The new Hearthstone set Witchwood was released a few hours ago. In this video I open 95 packs and discuss some of the cards that I like. How many legendaries will I open?
If only Blizzard would address the fact that their game (and thousands like it) are exploiting legal loopholes in the definition of "Gambling" to circumvent their responsibility to children and parents. Kids have access to this game and they develop addictive gambling behaviours and spend sometimes thousands of dollars gambling in this game but no one calls it gambling because you can't win any money back.
People argue you're buying cards, not gambling and then they suggest I am implying games like magic the gathering should also be banned. This is untrue.
In games like Magic the Gathering, you have a tangible, physical product which has a value that can be re-sold and even sometimes grow in value. You are paying for a product.
In Hearthstone the cards have no value, cannot be traded and cannot be sold. The sounds made when you open packs and receive legendary cards as well as the rarity colors exhibit the same psychological triggers that slot machines use to convince players to continue dumping money into the machine.
But at least with a slot machine you can win money back, in hearthstone you can never trade or sell your cards and no matter how much money you spend (unless you are YouTube famous) you will never earn any of it back playing the game, therefore it is WORSE than gambling.
If gambling apps and gambling websites are illegal, why is hearthstone and all the other microtransaction games out there legal?
What sort of impact does this have on developing children? Does this game create and exploit addictive behaviors in children (and adults)?
And P.S. I am a hardcore gamer, I play videogames almost every single day and I have played through multiple seasons of Hearthstone and yes I am aware you don't HAVE to buy cards to earn cards, that is not the point of my post.
It is an interesting problem although not all of the research finds a link. For example in
Macey, J., & Hamari, J. (2018). Investigating relationships between video gaming, spectating esports, and gambling. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 344-353.
They found:
The primary finding of this study are that contemporary video games are not, in themselves, associated with increased potential for problematic gambling, indeed, the position that problem gaming and problem gambling are fundamentally connected is questioned.
and
Forrest, C. J., King, D. L., & Delfabbro, P. H. (2016). The gambling preferences and behaviors of a community sample of Australian regular video game players. Journal of gambling studies, 32(2), 409-420.
The present study examined concurrent video gaming and gambling habits in a sample of regular video game players in Australia (N = 485, 84 % male, M age = 25.8). Gambling involvement was found to be a generally unpopular activity among regular video game players. No significant association between frequency of video game play and frequency of gambling was found. Although significant correlations between gaming ‘addiction’ scores and gambling frequency were identified, age was the only significant predictor of gambling when controlling for all remaining variables.
Having said that, I'm sure we could find studies saying the opposite.
If only Blizzard would address the fact that their game (and thousands like it) are exploiting legal loopholes in the definition of "Gambling" to circumvent their responsibility to children and parents. Kids have access to this game and they develop addictive gambling behaviours and spend sometimes thousands of dollars gambling in this game but no one calls it gambling because you can't win any money back.
People argue you're buying cards, not gambling and then they suggest I am implying games like magic the gathering should also be banned. This is untrue.
In games like Magic the Gathering, you have a tangible, physical product which has a value that can be re-sold and even sometimes grow in value. You are paying for a product.
In Hearthstone the cards have no value, cannot be traded and cannot be sold. The sounds made when you open packs and receive legendary cards as well as the rarity colors exhibit the same psychological triggers that slot machines use to convince players to continue dumping money into the machine.
But at least with a slot machine you can win money back, in hearthstone you can never trade or sell your cards and no matter how much money you spend (unless you are YouTube famous) you will never earn any of it back playing the game, therefore it is WORSE than gambling.
If gambling apps and gambling websites are illegal, why is hearthstone and all the other microtransaction games out there legal?
What sort of impact does this have on developing children? Does this game create and exploit addictive behaviors in children (and adults)?
And P.S. I am a hardcore gamer, I play videogames almost every single day and I have played through multiple seasons of Hearthstone and yes I am aware you don't HAVE to buy cards to earn cards, that is not the point of my post.
Food for thought.
It is an interesting problem although not all of the research finds a link. For example in
Macey, J., & Hamari, J. (2018). Investigating relationships between video gaming, spectating esports, and gambling. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 344-353.
They found:
The primary finding of this study are that contemporary video games are not, in themselves, associated with increased potential for problematic gambling, indeed, the position that problem gaming and problem gambling are fundamentally connected is questioned.
and
Forrest, C. J., King, D. L., & Delfabbro, P. H. (2016). The gambling preferences and behaviors of a community sample of Australian regular video game players. Journal of gambling studies, 32(2), 409-420.
The present study examined concurrent video gaming and gambling habits in a sample of regular video game players in Australia (N = 485, 84 % male, M age = 25.8). Gambling involvement was found to be a generally unpopular activity among regular video game players. No significant association between frequency of video game play and frequency of gambling was found. Although significant correlations between gaming ‘addiction’ scores and gambling frequency were identified, age was the only significant predictor of gambling when controlling for all remaining variables.
Having said that, I'm sure we could find studies saying the opposite.
Its really Hearthstone set released for us. best of luck sir good wishes for you!