Aaron Drummond and Jim Sauer are associate professors at the University of Tasmania, and recently released a paper looking at loot box spending measured against distress, when normalising for disposable income. 

The two have studied a range of issues in games, such as the effects of violent games on aggression, and the impacts of gaming on learning. But when they started researching loot boxes, things were very different.

Find Aaron and Jim's study here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231264

Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
00:46 - Do loot boxes cause distress?
04:16 - Skinner box systems in games
12:00 - Disposable income and "whales"
18:39 - Why loot box research isn't just a moral panic
26:24 - The limitations of current research
31:47 - Violent games blamed regularly in killings
35:51 - Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards intertwined
38:40 - Final words

Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoy!

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