Financial risks of drink-gaming revealed in new UTAS study
Adult gamers who enjoy a few drinks while playing could be exposing themselves to financial risk, with a UTAS study linking alcohol consumption to spending money on digital “loot boxes”.
Adult gamers who enjoy a few drinks while at the controller could be exposing themselves to serious financial risks, with a new UTAS study linking alcohol consumption to spending money on coveted digital rewards known as “loot boxes”.
Lead-author, Lucy East, said researchers had discovered a correlation between both the frequency of drinking, and the number of standard drinks consumed, with concerning behaviours including impulsive in-game purchases of the randomised prizes and chasing losses.
Ms East said loot boxes — which she estimated could be found in 30 per cent of PC games and more than half of those on phone and tablets — contained mystery items that allowed players to customise their character, or gain a competitive advantage.
“Players can buy loot boxes either with game currency, or real-world currency,” the School of Psychological Sciences PhD candidate told the Mercury.
“However they don’t necessarily know what they’re going to be receiving, and quite often the likelihood of people receiving the rare or ultra-rare items they want can be as low as 1 per cent.
“And this is one of the reasons that loot boxes share a striking similarity with traditional forms of gambling such as slot machines.”
Ms East said the implications of the findings, which were recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, were potentially far-reaching, with excessive gaming and loot-box spending having already been linked to financial harm and psychological distress.
“This study suggests that alcohol may be another risk factor, potentially compounding the negative effects on mental health and well-being,” she said.
“This is just the beginning. We are scratching the surface of a complex behavioural pattern that could have serious consequences for vulnerable players.”
Report co-author, Associate Professor Aaron Drummond, said the survey of almost 200 participants across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States was the first time the impact of drinking and loot box spending and engagement had ever been properly examined.
Assoc Prof Drummond said with some players spending hundreds of dollars a month on the virtual treasures, the digital assets had become big business for the video game industry.
“Loot boxes didn’t really appear in games until about 2017, but then they really started taking off,” he said.
“It’s estimated that somewhere around $US20 billion was earned from their sale globally in 2020 alone.
“But players would prefer to know what they are buying. If you went to a clothing store and bought a jacket, but didn’t know what colour you would get, you wouldn’t really like it.
“But that’s what gamers are being asked to accept.”
Originally published as Financial risks of drink-gaming revealed in new UTAS study
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