Accuracy of consumer identification of characteristics, visual representations and purchase receipts of loot boxes : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, Manawatū, New Zealand

Abstract

Loot boxes are virtual containers in video games, that provide players with randomized rewards. Concerns exist about the similarities between loot boxes and conventional gambling (Drummond & Sauer, 2018). Supporting this, there is a robust meta-analytic relationship between loot box spending and problem gambling symptomatology (Garea et al., 2021). Although the regulatory response varies between jurisdictions, it often remains up to consumers to regulate their own, and their children's engagement with loot boxes. For consumers to effectively achieve this, at minimum they must be able to identify loot boxes. The present research investigated the accuracy of consumers in identifying characteristics, visual representations, and purchase receipts of loot boxes. We employed a cross-sectional between subjects quasi-experimental research design. Participants were members of natural groups (e.g., parents/guardians, non-parents/non-guardians, video gamer/non-video gamers). Participants were asked to identify basic facts about, pictures of, and receipts generated by, loot boxes. Our results suggests that parents/guardians and non-gamers perform poorer at identifying loot boxes than non-parents/non-guardians and gamers respectively across these three measures. Our results suggest that parents/guardians and non-gamers may be less likely to be able to make informed loot box purchasing decisions compared to non-parents/non-guardians and gamers respectively. Our findings are the first to provide objective insight into the relative performance of consumers' ability to identify and thus regulate loot box purchases.