LOOT BOXES: THE NEXT BIG BATTLEFRONT

Periodically, there have been moral panics about video games, with headlines claiming that “violent” and “addictive” titles are affecting impressionable players. At present, it is loot boxes’ turn to be put under the microscope. But should we be worried about video games, and are loot boxes a cause for concern?

- DR PETE ETCHELLS

For nearly as long as video games have been around, society has had worries about their potentially addictive nature. It’s understandable, in a sense – to the untrained eye, watching people play video games can often be an unnerving experience. Players look like they’re glued to their screens, fully absorbed and seemingly unaware of what’s going on around them. If you don’t have lived experience of the rich and varied social environments that video games can afford, it’s easy to see them as an unwholesome activity that can’t be good for us.

In the early 1980s, this distrust went so far as to be a subject of debate in the UK House of Commons. ‘Control of Space Invaders and other electronic games’ was a bill put forward by then-MP George Foulkes, and he held no punches in his beliefs about the effects the game had. “I have seen reports from all over the country of young people becoming so addicted to these machines that they resort to theft, blackmail and vice to obtain money to satisfy their addiction… They become crazed, with eyes glazed, oblivious to everything around them, as they play the machines,” he said.

GAMING ADDICTION