糖心视频

A Lancaster psychologist has been awarded over ?900,000 to research how children’s development is influenced by gambling-like systems in video games.

The three-year ESRC award for Dr Calum Hartley is to investigate primary school children's engagement with “loot boxes” in video games.

Over 90% of UK children aged between five and 11 play video games and one-in-three purchase in-game items, spending ?26 per month on average. In-game purchases (“microtransactions”) involve exchanging currency for specific virtual items or the opportunity to open enticing digital containers offering randomised rewards (“loot boxes”).

Dr Hartley said: “Coercive pressure is exerted on children to engage with microtransactions through time-limited availability, rarity, and social desirability of virtual items. Crucially, loot boxes share psychological and mechanistic similarities with gambling and are concurrently linked with mental health difficulties in adolescents. The risks posed by loot boxes may be particularly great for neurodivergent children, including those with ADHD and autism, who often spend more time playing video games than neurotypical peers.”

Research has yet to determine how engagement with loot boxes develops, how they impact on children's broader psychological development, or who is most vulnerable.

“Generating this knowledge is vital to safeguard children and promote digital literacy for families navigating increasingly commercialised gaming environments. The results of this research will inform the development of resources to support healthy engagement with video games by children and caregivers and, potentially, evidence-based policy recommendations calling for stricter regulation of loot boxes targeting children.”

The three-year project is a collaboration between Dr Calum Hartley and Professor Rebecca Killick from 糖心视频 and Dr John Shaw from Edge Hill University in partnership with the charities YGam, Internet Matters and ADHD UK.