Gamers have been aware for some time now of the risks posted by loot boxes build within video games. Now, science has come to the discussion, with a recent study suggesting the in-game purchase mechanic is a connected to problem gambling in older adolescents.

Published via The Royal Society, the report took to Reddit to find its participants, resulting in a sample of 1155 gamers. Of that, 88% were male, 9% were female and 3% identifying as non-binary.

Among the findings of the report, researchers discovered that old adolescents – or those aged 16 to 18 – who showed signs of problem gambling spent five times as much on loot boxes than those who didn’t show signs of problem gambling.

While falling short of a full confirmation, the findings also strongly suggest that the ability to access loot boxes may result in problem gambling behaviour.

Motivations behind loot box purchases were also illuminating. Many of the internal ‘reward systems’ in place with gambling have little to do with money and more to do with receiving a rush, excitement, the joy of participating, coping with stress and a form of escapism. There were many parallels between these and the motivations behind making in-game purchases.

This correlation sheds light on where adult problem gamblers may develop these reward systems.

The report also highlights another problem – that the gaming industry nets an “11-figure” yearly sum from the sale of loot boxes.

In 2018 alone, the gaming industry netted a cool $30 billion from loot boxes alone. The industry is standing its ground on the issue, with gaming powerhouse EA even going as far to re-name them as “surprise mechanics”. This strongly suggests it’s not in the industry’s best interest to end loot boxes.

Loot boxes – also referred to as micro-transactions – allow players to use real world money to access resources within the game only available behind a paywall. As we see in Fortnite, loot boxes can be largely cosmetic designs such as new skins for characters.

However, with games such as the ill-fated Star Wars Battlefront II, loot boxes can drastically impact a player’s performance with functional upgrades.

The ability to ‘pay-to-win’ is so contentious it’s been the subject of multiple government inquiries with even the Australian government considering the risks involved with loot boxes via The Environment and Communications References Committee.

In its findings published late last year, the committee insisted the Australian Government begin a more comprehensive review of loot boxes in video games and the risk they pose to adolescents and vulnerable adults.

The Australian Government heard the committee’s concerns, even going as far as to admit it’s a public concern, but ultimately decided a more comprehensive review into the impacts loot boxes have on problem gambling “not warranted at this time,” believing that more research needs to be done.

Stateside, the discussion is a lot more active, with a recent bill, Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act, being introduced to the senate that aims to ban the sale of loot boxes to people under the age of 18.

The report also suggests numbers to challenge the issue including restricting the sale of games that feature loot boxes to gamers over 18 years old, displaying information on the physical game to inform parents and gamers of the ability to make in game purchases, allowing gamers to set a limit for the amount they can spent on loot boxes, and governments introducing the same regulations on loot boxes that they have on other modes of gambling like the pokies.

Check out a controversial take on loot boxes: