This is a damning new University study showing loot boxes directly lead to gambling addiction, especially for teenage boys from low income families.
People working at the Hearthstone team have a responsibility to read this and reflect on how their business model affects society.
The University of Plymouth and the University of Wolverhampton researched gambling addiction of loot box games.
Dr James Close, Senior Research Fellow, University of Plymouth:
“Our work has established that engagement with loot boxes is associated with problem gambling behaviours, with players encouraged to purchase through psychological techniques such as ‘fear of missing out’. We have also demonstrated that at-risk individuals, such as problem gamblers, gamers, and young people, make disproportionate contributions to loot box revenues. Younger males, and those with a lower educational attainment are more likely to purchase loot boxes."
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The link to the study Aruralie is referencing:
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who cares about teenagers
Activision is responsible for the monetization, not the Hearthstone developers. Try sending a strongly worded letter to Bobby Kotick and his investors with this revelation.
Even though it’s exactly what they are going for.
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Link?
BBC: Loot boxes linked to problem gambling in new research
(I am not allowed to link apparently)
Got your back.
In the future, you can put `` marks around text that make it look like this and it’ll bypass the restrictions around posting URLs to unapproved sites if you aren’t TL3.
My opinion on the matter: Team 5 has little to no control over the monetization method of the game. Even in regards to things like the Reward Track and rebalancing it, folks like Cora said that they have no jurisdiction over it.
If you want to work for Activision Blizzard, you make the kind of games that do what they want to do, or they’ll find someone else to do it. If you disagree with card design/balance or something then yeah, talk to Team 5, but the core po8nts of the game (monetization existing, game modes focused on widening the appeal of the game, etc) then it’s the executives basing their decisions off of market research that you want ti bring your grievances to.
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If an irresponsible parent allow their three year old to touch loot box games, it’s their fault.
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You can’t infer causation from correlational studies. There is literally zero evidence in the study referenced by the article (if I found the right one) that supports a causal link between loot boxes and gambling problems.
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What does that have to do with hearthstone?
Card Packs are loot boxes basically.
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Except they aren’t? Card packs differ in numerous ways, such as having fixed generous rates and generally items in lootboxes aren’t really needed for gameplay.
Whether or not the loot box gives something gameplay related or has generous rates is up to the game. The main point of them is giving something random and having a small chance to give a “jackpot” (which in this game are legendaries).
Many people when opening them have certain expectations/wishes and when that isn’t happening, a good chunk of them will try opening more until they get what they want. Hence, some of them will eventually spend money to reach their goals.
A good chunk of mobile games have included similar systems only to make it their main income. Gachas for example basically live from people spending for Loot Boxes to get the things they want. While you can argue that Hearthstone is tame compared to most of them, in the end it’s still the same thing: a game that offers rewards through multiple RNG elements and earns its money from that.
There is a reason they don’t offer rewards in a straightforward manner (like just giving dust, not gold or packs) and gambling addiction may be one factor in it. After all, their main goal is one thing: money.
Card packs are designed around gambling though. It’s not as costly and as empty as a slot machine, but it’s basically the same thing even if it’s not defined as gambling by law.
You pay money, you randomly get stuff, you sometimes win, you get encouraged to win more, the house always wins.
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The study talks about the digital nature of loot box items and the physical nature of trading cards.
They argue digital loot boxes are comparable to “always on” slot machines that are highly addictive leading to problem gambling, and that physical trading cards (like physical MTG cards) are discontinuous, similar to a national lottery that is considerably less addictive.
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Just because something is less accessible doesn’t mean it can’t be addictive.
MTG cards are way more expensive (and have useless fillers in packs), and you can’t recoup even half the money considering how cheap singles are right now.
That is what research shows though, accessibility is a major player in problem gambling.
Not just with online gambling leading to higher addiction rates than casinos, but also with payment methods. It has been shown time and time again, that people with credit cards overspend much more frequently than people using physical cash.
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The study is flawed.
Also, anyone who’s educated about gambling knows to not blow their wallet on loot boxes unless they’re a three year old with an ignorant parent.
Yes, those horribly irresponsible parents that don’t realize All Ages games allow gambling for items, when games that actually have gambling games like poker in them are rated much higher even when you can’t pay real money into them or get real money back in any way.
You can’t really blame non-gaming parents for being clueless when the system is deliberately obtuse to prey on unsuspecting consumers. Not everyone hangs out on gaming forums all day complaining about which cards should get nerfed. Not everyone spends 4+ hours a day gaming. Especially when they have kids to provide for.
I’m just saying, the things we take as common knowledge are only common knowledge to gamers.
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If only “3-year-olds with ignorant parents” were overspending on loot boxes, we wouldn’t have gaming companies showing record profits from loot boxes.
Look at all the biggest gaming companies. They are all involved in some form of loot box / gacha business model. Loot boxes have made these companies billions, but it has also resulted in a human cost, resulting in many people becoming problem gamblers.
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It’s the same as not reading every ingredient in a food item when you know you have peanut allergy. If you aren’t careful about the details, it’s your fault.