Department of Computer Science, York St. John University, York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2019 Mar 7;14(3):e0213194. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213194. eCollection 2019.
Loot boxes are items in video games that contain randomised contents and can be purchased with real-world money. Similarities between loot boxes and forms of gambling have led to questions about their legal status, and whether they should be regulated as gambling. Previous research has suggested a link between the amount that gamers spend on loot boxes and their problem gambling: The more individuals spent on loot boxes, the more severe their problem gambling. However, the generalisability of prior work may be limited by both the self-selected nature of the sample under test, and the fact that participants were aware of the study's aims. A large-scale survey of gamers (n = 1,172) was undertaken to determine if this link remained when these limitations of previous work were taken into account. These gamers did not self-select into a loot box study and were not aware of the study's aims. This study found similar evidence for a link (η2 = 0.051) between the amount that gamers spent on loot boxes and the severity of their problem gambling. Previous research strongly suggested both the size and the direction of link between loot box use and problem gambling. This paper provides further support for this link. These results suggest either that loot boxes act as a gateway to problem gambling, or that individuals with gambling problems are drawn to spend more on loot boxes. In either case, we believe that these results suggest there is good reason to regulate loot boxes.
战利品箱是视频游戏中的一种物品，其中包含随机内容，可以用现实世界的货币购买。战利品箱与赌博形式之间的相似之处引发了关于其法律地位的问题，以及是否应将其作为赌博进行监管。先前的研究表明，玩家在战利品箱上花费的金额与其赌博问题之间存在关联：玩家在战利品箱上花费的越多，他们的赌博问题就越严重。然而，之前工作的普遍性可能受到受试样本的自我选择性质以及参与者意识到研究目的这两个因素的限制。对玩家（n=1172）进行了大规模调查，以确定在考虑到这些先前工作的局限性时，这种联系是否仍然存在。这些玩家并没有自我选择进入战利品箱研究，也不知道研究的目的。这项研究发现了类似的证据，表明玩家在战利品箱上花费的金额与他们赌博问题的严重程度之间存在关联（η2=0.051）。之前的研究强烈表明，战利品箱的使用与赌博问题之间存在大小和方向的联系。本文为这一联系提供了进一步的支持。这些结果表明，要么是战利品箱充当了赌博问题的入口，要么是有赌博问题的人更倾向于在战利品箱上花费更多。在任何一种情况下，我们都认为这些结果表明有充分的理由对战利品箱进行监管。
