Ep. 51: The Ethics of Microtransactions & Loot Boxes in Video Games | A Discussion with Eliya Cohen

Описание: In this episode, Brandon Polite (Knox College | he/him) talks with Eliyah Cohen (University of Utah | she/her) about her research on microtransactions in video games (link below).

We begin by briefly discussing what microtransactions are. This leads us to discuss whether microtransactions in video games are ever exploitative, which involves discussing what exactly exploitation is.

From there, we discuss how microtransactions seem to be exploitative when they catch players at moments of their highest immersion in the game, where what they care most about it achieving some in-game goal. In other words, it seems that video game developers sometimes manipulate players to weaken their wills to get them to pay for things they wouldn't pay for under normal circumstances.

We then go on to discuss how microtransactions relate to gambling addiction, which leads to a lengthy discussion about loot boxes: what they are, whether they should be legally consider gambling, and how game developers can avoid the moral pitfalls they present by being more transparent about them with players.

References:
Eliya Cohen, "The House Never Loses: How Microtransactions Exploit Video Game Players," Aesthetics for Birds (2021) | https://aestheticsforbirds.com/2021/0...

Chapters:

0:00 Introductions
0:25 What Are Microtransactions?
2:06 Are Microntransactions Exploitative?
12:57 Agency, Immersion, & Exploitation
21:11 Weakness of Will & Manipulation
29:26 Gambling, Addiction, & Microtransactions
32:55 Loot Boxes, Gambling, & Transparency
45:21 Conclusion

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Subtitles edited by Athko Ehrnstein