[ecrea] cfp - "Special Issue on Monetization, Gambling Mechanics and Loot Boxes in Video Games"

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Journal of Consumer Culture

**Digital Transformations in Gaming and Gambling Consumption**

Guest Editors:
Dr Tom Brock, Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University
Dr Mark R Johnson, Political Science, University of Alberta

SCOPE

Consumption patterns of video games and gambling are undergoing a number 
of profound shifts, with new phenomena emerging almost every year to 
complicate and confuse the once-clear boundaries between these two forms 
of play. Perhaps the most visible element of this trend is the rise of 
“loot boxes”, virtual containers that contain an unknown selection of 
items either cosmetic or gameplay-changing in nature. These are part of 
a broader trend of “microtransactions” in digital games, small purchases 
that are designed to enhance or progress a player’s experience; loot 
boxes in particular are the most “gamblified” of all of these. Similar 
trends are occurring elsewhere. Within Esports, a growing number of 
betting sites are now accepting wagers on professional gaming 
competitions, and the market for Esports wagering is estimated to be 
seven times the size of the market for Esports itself (Smith, 2018). 
Within Esports games themselves, skin betting entails the wagering of 
digital cosmetic items, “skins”, against and with other players, 
sometimes in traditional gambling games and sometimes in custom 
competitions designed uniquely for that purpose (Perez, 2018). On live 
streaming websites, broadcasters have developed a wide range of systems 
that resemble competitions, raffles or even lotteries monetise their 
content (Johnson & Woodcock, Forthcoming) and encourage viewers to 
remain loyal. Social casino games reproduce many forms of play from 
traditional brick-and-mortar casinos on mobile phones, with easy user 
interfaces and “juicy” game elements designed to maximise appeal and 
user retention (Cassidy, 2013; Gainsbury et al, 2016). Online poker is 
also gradually experiencing a resurgence since the legal controversies 
of 2011, and some of the largest sites have themselves begun using a 
loot box system to reward long-term players for their loyalty 
(Derbyshire, 2018). Finally, the recent classification of “gaming 
addiction” by the World Health Organisation uses understandings of 
pathological gambling to define a threat of pathological gaming (Judge, 
2018). This brings medicalized understandings of gaming and gambling 
closer together than ever before.

In particular, we note the controversies around many of these phenomena 
have brought forth a series of debates about the integration of gambling 
mechanics into video games and vice versa. For example, there is 
extensive disagreement about whether or not ‘loot boxes’ are a form of 
gambling, and major games developers, such as Electronic Arts, are now 
sharply at odds with regulatory bodies in North America, Europe and 
Asia. Equally, the concept of ‘paying-to-win’ is changing established 
cultural and discursive concepts around ‘gaming meritocracy’, whilst 
many policymakers have expressed fears that, through microtransactions, 
those under legal age limits are experiencing gambling mechanics in an 
environment that is difficult to control or regulate. All of these 
combined disputes and issues set a timely context for studying such new 
forms of digital gambling and gaming, and the distinctive online 
cultures that have arisen around them. Whatever the moral or ethical 
responses to these trends, this blurring is now an increasingly central 
element of all kinds of play, and is deeply reshaping consumption 
patterns across both existing and new demographic lines.

TOPICS

This special issue is therefore concerned with unpacking how the rise of 
gaming systems in gambling, the rise of gambling systems in gaming, and 
how the implementation of new forms of monetary gameplay cutting across 
these boundaries are reshaping our production, consumption and 
prosumption (Ritzer and Jurgenson, 2010; Beer and Burrows, 2010) of 
digital play. In particular, we invite papers on the following topics, 
although this is not an exhaustive list:

- The consumption of loot boxes, microtransactions, and other 
"pay-to-win" mechanics.
- New gambling technologies and platforms (e.g. "skill-based" video 
gambling machines).
- Live-streaming and Twitch.tv gambling integration, e.g. viewer 
competitions.
- Skin betting and other traded or wagered virtual currencies.
- Cultural changes surrounding play and money, leisure and work.
- Economic challenges and new business models of the games industry.
- New ways that game consumption and gambling consumption are being 
stigmatised.

SUBMISSION AND REVIEW

Proposals should include an abstract of 500-750 words, and bios for all 
authors of no more than 100 words. The deadline for proposals is 
December 31st 2018, with invitations to submit a full paper going out on 
January 31st 2019. The guest editors welcome both theoretical and 
empirical contributions. Invited paper submissions will be due 1st June 
2019 and should be submitted to both Guest Editors by email. Once 
submitted they will undergo peer review under the normal procedures of 
Journal of Consumer Culture; therefore, invitation to submit does not 
guarantee acceptance to the special issue. The special issue is 
scheduled for online publication in 2020. If you have any questions, 
please feel free to discuss your ideas with the authors at 
(T.Brock /at/ mmu.ac.uk) <mailto:(T.Brock /at/ mmu.ac.uk)> and 
(markrjohnsongames /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(markrjohnsongames /at/ gmail.com)>.

REFERENCES

Beer, D. and Burrows, R. Consumption, Production and Participatory Web 
Cultures, Journal of Consumer Culture, 10(1), p3-12.

Cassidy, R. (2013). Partial convergence: social gaming and real-money 
gambling. In Qualitative research in gambling (pp. 86-103). Routledge.

Derbyshire, M. (2018). PokerStars NJ Ditching Old VIP Club In Favor Of 
Stars Rewards This Year. US Poker, available at 
https://www.uspoker.com/blog/pokerstars-vip-club-stars-rewards/24289/

Gainsbury, S. M., Russell, A. M., King, D. L., Delfabbro, P., & Hing, N. 
(2016). Migration from social casino games to gambling: Motivations and 
characteristics of gamers who gamble. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 
59-67.

Johnson, M. R. & Woodcock, J. (Forthcoming). “And today’s top donator 
is”: How Live Streamers on Twitch.tv Monetise and Gamify their 
Broadcasts. Social Media + Society.

Judge, A. (2018). Video games and mental health: 'Nobody's properly 
talking'. BBC News, available at https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44662669.

Perez, M. (2018). From Unikrn To Skin Betting: How The Supreme Court's 
Sports Gambling Ruling Impacts Esports. Forbes, available at 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2018/05/15/from-unikrn-to-skin-betting-how-the-supreme-courts-sports-gambling-ruling-impacts-esports/ 


Ritzer, R. Jurgenson, N. 2010. Production, Consumption, Prosumption. The 
Nature of Capitalism on the Age of the Digital Prosumer, Journal of 
Consumer Culture, 10(1), p.13-36.

Smith, N. (2018). Esports bookmaking? Globally, it’s already a 
billion-dollar gambling industry. Washington Post, available at 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/esports-bookmaking-globally-its-already-a-billion-dollar-gambling-industry/2018/04/06/be89c282-2b99-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html


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