Ogden |1

Abraham Ogden

Instructor: Malcolm Campbell

November 4th, 2018

Game Over: Loot Boxes Cause Children to Gamble

Microtransactions in video games are the in-game purchases for a dollar here and
there to buy something that adds an advantage. Within the realm of microtransactions,
there are loot boxes. A loot box is an item that is purchased with real-world currency and
has randomized chances on what you get. The underlying issue with this randomization is
the comparisons it has to gambling. Should we be letting our future generations get
addicted to gambling without any parameters?

The first piece of the puzzle to be evaluated in video games is the addictive nature
of video games. There have been multiple cases that show children getting addicted. In
the last few years, there has been the medical definition of video game addiction. There is
addiction to single player video games and online video games. The American Addiction
Center sees online video game addiction to be the worse of the two. The reasoning for
this is the desire to be in a fictional world and interact with others through the medium. Commented [1]: You can use this as a part of your
alternative question concerning the psychology of video
games.
World of Warcraft is a prime example for online video game addition. Many
players have sunk hours of their days into the game to be something that they can’t in real
life. The addiction of video games is a tough addiction on its own but the links to
gambling in video games are making it significantly worse. If somebody plays video
games consistently, they have all the flashing lights and other features to persuade the
players into paying for microtransactions.

There are signs of video game addiction rising in the younger generations of the
present. Video games are created to be addictive so that people who bought them will
 Ogden |2

play them. The rise in the addiction can lead to a multitude of negative effects in the
psychological processes of the children.

Dr. Drummond and Dr. Sauer investigated twenty-two video games to certain
criteria to decided if the games contained psychological similarities to gambling. Forty- Commented [2]: decide

five percent of the games did contain the similarities while all games were available to
people under the age of consent for gambling. This is the troubling part of the scenario.
Children being put in front of video games for entertainment is becoming more
negligible.

Video game companies can thank microtransactions for increasing their profit
margins exceptionally. Activision Blizzard revealed a record of over seven billion dollars
in the 2017 fiscal year. Four billion dollars of that profit came from in-game purchases
which contains loot boxes. Loot boxes have shown to be extremely profitable for
companies which is an expensive industry. If loot boxes were removed from all games,
developers would have to figure out a different way to gain their profits. Commented [3]: Why? Is this a good or a bad thing?

There is a difficult barrier in the video game industry that has left lasting
impressions. One of these habits being continued is games selling for about sixty dollars
no matter how the economy fluctuates. The cost to produce video games is sometimes
costlier than any large Hollywood movie. The funding of these creations
Commented [4]: Perhaps instead of describing finance as
the barrier, explain the barrier that is creating between the
physical world(real world) and the virtual world(video
games).

There have been multiple cases that show children getting addicted. A Canadian boy had
stolen his father’s credit card to spend more than seven thousand five hundred dollars on
these loot boxes.
 Ogden |3

Drummond, Aaron, and James Sauer. “Gaming or Gambling: Study Shows Almost
Half of Loot Boxes in Video Games Constitute Gambling.” The
Conversation, 28 June, 2018. The Conversation.
www.theconversation.com/gaming-or-gambling-study-shows-almost-half-of-loot-
boxes-in-video-games-constitute-gambling-99013. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.

Thomas, Scot, et al. “Signs and Symptoms of Video Game Addiction - Causes
and Effects.” PsychGuides.com, American Addiction Centers, Inc.,
www.psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-
effects/. Accessed 12 October 2018.
 Ogden |4

Thubron, Rob. “Over Half of Activision Blizzard's $7.16 Billion Yearly Revenue
Came from Microtransactions.” TechSpot, 12 Feb. 2018, TechSpot,
www.techspot.com/news/73230-over-half-activision-blizzard-716-billion-yearly-
revenue.html. Accessed 23 October 2018.

Yost, Matthew R. "Video Game Gambling: Too Big a Bet for New Jersey,"
Rutgers University Law Review vol. 70, no. 1 (Fall 2017): p. 335-[ii].
HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/rutlr70&i=347.
Accessed 20 October 2018.
 Ogd en |5

Peer Review - Brian Edwards

I think you have a good start with introducing your topic. You have some

good sources that indicate facts about the issue that you targeted. However, the

obvious problem is that the paper is short so far. I feel as though that is because

you are holding your ideas back a bit. Your initial question sort of bottlenecks

your ability to expand into the deeper issue of the psychological affects of video

games.

I think that you would benefit from branching out into the realm of the

psychological aspects of video games and how that has influenced the climate that

exists today with things like lootboxes, packs, etc. That way you can give yourself

more wiggle room in your essay and allow your experiences and research to truly

flourish.

I think that the American Addiction Center’s research could be a helpful

gateway into expressing that there is a distinction present between the real world

and the virtual world. This can also be another way of introducing the

psychological issues that arise in video games and how this environment only

plays more into the topic that you focused on before, which is gambling.

Overall, I like your topic and would like to see you express all of your ideas

as I think that introspection and inclusion of other aspects will allow you to have a

deeper understanding of your topic and how to make people more aware of your

thought-out observations. Perhaps even adding some of your own anecdotal

 Ogd en |6

experiences could help make your essay more relatable as well as there must be

people that have had similar problems with this topic in the past and that will

allow the reader to have a better frame of reference for your paper as long as you

do not make yourself the basis of your essay.