How do Gamers Discuss Loot Box Purchasing Behaviours?
Creators: name: Clelland, Harry
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022

description: Loot Boxes (LBs) are, virtual games of chance among gaming communities whereby players invest-real world money for a chance to wine rare or advantageous in-game items, as a means of progressing more effectively within their chosen game (Griffiths, 2018).According to the latest industry statistics, gross gambling yield across Great Britain elapsed £14.4bn across a 12 month timeframe (Gambling Commission, 2018). Despite a breadth of psychological literature concerning typical forms of gambling, less is known about gambling-related behaviours within a gaming setting, particularly the purchasing of Loot Boxes. At present, the UK Gambling Commission does not consider the purchasing of LBs a form of gambling, exempting the system of any regulatory protocol. This is worrying when considering that micro-transaction systems will earn the gaming industry £120bn by 2020 (Juniper Research, 2018), and are designed to be psychologically reminiscent of gambling (Drummond &amp; Sauer, 2018). Given that spending habits within this domain are linked to severity of problem gambling (PG) (Zendle &amp; Cairns, 2018), it may be the case that exemption from gambling regulations, is resulting in the exploitation of a large consumer base, increasing risk of PB among this population. As such, it is important to begin exploring and understanding the psychological processes underlying the purchase of LBs, to both categorise the extent to which this constitutes a gambling behaviour, as well as establishing whether the implementation of safeguarding techniques, typically used to protect against the onset of problem gambling within traditional settings, would be applicable to a LB setting. A growing body of evidence suggests that LBs are harmful, with more than half of eSports spectators (the ‘sportification’ of video games) categorised as problematic or potentially problematic during gaming events (Macey &amp; Hamari, 2019). Moreover, the artificial dressings associated with the LB-opening process, are manufactured to tap into the same reward mechanisms elicited by “legitimate” forms of gambling (Nielsen &amp; Grabarczyk, 2018). Notwithstanding these features, relationships between LBs and PG are most prominent when players invest their own real-world money (Zendle et al., 2018), making it necessary to understand the perspectives of those who regularly spend on LBs. In doing so, the project aims to conduct a qualitative analysis, informing the ongoing debate of LB-purchasing as a gambling vs. non-gambling behaviour. In the instance that regular LB-users discuss their behaviour in a manner reminiscent of “typical” gamblers, the project should support an argument for effective safeguarding interventions, protecting those at risk of PG. The majority of research within this new sub-genre of gambling research have been of large-scale observational nature (Zendle &amp; Cairns, 2019). Given the ever-increasing evident relationship between LBs and PG then, it is necessary to begin understanding the psychological underpinnings of these relationships on an individual level. Comprising evidence, derives the following research question: “How do gamers construct their experience of purchasing Loot Boxes within Online Gaming?”