The Pay Off: How Changing the Way We Pay Changes Everything
by Gottfried Leibbrandt and Natasha de Teran · 14 Jul 2021 · 326pp · 91,532 words
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
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by Ronald J. Deibert · 14 Aug 2020
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
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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
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game monetization (eg,‘loot boxes’): a blueprint for practical social responsibility measures. International Journal of Mental Health
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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. Effects on the release of dopamine: Dopamine. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved May
You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All
by Adrian Hon · 14 Sep 2022 · 371pp · 107,141 words
of games. As video games have come to dominate the entertainment industry, companies are refining and repurposing game design concepts like achievements, trading cards, and “loot boxes” in order to maximise engagement and profit, even at the cost of enjoyment. When combined with games’ inherent interactivity and immersiveness, the result can be
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. If the uniquely interactive aspects of video games enable positive effects, they can also enable negative effects. Those include compulsive gameplay, gambling-like behaviour around “loot box” mechanics, and all-too-prevalent online harassment. And if video games are to be treated on the same level as other art forms, their content
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pay to unlock many Crates—which is what I ended up doing, despite knowing better. 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
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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
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, 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
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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
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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. They’re one of the most direct examples of
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, or in the hope they’ll pay to skip the tedium. And some have succumbed entirely, exposing adults and children to gambling-like experiences employing loot boxes and “gacha” mechanics. ACHIEVEMENTS Gamification predates video games, but it was video games that systematised the mechanics and aesthetics that gamification appropriated—most of all
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influencing the grind in the game. This addiction to ever-greater returns on capital is being taken to an extreme with darker and more manipulative loot box mechanics. These are also known as “gacha” mechanics, after gachapon capsule toys sold by vending machines popular in Japan. Feed in a few coins and
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you already have. 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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microtransactions were set up took advantage of those compulsions.” Electronic Arts has been among the biggest beneficiaries of loot boxes. Its sports video game franchises including FIFA, Madden, and NHL all sell Ultimate Team loot box “packs,” each containing a random assortment of players, power-ups, and other items. Revenue from Ultimate Team was
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therefore particularly susceptible to developing an addiction.” (The fine was overturned by the country’s highest court in early 2022 on the basis that the loot box packs were “not a standalone game.”)42 Little wonder, then, that EA’s Vice President of Legal and Government Affairs Kerry Hopkins told British politicians
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, “We don’t call them loot boxes.… We call them ‘surprise mechanics,’” and likened them to none other than gacha mechanics: “[Players] enjoy surprises. It is something that has been part of
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LOL Surprise!”43 This euphemism astonished British MPs and was rebutted by the GambleAware report, which noted, “The scale, scope, availability and technological sophistication of loot boxes is substantially greater than traditional ‘surprise’ toys—leading to a ‘continuous play’ effect that is not seen with traditional items. It is akin to the
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between the ‘always on’ nature of slot machines versus the discontinuous nature of national lotteries.” The British government is expected to announce plans on regulating loot boxes in 2022, but this looming threat didn’t stop FIFA 22 (released in late 2021) from featuring “morally bankrupt monetisation,” as Eurogamer editor Wesley Yin
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cry?,” seem laughable in light of “surprise mechanics.”45 No one can fault a company for exploring new ways to make money, but for many, loot boxes are a manipulation too far. Not just for politicians but for other game developers, including Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who warned, “We should be
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very reticent about creating any sort of entertainment experience where [players] can have an outcome that’s influenced by spending money.… Loot boxes play on all the mechanics of gambling except for the ability to get money out in the end.”46 Coincidentally, the lack of an official
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way to turn loot box contents back into money is one of the loopholes explaining why the UK’s Gambling Commission has not already regulated loot boxes.47 The line between video games and gambling becomes even more blurred with casino-style
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games that eschew the intermediate step of loot boxes and merely simulate the experience of playing roulette, blackjack, poker, and slot machines. Like
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loot boxes, players spend real money for virtual coins and have no way to turn virtual winnings back into real
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& Entertainment Association called the programme “unbalanced,” preferring to highlight the positives of games, especially during COVID-19.63 However, it had nothing to say about loot boxes and effectively blamed any excessive unwanted spending on players’ failure to regulate their own behaviour. This kneejerk defensiveness has a chilling effect on even the
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prevented the industry from confronting any responsibility over its creations. It is also strangely out of proportion with the threat of regulation, given that limiting loot boxes for children remains theoretical in most countries. One of my favourite video games is Sid Meier’s Civilization, a turn-based strategy series first released
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for gamers to circumvent whatever limits they had chosen to moderate their own behaviour. Who knows, I could even start playing Civilization again! Achievements, grinding, loot boxes, treatmills, and compulsion loops—video games can look a little bit sordid in this light. But it doesn’t have to be this way. One
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buying in pursuit of the most desirable prints, which then elicits yet another treasure hunt, this time by customers. The difference is that gachapon and loot boxes usually cost a few dollars each, while LuLaRoe consultants have to spend $499 to get started, with many of their orders running into thousands of
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, however, the pursuit of money stops being a means to an end and becomes an end in itself. Gamified tricks like streaks, timers, achievement grinding, loot boxes, and trading cards can all theoretically be done ethically, but usually they’re done just to increase engagement and drive profit, and this terrible drive
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, https://blog.playstation.com/2015/07/07/rocket-league-out-today-free-for-ps-plus-members. 2. Kyle Orland, “After Epic Purchase, Psyonix Removes Random Loot Boxes from Rocket League,” Ars Technica, Condé Nast, August 7, 2019, https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/08/after-epic-purchase-psyonix-removes-random
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-loot-boxes-from-rocket-league. 3. Alex Wiltshire, “Behind the Addictive Psychology and Seductive Art of Loot Boxes,” PC Gamer, September 28, 2017, www.pcgamer.com/behind-the-addictive-psychology-and-seductive-art-of
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-loot-boxes. 4. “GambleAware Publishes New Gaming and Gambling Research,” BeGambleAware, April 2, 2021, www.begambleaware.org/news/gambleaware-publishes-new-gaming-and
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/news/crates-leaving-rocket-league-later-this-year; Matt Wales, “Epic Settles Fortnite and Rocket League Loot Box Lawsuit,” Eurogamer, updated February 22, 2021, www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-02-22-epic-settles-fortnite-and-rocket-league-loot-box-lawsuit. 6. “Origin of Achievements,” Arqade, Stack Exchange, updated August 4, 2014, https://gaming.stackexchange
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, 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/10/06/genshin-impact-gambling. 36. Elijah Tredup, “Loot Boxes and the Question of Gambling,” Nevada Gaming Lawyer, (September 2019): 58–62, www.nvbar.org/wp-content/uploads/13-Loot-Boxes.pdf. 37. “Country’s Top Mental Health Nurse Warns Video Games Pushing Young People into ‘Under
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-health-nurse-warns-video-games-pushing-young-people-into-under-the-radar-gambling. 38. “Over 1 in 10 Young Gamers Get into Debt by Buying Loot Boxes,” Royal Society for Public Health, December 23, 2020, www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/over-1-in-10-young-gamers-get-into-debt-because
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-of-loot-boxes.html. 39. BeGambleAware, “GambleAware Publishes New Gaming and Gambling Research.” 40. “How Microtransactions Prey on Disabled Gamers—Access-Ability,” LauraKBuzz, YouTube, video, 11:56, March
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/gaming-news-the-figures-behind-ea-sports-net-revenue-from-ultimate-team-20200521; Erica Johnson and Kimberly Ivany, “Video Game Giant EA Steering Players into Loot-Box Option in Popular Soccer Game, Insider Says,” CBC News, updated April 26, 2021, www.cbc.ca/news/gopublic/fifa21
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-loot-boxes-electronic-arts-1.5996912. 42. Brendan Sinclair, “EA Fined €10M over Loot Boxes as Dutch Court Sides with Gambling Authority,” gamesindustry.biz, October 29, 2020, www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-29-ea-fined
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-10m-over-loot-boxes-as-dutch-court-sides-with-gambling-authority; “Imposition of an Order Subject to a Penalty on Electronic Arts for FIFA Video Game,” Netherlands Gambling Authority (
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on June 24, 2019, www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-06-22-this-week-parliament-gave-a-squirming-ea-and-epic-a-kicking. 44. John Woodhouse, “Loot Boxes in Video Games,” Research Briefing, House of Commons Library, UK Parliament, August 2, 2021, https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8498; Wesley Yin-Poole
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://www.polygon.com/a/how-ea-lost-its-soul/chapter-5. 46. “Fortnite Boss Says Game Loot Boxes ‘Cause Harm,’” BBC News, February 14, 2020, www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51502592. 47. Connor Trinske, “FIFA Loot Boxes Aren’t Gambling According to UK Commission,” Screen Rant, July 23, 2019, https://screenrant.com/fifa
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-loot-boxes-gambling-uk-commission. 48. Cyrus Farivar, “Addicted to Losing: How Casino-Like Apps Have Drained People of
Who’s Raising the Kids?: Big Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children
by Susan Linn · 12 Sep 2022 · 415pp · 102,982 words
and in-app purchases embedded in apps.2 They are also free. 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend Them Back
by Bruce Schneier · 7 Feb 2023 · 306pp · 82,909 words
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
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, 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
Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles--And All of US
by Rana Foroohar · 5 Nov 2019 · 380pp · 109,724 words
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
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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
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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
The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
by Chris Hayes · 28 Jan 2025 · 359pp · 100,761 words
to drop in and think yes, this could be the one. I could get lucky with the loot boxes, I could get lucky with the circle placement. Maybe this time is the time…. I’m helpless.” Loot boxes, for those who don’t know, are essentially in-game slot machines that randomly dispense goodies