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Exploitative Patternsin Games

Whales

Also: high-spenders

The small share of players who generate most monetization revenue, often through randomised mechanics.

Revenue in randomised-reward games is concentrated in a small fraction of high-spenders (‘whales’). Designs that individually profile and price to maximise a specific player’s spend — dynamically targeting identified at-risk spenders — are among the clearest candidates for prohibition.

See also

References

  1. Garea, S. S.; Drummond, A.; Sauer, J. D.; Hall, L. C., et al. (2021). Meta-analysis of the relationship between problem gambling, excessive gaming and loot box spending. International Gambling Studies. doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2021.1914705 · citing patterns
  2. King, D. L.; Delfabbro, P. H. (2019). Unfair play? Video games as exploitative monetized services: An examination of game patents from a consumer protection perspective. Computers in Human Behavior. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.017 · citing patterns