Loot boxes and gambling
Take for example loot
boxes. For those who don’t know what loot boxes are, they are treasure chests
with random items. Players do not know what’s in loot boxes, and the chances of
finding valuable items inside them are very low. Players can buy more loot
boxes with real money, and are incentivized to do so, with the promise of huge
payoffs, just like in casinos. The difference is that, with technology, game
designers can actually personalize the payoffs depending on the individual
player’s appetite for risk and reward, maximize their attractiveness. As Robert
de Niro’s character in the movie, Casino, says: “In the casino, the
cardinal rule is to keep them playing and to keep them coming back. The longer
they play, the more they lose, and in the end, we get it all.”
Some countries, such as Belgium, are
already classifying
loot boxes as gambling. In the UK, regulators admitted that “the
line between video gaming and gambling is becoming increasingly blurred,”
but have not made any moves to classify loot boxes as gambling. Here in the US, some
regulators are increasing the scrutiny over loot boxes, but the practice is
still permitted. It doesn’t help that ESRB, the self-regulatory
organization founded by gaming companies, considers
loot boxes to be no different than any other paid content, refusing to
classify it as gambling.
For me, ESRB is just another Skeptic,
and is being willingly blind to the negative effects this feature could have on
children.
To add to the pile of
evidence that game mechanics are inspired by gambling, Consider that video game
companies use the term “whale” to define a user who spends lots of money on
virtual items. The same term is used for casino players who bet (and lose)
great sums. And, like in casinos, game companies focus their marketing efforts
to extract the most from those whales.
And like gambling, video games can be
extremely addictive. But many Skeptics tend to use misleading
language to convolute the argument and blur the line between what is compelling
and what is addicting. For example, Aaron Marshall, a video game designer from
LA summarizes how Skeptics think: “Video games are akin to
most legal products and pastimes today. They can be responsibly consumed, or
they can be abused. We do not condemn books because an avid reader is spending
an irresponsible amount of time reading fiction novels. Why should video games
be singled out when a player is playing too much?”
His point is valid, but I
would argue that his conclusion is false. If someone reads so much that her
life is affected, that person should seek “rehab,” just like any other
addiction. In fact, there are rehabilitation
facilities for digital addiction. But the reality is that children
don’t spend that much time reading — less than 30 minutes a day. However,
they do spend many hours per day on screens. According to Common Sense Media,
even kids
as young as 0 to 8 years spend over 2 hours a day on screens. According to
another study from Common Sense media, for tweens (8–12 years old), this
time triples to almost 6 hours a day on average. Teenagers (13–18 years
old) spend an astonishing 9 hours per day interacting with screens.
However, it turns out that
there is a scientifically measurable difference between a desire to play a
video game, and an addiction to video games. With a focus on internet games,
the North American Psychiatric Association (APA) has defined this addiction as Internet
Gaming Disorder. It is disturbingly similar to gambling addiction (which is
the only recognized addiction besides substance addiction). It basically states
that a person is addicted to gaming if it interferes with other aspects
of their lives and the pursuit of their goals.
Game Addiction and
Cigarette Addiction
No discussion of addiction
would be complete without mentioning tobacco, and some Pragmatists
are not even embarrassed to make the connection between gaming and tobacco.
Take for instance how this game publisher shamelessly recommends the use of
celebrity endorsements: “For
generations, celebrity power has been used to sell everything from soda and
cigarettes”.
But there were also Concerned
participants who made the same connection between gaming and smoking,
specifically pointing to how some gaming companies employ similar practices
used by the tobacco industry in the past. And gaming isn’t the only industry
that is faced with these issues, nor is it the only industry where people are
concerned with the effect that these tactics are having on children. For
example, at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, Salesforce
founder and CEO Marc Benioff was interviewed and voiced his concerns. Later on,
he made the following statement via Twitter:
But again, we see the Prisoner’s
Dilemma. Do game designers betray each other in a never ending cycle,
continuing to make video games more and more addictive in an effort to stay
ahead of the curve? Or will we eventually see an era where the industry
cooperates to create better, safer games? The biggest question is whether or
not game designers would be willing to potentially lose some profit in order to
self-regulate.
Professor Schreiber summarized this dilemma well, saying: “If the goal of game designers is to maximize the revenue a game brings, creating addictive experiences might be required.” He added, saying, “Trying to ethically monetize a game might impact the company’s profits.”
Solving the Dilemma
But what if there were a
way for Concerned game designers to create non-addictive
experiences, without abandoning the goal of maximizing monetary profit? Well,
there is.
Saferize offers a way for designers to
eliminate this trade-off between profit and ethics. By implementing our SDK,
apps have an area specific to parents, so they can set up controls such as
screen time. To have access to those controls, parents pay Saferize a monthly
subscription that is shared with the app publisher. While parents get the tools
to effectively curb digital addiction for their children, game designers are
incentivized to implement our software, since they receive extra revenue from
Saferize. It’s truly a win for everyone involved.
We hope that Concerned game
designers and publishers embrace our vision, so kids have a balanced life,
enjoying games without succumbing to addiction.
Gustavo
Guida has been involved with product and marketing since 2000. Third-time
entrepreneur, he found and sold two successful businesses before co-founding
Saferize. Father of triplet girls.
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