How Can Game Developers Design an Economical Sustainable Loot Box?

EasyChair Preprint no. 2221

Abstract

The video and computer game industry has in recent years been in a controversy surrounding microtransactions in gaming, in particular the form of microtransactions known as loot boxes. Loot boxes are a visual representation of a mechanism that rewards the player with random items, which is often compared to how slot machines work in online casinos, among other things. In this article, we are looking at the phenomenon of loot boxes, how they work, why they are compared to gambling, how important they are to game developers and game publishers, and what it is that has created such a big controversy. With this article we also investigate whether loot boxes can be designed in such a way that they do not exploit the consumer at the same time as the phenomenon can continue to be lucrative for game developers and game publishers.

Keyphrases: addiction, ethic, gambling, loot boxes, microtransactions

@Booklet{EasyChair:2221,
  author = {Oskar Dodic and Fredrik Sjunnesson},
  title = {How Can Game Developers Design an Economical Sustainable Loot Box?},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint no. 2221},

  year = {EasyChair, 2019}}