Raschkowan Lecture Series: Gambling in the Digital Age, 2.0
Presenter: Dr. David Zendle, Department of Computer Sciences, University of York (UK)
Talk Abstract:
Loot boxes are items in video games that may be bought for real-world money, but which contain randomized contents. Over the past three years, a nascent literature has emerged which attempts to model the impact of this phenomenon on society. Dr. Zendle's lab has been at the heart of this evidence-generation process.
In this talk, Dr. Zendle will provide a holistic overview of his research into this specific overlap of video games and gambling including:
- The market forces that brought loot boxes into political, clinical, and public consciousness
- An analysis of their prevalence and uptake
- Outline theoretical positions that ascribe harm to the purchasing of loot boxes
- Review the quality of the evidence base regarding these impacts
- Describe his lab's recent large-scale modelling, which uses vast transactional datasets to estimate behavioural similarities between loot box play and gambling.
- Contextualise this body of work within his lab's research on the broader convergence of video games and gambling
The Raschkowan webinar series is free to attend, but registration is required. For more information or to register, see www.ncpgambling.org/Raschkowan
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