Playground Casinos — How Video Game Menus Are Functioning Like A Casino Floor

Loading into a game such as FIFA Ultimate Team is akin to walking through the doors of a casino — but this casino is more like a children’s playground with no age requirement and no regulations.

It’s the time of year every parent dreads. The autumn & winter season features the introduction of most AAA releases in the build up to the holiday season. EA’s sporting monopoly is deployed each year to coincide with the new seasons in sport, with games such as FIFA and MADDEN released around this time. When I was a kid, this would mean my parents spending £30 to £50 on the new FIFA to keep me out of trouble, and that would be that. However, over the past 10 years, that £50 parents are spending has increased to extortionate proportions — sometimes unbeknownst to them.

Microtransactions gained mainstream attention in 2006 when Bethesda sold cosmetic ‘horse armour’ for $2.50 in the critically acclaimed ‘Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’. Many were outraged that they had to purchase an item that couldn’t be unlocked by merely playing the game, and it was met by widespread criticism labelling it ‘bad DLC’. What nobody knew at the time is how pivotal this release was for the gaming industry and the long term effects it would have.

I should probably clear up what the term ‘microtransaction’ means. A microtransaction is a purchase where real money is spent on in-game items. These could be cosmetic, gameplay tools or level progressions — any desirable aspect of a game today will likely have an option to purchase it using real money.

There are countless articles out there around the dangers of microtransactions discussing the issues they bring, normally accompanied with case studies of children spending thousands on their parents’ credit card. I’d like to shape this discussion by demonstrating how games such as FIFA have moulded their platforms to replicate the environment casinos have spent decades perfecting.

Challenge 3+: IDs at the ready (Just tick this box)

3+ is the age requirement for most popular games featuring microtransactions these days. Basically, if you’re old enough to hold a controller, you’re old enough to enter a world where the same dopamine hits & addiction you experience with gambling are present. Three. Years. Old. I don’t know about you, but the first memory I can recall was when I was around 5 years old during the 2002 World Cup. The fact that the only regulation of checking age (without parental supervision) is to tick a box is quite scary, isn’t it?

Chips at the ready

One thing that isn’t discussed as much is the fact many games now use in-game currency. This didn’t strike me at first until I looked into the tactics casinos use to get you hooked. Chips are used as a substitute for real money to disassociate you from spending hard earned cash hand after hand. The implementation of in-game currency replicates this attitude, so game companies are tempting you to buy more once your funds are depleted because it doesn’t feel like you’ve spent money. This is textbook casino gambling behaviour, so having this feature in games accessible to (and widely played by) children is staggering.

Yes! A dopamine hit!

Gambling triggers the brains reward system. When you win, you feel more inclined to take risks because of the dopamine hit you receive. This positive reinforcement makes you feel the need to constantly chase it and receive more. This also works when you lose — you’re chasing the dragon trying to get that feeling back. When opening loot boxes, you’re purchasing them in an attempt to receive a reward that triggers a dopamine hit. It’s exactly the same as purchasing a scratch card or putting on the lottery, except instead of winning real cash, you’re winning an in-game equivalent.

The digital playground

I was having a discussion with my mum the other day about how in school I would constantly be asking for the latest trends in coats, bags and school shoes. One critical aspect of school life is ‘fitting in’, and to do that you have to look the part. If you don’t fit in, you’re bullied and ostracized by your peers. After school, we’d go and play football or talk on MSN. Nowadays, this ‘after school playground’ is in online games such as Fortnite. The same principles apply here too — you need to look the part. If your character looks bland or unfashionable, you won’t fit in. This has led to a boom in cosmetic purchases as a form of digital fashion, causing parents to spent a fortune online. The issue doesn’t stop here. Many parents will have their bank details stored on the Xbox due to the hassle of removing or for ease of use. If this isn’t set up with pin-protection, kids can spend money freely on microtransactions. Parents might not notice these payments for ages if it’s just the odd £5 here and there, but it all adds up.

And what happens at the end of it all? When I was a kid in 2006, paying £40 for a video game would be the only purchase you made. Now, parents are spending 10x that (and above). Families have been devastated by their kids’ reckless spending in an attempt to keep up, or because they’ve formed gambling addictions that aren’t seen as such.

“If a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it should be regulated like gambling.”

Regulations need to be put into place, and countries such as Belgium have already started rolling them out. I’m not calling for a ban on microtransations — I think that in some instances they are quite handy. However, the accessibility of such mechanics needs restriction. It begs the question of how being exposed to a world of gambling at a young age will alter you in further life. What’s to say a 13-year-old spending £500 a year on FIFA now won’t be ruining their life by blowing their salary in the casino at the age of 23? It brings us back to the terrifying realisation that we are living in a world that we don’t know the effects of. Where will we be in 15 years time as a society when we are susceptible so young? Time will tell…