Loot boxes, gambling, kids, and the role of parents
The Gambling Health Alliance in the United Kingdom recently did a study on loot boxes and children, and the results… aren’t great.
The survey looked at 611 young people from England, Scotland, and Wales, There’s a lot of interesting information to pick apart here. The UK Gambling Commission found that 23% of gamers aged 11 to 16 had said they had paid money to open a loot box. The GHA’s own results found that 34% had first spent money on a loot box when they were 13 or younger. 31% said they struggled to keep track of how much they spent on loot boxes and 33% said they did not feel in control of their spending. One in four said they had spent £100 ($133 USD) on average per game on top of the initial retail price.
Furthermore, one in six had admitted to taking money from their parents, without permission, to buy a loot box. One in ten had gone into debt to buy them. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they felt addicted to loot boxes. 44% said they felt cheated or ripped off by the mechanic.
“I spent over £400 when I was 15 or 16 on my mum’s bank card”, said one respondent. Another claimed their brother had stolen £700 from them to pay for FIFA loot boxes.
A whopping 79% who played FIFA said that loot boxes had negatively impacted their gaming experience, citing the amount they had to spend to remain competitive, and that this money spent did not carry over to new editions of the game.
The study notes that one of the biggest problems with loot boxes is that it’s difficult for players to calculate and track their true costs. Many games require the purchase of virtual currencies via microtransactions, which are then used to purchase the boxes. Most players surveyed estimated they cost between £1 and £3, but some estimated they could cost up to £20 for a single loot box. 11% of respondents said they had spent real money on loot boxes on a daily or weekly basis. One quarter did so every month. The average amount spent was £1-£5 per week, or £52 to £260 per year. One in ten gamers admitted to spending as much as £11 to £20 per week, or £570 ($762) to £1,040 ($1,391) per year.
“They’re highly addictive,” one respondent told researchers. “Since I was about 14, they have been a staple part of every FIFA game I have played. I must’ve spent thousands of pounds over the years, and it all gets restarted every year anyway.”
Given that the content of loot boxes are rarely known beforehand, and the odds of receiving valued items are often very low, the practice has been widely compared to games of chance. The GHA is currently campaigning for the UK parliament to legally classify paid-for loot boxes as gambling. That would ban their inclusion in games targeted at players under 18. As such, any game that includes them would likely require a PEGI 18 rating, which would drastically limit their potential audience.
The GHA have also been lobbying the industry to make changes to protect kids from overspending. They noted that EA had recently introduced parental controls in FIFA 21, which allows parents to set spending limits. However they would like to see it expanded to other games as well. It’s worth noting that the Ultimate Team loot box mechanic in FIFA accounted for one quarter of EA’s $4.37 billion in revenue last fiscal year.
I think at this point it’s getting hard to argue that loot boxes are not gambling, or at least something close to it. It is important to keep in mind that this is still a “small-n” study though, and probably warrants more research on a much larger scale. However, anecdotal evidence and the sheer amount of money these games take in certainly offers credence to what’s being said here. The whole point of microtransactions in the first place is to muddle exactly how much is being spent.
That said, what I want to know is where these kids are getting the money from. I’m sure there’s a few that do spend what cash they have on gift cards to make digital purchases. However, it would seem the vast majority are being bought on credit cards. Which, unless it’s changed, you need to be at least 18 to even apply for. So either these kids have a card via a joint account, or they’re borrowing their parents’.
While I normally respect Yong Yea’s content, which is where I got the sources for this piece, he keeps bringing up the parental ignorance argument. I just don’t think that really holds water anymore. A lot of these kids are being raised by parents who are younger Gen X or older Millennials. People who grew up with, or came of age during the rise of the internet. So the bulk of them are familiar with how digital commerce works. At least one would think.
But okay, let’s assume parents are technologically illiterate. That they don’t know how to set up separate user accounts with parental controls, don’t know how to set up password requirements for purchases, or how to disable credit cards from being saved. Even if you accept all that, they do still have a responsibility to monitor what their kids are up to. If these loot boxes are being purchased on a family credit card, there’s going to be a paper trail. Does nobody check their bills, or see all the purchase alert emails? And at what point do you say enough is enough and revoke your child’s gaming privileges?
As for stealing money from their parents. Well, I know if I had made any purchases on my family’s credit card without permission, my dad would have tanned my hide to the finest patent leather. And I’d probably never see the console again. Granted they didn’t have microtransactions when I was a kid back in the 90’s, but I don’t think much has changed when it comes to managing money.
Now, I don’t want anyone to get the impression that I’m passing the buck from greedy video game publishers. The loot box and MTX business model has gotten way out of control, and they’re making billions by deliberately preying on vulnerable people. That’s dishonourable and immoral no matter how you slice it. The only thing that separates them from some scam artist cold calling people from India is a couple lines in a dusty lawbook. But like most social problems, there’s usually multiple points of failure involved.
I think as a parent, you really do need to teach your kids financial responsibility, and the value of a dollar. That’s a lesson that will ultimately protect them from a lot of grief down the road. Set them up with their own bank account. If they want to buy something, have them work to earn it. Either by doing chores, or a part-time job as they get older. Then if they want to spend it, they have to either use cash or gift cards. No credit cards. It teaches them that money is not a limitless resource. This used to be common sense, but seems to have been forgotten in the last two decades.
And if you’re a parent who’s confused about something, or unsure whether a game or mechanic is appropriate for your child, don’t shy away from reaching out to the broader gaming community. You’ll find a lot of good people who will be happy to help.
