Even ordinary video games are no longer limited to pure game mechanics. To maintain user engagement, developers introduce elements of surprise: loot boxes and card packs with useful equipment and other boosts. In this article, we’re discussing random rewards that people purchase for real money rather than those achieved through gameplay. Let’s explore the psychological mechanisms that lie behind the surprise elements that many adore.
Dopamine Loop or Why Gamers Get Hooked
Many modern video games offer us loot boxes with random rewards (weapons, various skins, etc.). The player doesn’t know what they will hit, indeed, but such repeated cycles of uncertainty are a key hook. Suspense floods the brain with dopamine, which drives the desire to keep coming back and purchasing a new loot box.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, or in simple terms, a hormone of joy, pleasure, and motivation. When our neurons release dopamine, we feel an uplift, which is why the human psyche is dependent on it.
Alternative mechanics are offered in related industries. In some poker apps UK players receive rakeback through chests. They do not pay for them directly but earn by completing poker missions (these involve real money play). Rewards are randomised and depend on one’s tier.
Where Are the Risks?
Everything would be fine if it weren’t for one’s financial contributions. Lootboxes are manipulative mechanisms – they reinforce the gamer’s need to spend money. This is a clear hijacking of psychological vulnerabilities, and many platforms intentionally seek people who can easily get hooked this way. Some use AI algorithms to identify and hunt down gamers fond of random rewards.
Practical Examples from Popular Games
- For instance, while playing CS2, one can spend virtual currency on a key that opens access to a roulette with random skins.
- In Overwatch 2, gamers purchase loot boxes with rare and not-so-rare items.
- Apex Packs in Apex Legends. Gamers can buy boxes with the rarest items in the Store.
In each case, the player expects the best but rejoices in whatever they manage to obtain.
How Card Packs Work for Gamer Retention
Card packs follow the same principle of variable rewards as loot boxes. You don’t know what you’ll get before the purchase. By analogy, your brain releases dopamine and remembers patterns: how you feel and how your mood changes.
This is where spending money transforms into an experience. It’s no longer a transaction for a gamer – it’s a moment of joy. Anticipation becomes more pleasurable than the reward itself. Obviously.
Psychological dependence on purchasing card packs also includes:
- Near-miss effect. This works as a motivator for further purchases. A good example is when a gamer hits a high-level card: it’s not the desired one, but still rare. The brain believes the rarest card may drop in one of the next attempts. It’s an illusion.
- Collection instinct. Some video games use the “Gacha” mechanic, which directs players to collect a set of cards and rewards them with a special prize in return. This may be unique abilities or exclusive skins, something exceptional. For the brain, missing cards is an incomplete mission – it aims to reach the goal. Visible progress only reinforces new purchases of card packs.
- Illusion of control. Avid gamers often develop rituals to create the feeling that they can influence the outcomes. Indeed, the RNG (Random Number Generator) does all calculations.
These disbeliefs work as a perfect hook for player retention and thus enhance monetisation. Where the vulnerable gamer loses, the company wins. Designers also play their role in user retention and emotional engagement.
What About Game Designs?
In Hearthstone, for example, the moment a player opens card packs is accompanied by suspenseful pauses. This adds more thrill to the already dramatic process. Glowing colours of cards make one’s brain instantly spike with anticipation. Blue light indicates a rare card, while orange depicts a legendary one. Each flip = a separate dopamine hit. Every detail is carefully designed to deliver pleasure and soothe the least desirable outcomes.
Unboxing Culture & Other Engagement Factors
Collecting and unboxing in-game rewards has become a subculture. Streams about searching for valuable items, interesting cards featuring legendary characters, and game prizes (and their subsequent unboxing) gain millions of views on YouTube and Twitch.
For example, in Subway Surfers, one can open boxes collected while completing levels or purchased with in-game currency. This is a common phenomenon that can be seen in many video games.
Mechanism of action:
- Players observe how others get lucky.
- They dream that they will be just as lucky.
- Pleasant expectations create emotional engagement.
- Unboxing one’s own boxes and cards adds pleasant excitement.
Fear of Missing Out
FOMO is a powerful marketing hook that is impossible to slip past. A limited number of drops, seasonal drops, and exclusive skins create a desire to keep up and not miss out. It forces one to either spend more time in the game or make in-game purchases to unlock all available valuable items while there is still time. Impulsive spending also increases exponentially.
Sunk Cost Fallacy
This factor often stems from the previous one. For example, a user has already completed 8 out of 10 rounds. They have spent time and perhaps invested funds, but have not yet received what they desired. When much has been invested, and the result seems close, it is too difficult to stop. It is similar to inertial movement. A feeling arises: if one does not go to the end, then all previous expenses and efforts were in vain.
World’s Consumer Protection Rules on Surprise Elements
In many countries, loot boxes have been classified as gambling mechanisms and are regulated accordingly. Some jurisdictions force video game developers to remove paid loot boxes from releases that are not classified as “adults only.” See a breakdown of how random rewards are treated in other regions:
- Belgium. Gamers will not find any classic lootboxes in CS:GO, Overwatch and FIFA. The government banned them at the national level back in 2018.
- Netherlands. Authorities have mandated that developers clearly disclose loot box drop rates and describe reward mechanisms in detail.
- UK. The British government does not classify surprise elements in video games as a form of gambling. However, developers must label titles that contain loot boxes and set age restrictions.
- China. Juveniles can’t purchase random rewards in any way. Adult gamers have restrictions on the max number of lootboxes per 24 hours.
- Japan. The Kompu Gacha mechanic, where a gamer completes a set of rare items to earn a mega prize, is prohibited by law.
Game developers are swapping loot boxes for direct-purchase items. They adjust by developing more transparent reward systems, plus seek new ways to engage players. The old mechanisms were perfect for companies. New ones are on the consumer’s side.
