School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth Devon, UK.
Community and Primary Care Research Group, University of Plymouth, Plymouth Devon, UK.
Addiction. 2022 Aug;117(8):2338-2345. doi: 10.1111/add.15837. Epub 2022 Feb 22.
Loot boxes are purchasable randomised rewards in video games that share structural and psychological similarities with gambling. Systematic review evidence has established reproducible associations between loot box purchasing and both problem gambling and problem video gaming. We aimed to measure the association between loot box engagement and socioeconomic correlates.
The study was a cross-sectional online survey using the recruitment platform, Prolific.
United Kingdom (UK).
A cohort of 16 196 UK adults (18 + years) self-reporting as video gamers.
Respondents were asked about their game-related purchasing behaviour (including loot boxes), recent monthly spend on loot boxes and gambling engagement (gambling in any form; gambling online; playing 'social casino' games). A range of demographic variables were simultaneously captured, including age, sex, ethnicity, earnings, employment and educational attainment.
Overall, 17.16% of gamers in our cohort purchased loot boxes, with a mean self-reported monthly spend of £29.12. These loot box purchasers are more likely to gamble (45.97% gamble) than people who make other types of game-related purchases (on aggregate, 28.13% of non-loot box purchasers gamble), and even greater still than those who do not make any game related purchases (24.38% gamble P < 0.001). Loot box engagement (as binary yes/no or as monthly spend normalised to earnings) was significantly associated with younger age (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001; respectively, for binary yes/no and monthly spend, adjusted for false discovery rate correction), male sex (P < 0.001 and P = 0.025), non-university educational attainment (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001) and unemployment (P = 0.003 and P = < 0.001). Lower earners spent a higher proportion of monthly earnings on loot boxes (P < 0.001).
The demographic associations of video game loot box engagement (younger age, male sex, non-university educational attainment and unemployment) mirror those of other addictive and problematic behaviours, including disordered gambling, drug and alcohol misuse.
游戏内可购买的随机奖励宝箱（loot boxes）与赌博存在结构和心理上的相似性。系统综述证据已经证实，购买 loot boxes 与赌博问题和游戏问题之间存在可复制的关联。我们旨在衡量 loot box 参与度与社会经济相关性之间的关联。
本研究是一项横断面在线调查，使用了 Prolific 招聘平台。
英国（UK）。
英国的 16196 名成年人（18 岁及以上）自报为视频游戏玩家。
受访者被问及他们的游戏相关购买行为（包括 loot boxes）、最近每月在 loot boxes 上的花费以及赌博参与度（任何形式的赌博；在线赌博；玩“社交赌场”游戏）。同时还收集了一系列人口统计学变量，包括年龄、性别、种族、收入、就业和教育程度。
在我们的队列中，总体上有 17.16%的游戏玩家购买 loot boxes，平均自我报告的每月花费为 29.12 英镑。这些 loot box 购买者比购买其他类型游戏相关物品的人更有可能赌博（45.97%的人赌博），甚至比不购买任何游戏相关物品的人还要多（24.38%的人赌博 P<0.001）。loot box 参与度（作为二进制是/否或作为每月花费除以收入的标准化值）与年龄较小（P<0.001 和 P<0.001；分别针对二进制是/否和每月花费，经虚假发现率校正调整）、男性（P<0.001 和 P=0.025）、非大学教育程度（P<0.001 和 P<0.001）和失业（P=0.003 和 P<0.001）显著相关。收入较低者将更高比例的月收入用于 loot box（P<0.001）。
视频游戏 loot box 参与度的人口统计学关联（年龄较小、男性、非大学教育程度和失业）与其他成瘾和问题行为（包括赌博障碍、药物和酒精滥用）的关联相似。
