IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v4y2020i10d10.1038_s41562-020-0900-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why loot boxes could be regulated as gambling

Author

Listed:
  • Aaron Drummond

    (Massey University
    Massey University)

  • James D. Sauer

    (Massey University
    University of Tasmania)

  • Lauren C. Hall

    (Massey University
    Massey University)

  • David Zendle

    (University of York)

  • Malcolm R. Loudon

    (Massey University)

Abstract

Do purchasable randomised reward mechanisms in video games (loot boxes) constitute gambling? Opinions often rest on whether virtual items obtained from loot boxes have real-world value. Using market data from real transactions, we show that virtual items have real-world monetary value and therefore could be regulated under existing gambling legislation.

Suggested Citation

  • Aaron Drummond & James D. Sauer & Lauren C. Hall & David Zendle & Malcolm R. Loudon, 2020. "Why loot boxes could be regulated as gambling," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 986-988, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:4:y:2020:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-020-0900-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0900-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0900-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-020-0900-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sarah E Hodge & Max Vykoukal & John McAlaney & Reece D Bush-Evans & Ruijie Wang & Raian Ali, 2022. "What’s in the box? Exploring UK players’ experiences of loot boxes in games; the conceptualisation and parallels with gambling," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Mattinen, Topias & Macey, Joseph & Hamari, Juho, 2023. "A Ruse by Any Other Name: Comparing Loot Boxes and Collectible Card Games Using Magic Arena," OSF Preprints s9xqt, Center for Open Science.
    3. Konrad Grabiszewski & Alex Horenstein, 2022. "Profiling dynamic decision-makers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-22, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:4:y:2020:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-020-0900-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.