'Normalising gambling': Calls for action over gambling themes in online games for kids
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Davide Gaido, Head Of Technology at Good On You, is a video game developer.
He doesn't allow his five-year-old son to play video games on his mobile phone.
"I let him play 'real' video games, on the Nintendo, on the Playstation or on the PC, for example — but not on the phone," said Mr Gaido in an interview with SBS Italian, adding that he carefully selects one by one which video games his son can play with.
Highlights:
- Gambling-like practices in video games are linked to problem gambling and disordered gaming, research shows.
- The Coalition has announced that if re-elected it will change the classification for games that contain "loot boxes."
- A review of the current classification system was undertaken in 2019 but the findings have not been released yet.
Mr Gaido says he is concerned about ads, in-app purchases and moreover "gambling-like features".
According to a study published on the National Library of Medicine and conducted by David Zendle from the Department of Computer Science at the University of York, York in the United Kingdom, "gambling-like practices in video games are linked to both problem gambling and disordered gaming".
Although gambling-like features can be found on video games on all platforms, they are more common in video games for mobile phones, said Mr Gaido.
As a parent, loot boxes and other gambling-like features in video games worry me a lot," Mr Gaido said.
This is a problem well known to Australian authorities.
The eSafety Commissioner's website warns to "be aware of games with gambling-like elements" as these "may make gambling more familiar and normal for young people".
Games with gambling-like elements are described as follows on the eSafety Commissioner's website:
- Games that simulate a gambling activity such as poker, slots, blackjack or roulette do not offer the opportunity for your child to bet, win or lose real money, but they include actions similar to real gambling and often look and sound the same.
- Some games incorporate "loot boxes" ("bundles", "crates" and "cases") containing items like in-game currency, equipment, tools, weapons or "skins".
"Players can earn or purchase access to a loot box without knowing the value of what is inside, like a lucky dip," explains the website.
- "‘Skins’ — used in some games to alter the appearance of a player’s weapon, equipment or avatar — can vary in value depending on how rare and popular they are.
"Although they cannot be exchanged for real money within the game, they may be used to gamble and be converted to cash on third party websites," the website warns.
In-app purchases
Mr Gaido says many applications can be downloaded for free, but the player is then asked to make in-app purchases to keep playing or to gain tools that will presumably lead to more chances of winning.
"The direction in which unfortunately the industry is going, especially with mobile gaming but also with so-called free-to-play video games, is to entice people to install the video game application and then monetise by trying to sell special tools, powers or new lives," explained Mr Gaido.
These are all mechanisms created to make the user spend as much money as possible — which is even more disturbing for a child who doesn't even have the means to understand what is right or wrong to buy.
The use of "dark patterns"
These kinds of applications are developed with the help of psychologists, explained Mr Gaido.
"All this is part of a broader concept — the famous dark patterns, which are also used by social media companies," he said.
Dark patterns are deceptive design tricks that make people perform an action on a website or in an app that they didn’t mean to do or would not have done, had their user behaviour not been intentionally manipulated, explained Professor Fabio Zambetta, Associate Dean, Artificial Intelligence at RMIT University.
"They are systems developed with psychologists to somehow manipulate the user to behave in the way the developer wants him to behave, which is basically aimed at getting more money," he explained.
These big companies thought: 'How can I get my users to spend as much money as possible? Let's find a way.' What has proven to work is to create a random system of rewards — and it works.
The main goal is to drive conversions and other business goals, Professor Zambetta said.
"What makes a dark pattern negative is that they achieve the goal at the expense of customer experience," added Prof Zambetta.
"Loot boxes"
Loot boxes are a mechanism through which you pay and get a whole series of presumed or real advantages of the video game.
"The loot boxes are semi-random; it's basically gambling in disguise," said Prof Zambetta.
"The concept is actually very similar to gambling, because there is that probabilistic element. It's a bit like playing Poker; you take a card and you don't know it's going to be," he explained.
The eSafety Commissioner's website warns: "There is concern that this feature [loot boxes] can make it seem normal to pay for something whose value depends on chance, and may potentially lead to gambling".
According to Mr Gaido, "video gaming disguised as gambling should be legislated".
"The problem is that it's not regulated because it's not considered gambling," he added.
The Coalition "would change classification code for video games with loot boxes"
On April 27 the Coalition announced that if re-elected it would change the classification code for video games with loot boxes.
Communications minister, Paul Fletcher, said a re-elected Coalition government would update Australia’s classification code which, apart from allowing R-ratings for video games in 2013, has not been updated since the VHS era.
The minister said the changes would include a minimum classification rating for games that simulate gambling, including the use of loot boxes.
The changes would also address content that sexualises children or depicts suicide or violence against women, he said in April.
Calls on the government to release the results of the classification scheme review
However, the Labor Party criticised the timing of the Coalition's pre-election announcement, saying the Coalition “waited until the eve of an election” to make the announcement, The Guardian Australia reported.
Labor’s shadow minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, said the announcement showed the government wasn’t serious about protecting consumers, since the results of the review of Australia’s outdated classification system hadn't been released yet.
“The review of the classification scheme … has not been released or responded to by the Morrison government, some two years later,” Ms Rowland told The Guardian Australia.
SBS Italian has sought a comment from Labor but has not received a response yet.
Ron Curry, the CEO of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA), said a review of the current classification system was undertaken in 2019.
"IGEA participated closely with the Coalition government and our stakeholders as part of the review to address requirements for video games," Mr Curry told SBS Italian in a statement.
"To date, we still have not seen the results of the review so we can’t say one way or another if the system should start again.
"However, we can say that the current system is no longer fit for purpose or agile enough for a rapidly moving market and changing community expectations.
"Industry remains ready for any future public consultation on delivering a modern and for purpose classification regime."
"We need a new classification scheme"
According to Professor Zambetta, what's needed is a new classification system.
"The content rating system we use in Australia [for video games] is the same one we use for books, movies, etc," he said
"All of this is absolutely ancient compared to a video game — or even streaming services."
According to Professor Zambetta, the current classification scheme does not capture all the problematic areas that can arise in video games.
The content rating system should be rethought to encompass all aspects of a video game compared to a book, for example.
The role of parents
But not everyone believes that tighter guidelines would be the answer to these problems.
Stefano Grassia, who is a father to two children, says he believes the parents play the most important role when it comes to children's online activities.
"I would not want it to get to the point where the government intervenes too much, maybe raising the rating for some games, because there are in-app purchases or loot boxes," Mr Grassia said.
"It would be a bit excessive, I think. It would be a scenario where a parent delegates responsibility to a third party, so, as a parent, I don't have to deal with it."
According to Mr Grassia, parents have the duty to monitor what the children are playing with, and this can also be a way to get closer to them.
The eSafety Commissioner's website has published this guide to help parents "tame the technology".
