New FIFA 22 loot boxes consumer report cites “dark patterns”

pcgamesn.com:

A report backed by consumer groups in 18 European countries labels loot boxes as “exploitative” and “predatory,” citing Raid: Shadow Legends and FIFA 22 loot boxes as prominent examples of manipulative design aimed at convincing users to spend money. The report, authored by the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC), concludes that the game industry has “largely evaded regulatory scrutiny” and proposes regulation to enforce better practices.

The loot box report is certainly not the first of its kind, with a University study calling loot boxes “akin to gambling” in 2021. This latest document, supported by consumer groups including the European Consumer Organisation, breaks down elements of loot box design and marketing, speaking to the “almost non-existent” friction of making a digital in-game loot box purchase.

It combines this with discussion of commonly employed psychological techniques such as FOMO (fear of missing out), the sunk cost fallacy (believing you should keep investing so as not to ‘waste’ past investment), and survivorship bias (when focus is placed on the few members of a group who have success from loot box gambling instead of considering the bigger picture).

In addition, the NCC mentions the use of time limits to encourage players to spend while a limited-time offering is available, as well as in-game currencies used as an intermediary to abstract the real-world cost of loot boxes and encourage users to purchase more with pricing levels that intentionally create left-over in-game currency.

The report digs into the “freemium” model employed by many games which force the player into increasingly lengthy busywork grinds that players are encouraged to pay real money to skip. In particular, the report focuses on