Kids playing popular video games are being targeted with harmful design tactics including gambling-like features, which fleece them of cash and trap them in gameplay, according to a new report.
As an inevitable result, children were being enticed to play more and spend more, said Erin Turner, CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Center (CPRC).
“What really worries me is when we see these gambling-like features in games targeting children,” she said.
Researchers from CPRC and Monash University — who authored the report — looked at 20 “dark patterns” which they say deceived and manipulated gamers.
The design features were not in all games but 95 per cent of adult players surveyed had come across them and 83 per cent had suffered negative consequences.
Merrick wolski is a 17-year-old gamer who has tried to take action against gaming companies that use addictive features. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)
Of most concern was children being exposed to gambling-like features such as “paid loot boxes” and prompted to buy items with in-game currencies.
Paid loot boxes require a player to pay to open a mystery box in the hope they receive something valuable in the game.
Unlike the electronic gaming industry which has strict rules on how much money is returned to a player who pulls the lever of a pokie machine — Ms Turner said there’s nothing forcing video game developers to even disclose that. “This is gambling without limits and real manipulation,” she said.
Researchers said paid loot boxes had the potential to “normalise and encourage” monetary gambling among children and young people.
After questioning 800 adult gamers about their concerns, the researchers found close to half spent more money than they intended, felt pressured into buying something or made a purchase by accident, they found.
Merrick Wolski spends his downtime playing and designing games on Roblox. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)
They said Australian regulators had failed to keep pace with the industry’s rapid expansion — with Australians spending an estimated $4 billion annually — and a substantial overhaul was needed to keep children and adult gamers safe.
Ms Turner has called for a classification system that alerts parents and players to what harmful features are included in games.
Though, the Australian industry body, the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association, has argued these design features were different from gambling as the items couldn’t be cashed out for real money.
Children targeted
Merrick Wolski says gaming can quickly become “toxic”. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)
brisbane gamer Merrick Wolski, 17, spends his downtime playing and designing games on Roblox — a gaming platform which allows players to create their own games.
Roblox boasts 380 million users,with 42 per cent of them under the age of 13.
“I like making games on the platform, becuase I find that fun. I like coding and modelling and stuff like that,” Merrick said.
Roblox earned US$3.6 billion in revenue in 2024, much of it coming from in-game transactions using the platform’s currency Robux.
A recent study found Australian players between the ages of four and 18 spent an average of 137 minutes a day on the platform.
While Merrick is passionate about gaming he says it can quickly become “toxic”.
“A lot of games promote gambling content to their audiences… where you can pay to spin a wheel for different prizes.”
Merrick Wolski estimated over the last year he’d spent around $150 on Roblox. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)
“I found myself at times when I spin and I’m just that close to it landing on the best reward on the wheel, and it goes, ‘Oh, woudl you like another spin for 50 Robux’.”
“Why not? And then I’m 10 spins down.”
Merrick estimated over the last year he’d spent around $150 on Roblox.
“It doesn’t feel great hearing that number out loud.”
Some of the adult gamers surveyed expressed similar concerns.
“Games basically love-bomb you at the beginning and then take it away once you are acclimatised to that level of progression and pay to get it back,”
a 20-year-old female said.
“Ninety-nine per cent of them are made to create an emotional vortex of dopamine-chasing people, especially young men with a lot of anger, get sucked down, constantly chasing positive reinforcement through micro-transactions and wins while in reality hating the experience,” an 18-year-old male said.
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Researchers singled out the popular online game Stumble Guys for criticism due to its use of “trick language”.
The game which featured animated characters racing to the finish is marketed to kids but had complex calculations for a “Super Gem Sale” that would be difficult for many to understand, especially children.
