Online games are getting in on the variable-reward addictive action, particularly with digital goods known as “loot boxes.” Players pay—sometimes using in-game currency but mostly real money—for a random assortment of in-game items. Valuable items are rare, sometimes extremely rare, mimicking the addictive characteristics of a slot machine. Video games in general are usually engineered with dozens of behaviorist tweaks intended to keep players online as long as possible, to the point that their addictive nature is an open secret in the industry.

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Cornman, 113 explainability problem, 212–15, 234 exploits, 21, 22 externalities, 63–64 Facebook, 184, 236, 243 facial recognition, 210, 217 fail-safes, 61, 67 Fairfield, Joshua, 248 fake news, 81 Fate of the Good Soldier Švejk during the World War, The (Hašek), 116 fear, 195–97 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), 96 Federal Election Campaign Act (1972), 169 federal enclaves, 113–14 Fifteenth Amendment, 161, 164 filibuster, 154–55 financial exchange hacks, 79–82, 83–85 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, 84 financial system hack normalization as subversive, 90–91 banking, 75, 76–77, 119, 260n financial exchange hacks, 84, 85 index funds, 262n innovation and, 72, 90 wealth/power and, 119 financial system hacks AI and, 241–43, 275n banking, 74–78, 119, 260n financial exchanges, 79–82, 83–85 identifying vulnerabilities and, 77–78 medieval usury, 91 See also financial system hack normalization Fischer, Deb, 190 Fitting, Jim, 1 flags of convenience, 130 foie gras bans, 113–14 foldering, 26 food delivery apps, 99, 124 Ford, Martin, 272n foreknowledge, 54 Fourteenth Amendment, 141 Fourth Amendment, 136 Fox News, 197 frequent-flier hacks, 38–40, 46 Friess, Foster, 169 front running, 80, 82 Fukuyama, Francis, 140 Gaedel, Ed, 41 gambling, 186 gambrel roof, 109 GameStop, 81 Garcia, Ileana, 170 Garland, Merrick, 121 General Motors, 104 genies, 232–33 geographic targeting orders, 87–88 gerrymandering, 165–66 “get out of jail free” card, 260n Getty, Paul, 95 Ghostwriter, 201 gig economy, 99, 100, 101, 116, 123–25, 264n Go, 212, 241 Gödel, Kurt, 25, 27 Goebbels, Joseph, 181 Goldin, Daniel, 115 Goodhart’s law, 115 Google, 185 GPT-3, 220 Great Depression, 74 Great Recession, 96, 173–74 Greensill Capital, 102 Grossman, Nick, 245 Grubhub, 99 Hacker Capture the Flag, 228 hackers competitions for, 228 motivations of, 47 types, 22 hacking as parasitical, 45–47, 84, 173 by the disempowered, 103, 119, 120, 121–22, 141 cheating as practicing for, 2–3 context of, 157–60, 237 defined, 1–2, 9–12, 255n destruction as result of, 172–75 existential risks of, 251–52 hierarchy of, 200–202 innovation and, 139–42, 158–59, 249–50, 252 life cycle of, 21–24 public knowledge of, 23, 256n ubiquity of, 25–28 hacking defenses, 48–52, 53–57 accountability and, 67–68 AI hacking and, 236–39 cognitive hacks and, 53–54, 182, 185, 198–99 detection/recovery, 54–56 economic considerations, 63 governance systems, 245–48 identifying vulnerabilities, 56–57, 77–78, 237–38 legislative process hacks and, 147–49, 151, 154, 156 reducing effectiveness, 53–54, 61 tax hacks and, 15–16 threat modeling, 62–63, 64 See also patching hacking normalization as subversive, 90–91 casino hacks, 35–36, 37 hacking as innovation and, 158–59 “too big to fail” hack, 97–98 wealth/power and, 73, 104, 119, 120, 122 See also financial system hack normalization Hadfield, Gillian, 248 Han, Young, 170 Handy, 124 Harkin, Tom, 146 Harris, Richard, 35 Hašek, Jaroslav, 116 Haselton, Ronald, 75 hedge funds, 82, 275n Herd, Pamela, 132 HFT (high-frequency trading), 83–85 hierarchy of hacking, 200–202 high-frequency trading (HFT), 83–85 hijacking, 62 Holmes, Elizabeth, 101 hotfixes, 52 Huntsman, Jon, Sr., 169 illusory truth effect, 189 Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), 153–54 “independent spoiler” hack, 169–70 index funds, 262n indulgences, 71–72, 73, 85, 260n innovation, 101, 139–42, 158–59, 249–50, 252 insider trading, 79–80 intention ATM hacks and, 32 definition of hacking and, 2, 10, 16 definition of system and, 19 Internet, 64–65 See also social media Internet of Things (IoT) devices bugs in, 14 patching for, 23, 49 reducing hack effectiveness in, 54 Intuit, 190 Investment Company Act (1940), 82 Jack, Barnaby, 34 jackpotting, 33–34 Jaques, Abby Everett, 233 Joseph Weizenbaum, 217 jurisdictional rules, 112–13, 128–31 Kemp, Brian, 167 Keynes, John Maynard, 95 Khashoggi, Jamal, 220 King Midas, 232 labor organizing, 115–16, 121–22 Law, John, 174 laws accountability and, 68 definition of hacking and, 12 market and, 93 rules and, 18, 19 threat model shifts and, 65 See also legal hacks; tax code legal hacks, 109–11 bureaucracy and, 115–18 common law as, 135–38 Covid-19 payroll loans and, 110–11 loopholes and, 112–14 tax code and, 109–10 legislative process hacks, 145–49 defenses against, 147–49, 151, 154, 156 delay and delegation, 153–56 lobbying and, 146–47 must-pass bills, 150–52 vulnerabilities and, 147–48, 267n Lessig, Lawrence, 169 Levitt, Arthur, 80 literacy tests, 162 lobbying, 77, 78, 146–47, 158 lock-in, 94 loopholes deliberate, 146 legal hacks and, 112–14 systems and, 18 tax code and, 15, 16, 120 See also regulation avoidance loot boxes, 186 Luther, Martin, 72 luxury real estate hacks, 86–88 Lyft, 101, 123, 125 machine learning (ML) systems, 209 Malaysian sharecropping hacks, 116 Manafort, Paul, 26 Mandatory Worldwide Combined Reporting (MWCR), 129 mansard roof, 109 market hacks capitalism and, 92–93 market elements and, 93–94 private equity, 101–2 “too big to fail,” 95–98 venture capital as, 99–101 Mayhem, 228–29 McSorley, Marty, 44 medical diagnosis, 213 medieval usury hacks, 91 Meltdown, 48 MercExchange, 137 microtargeting, 184, 185, 216 Mihon, Jude (St.

The Pay Off: How Changing the Way We Pay Changes Everything
by Gottfried Leibbrandt and Natasha de Teran
Published 14 Jul 2021

She also found time to launch an investigation or two within her first semester – not least into Apple Pay. Apple’s app store has been a phenomenal success, with over 2 million apps available for download. One of the services that Apple offers is payment for ‘in-app purchases’ through Apple Pay. These might be payments for upgrades from free to premium apps, to fill ‘loot boxes’ in mobile gaming or to purchase additional content from publishers. Apple can offer this service because it has payment data (typically card information) from its app store customers on file. You’d think app developers would be overjoyed. And they would be, if it weren’t for the fact that Apple charges a fee of 30 per cent of the purchase price, and makes the service more or less mandatory: users can make payments directly to the app developers using their own websites, in which case no fee is payable to Apple, but Apple forbids app developers from mentioning this option in the app.