Zendle, Meyer, and Over. 2019. Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase

Zendle et al explain that excitement and and competitiveness contribute to a player’s desire to purchase loot boxes with real money, which contributes to gambling, based on the fact that the items may be random and may not necessarily enhance player’s enjoyment or enhance performance.

 Both when gambling and when buying loot boxes, individuals stake money on the outcome of a future event, whose result is determined at least partially by chance in the hopes of receiving a valuable reward.

Gambling has been seen as a big problem by governments and some have moved to get rid of it  especially in Netherlands and Germany

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