Holder of the Canada Research Chair in games, technologies and society, Maude Bonenfant has been interested in the video game industry for many years. She has seen this industry evolve and become part of popular culture, never hesitating to defend it against its detractors. But now she is sounding the alarm regarding mobile games intended for children and adolescents. “After delving into the subject to understand how it works, I came to the conclusion that our young people are not sufficiently protected and that they play games using pernicious mechanics similar to games of chance and money, and that these are harmful to their development,” she states bluntly.
The professor from the Department of Social and Public Communication presented a brief to the Special Commission on the impacts of screens and social networks on the health and development of young people, on September 24 at the National Assembly, accompanied by the doctoral student Alexandra Dumont, research coordinator at the Chair. Their recommendations follow a study of 249 free mobile games for children, carried out in 2022.
A new economic model
To understand the phenomena at work in mobile games, we must contextualize the recent evolution of the video game industry, underlines Maude Bonenfant. “Until the 2000s, you had to buy a game to be able to play it,” she recalls. For the developer, once sold, it was the same whether you spent 10 minutes or 200 hours.”
“Our young people are not sufficiently protected, they play games using pernicious mechanics similar to games of chance and gambling, and these are harmful to their development.”
Maude Bonenfant
Holder of the Canada Research Chair in games, technologies and society
The appearance of online games has transformed this economic model. “We have seen a host of “free” games appear, which use monetization mechanisms and strategies to allow developers to make a profit. This model is in the process of contaminating almost the entire video game industry,” observes the researcher.
The monetization of mobile games involves three mechanisms present in most games: the collection of personal data, advertising and micro-transactions. “For this new economic model to work smoothly, we use persuasive design to encourage young people to connect as often as possible, to stay connected, to watch ads and to consume in stores to acquire items,” explains Maude Bonenfant.
Behavioral incentives and predictive algorithms
If fans of “free” mobile games are aware that they are forced to see advertising to continue playing, they are undoubtedly less aware of the other strategies deployed to keep them captive to their screen, observes Maude Bonenfant. “There are behavioral incentives – nudges in English – which put pressure to consume in the virtual stores of these games. We offer a free gift or we announce that an item will be on sale at 50% in the next hour, she illustrates. We also use the rotating shop trick by often changing the items to encourage the player to come back frequently.
Artificial intelligence allows developers to offer different players different stores. “Depending on my consumption profile, I will not see the same items as you in the store, even if we play the same game,” explains the researcher. Predictive algorithms also make it possible to know when a player is likely to leave the game. “We then offer them a small reward to keep them connected,” she notes.
A “gamblification” of mobile games
Among all these mechanics, there is a particularly harmful one involving compulsivity. We are now talking about the “gamblification” of digital technology and video games, says Maude Bonenfant. “At the start of our research project, I knew this existed in adult mobile games, but I couldn’t imagine that these strategies would also be used in children’s games. This is unfortunately the case, even in games recommended for toddlers!”
“Children are still learning self-regulation, they are impulsive and not mature enough to detect and understand the mechanisms at work.”
The wheels of fortune are a good example of these mechanics resembling gambling, illustrates the professor. “The child is made to turn a wheel. He sees all the gifts he could win, but, of course, he doesn’t get the biggest gift. He is then told that if he wants to spin the wheel again, he must watch an advertisement…”
These game mechanics exploit children’s vulnerabilities by using cognitive biases, such as near-victory, to keep them playing, or the famous FOMO (fear of missing out), this anxiety of missing an event in the virtual store if they disconnect from the game. “Children are still learning self-regulation, they are impulsive and not mature enough to detect and understand the mechanisms at work” , deplores Maude Bonenfant.
“The mechanic that comes up often is putting loot boxes on sale: this is the very principle of scratch lottery cards!”
Another example of “gamblification” is the loot box: the player opens it and gets a surprise. “If we have played for a long time and we get a reward, that’s OK, because we associate the effort invested with a reward,” observes the researcher. But the mechanic that comes up often is to put loot boxes on sale – for in-game credits or real money, depending on the game –: this is the very principle of scratch lottery cards!”
In Belgium, the government has banned the sale of loot boxes in mobile games for those aged 17 and under. “The immense frankness Fortnite had to comply with it and she eliminated this mechanism from her game,” illustrates Maude Bonenfant, emphasizing that it is possible to act to protect children and adolescents.
No classification for children
Even if the thing is aberrant, it is the video game industry itself which created the classification governing games, underlines Maude Bonenfant. We thus created a classification Early Childhood, modeled on the COPPA law (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), an American regulation imposing certain conditions on operators of websites or online services intended for children under 13 with regard to the collection of personal information.
This classification was used so little that it was abolished in 2018 by the video game lobby. Now all mobile games for children are classified for everyone, the conditions of use being those that apply from 13 years and over! “Games for 13 and over must have content free of sexuality, violence or vulgar language, but this does not at all take into account the mechanics deployed there. So North American children aged 12 and under who play mobile games are not protected…”
Like at the casino
Among teenagers, the mechanics of “gamblification” are taken to an extreme that astounds Maude Bonenfant. “THE skin betting consists of betting on items in play. You can, for example, bet what you own, in real time, in a game of “Heads or tails”. In five seconds, you win or lose your bet. The roulette version also exists: you bet items you have on a number and if it doesn’t come out, you lose them. It’s even faster than at the casino,” she laments.
This trivialization of gambling in mobile games is amplified by influencers who promote the practice to their audience. “When we know the relationship of intimacy, proximity and trust that is established between influencers and their followers, we can only be alarmed,” notes the researcher.
And the danger is not limited to children’s games. “All the psychologists and neuro-psychologists with whom we have collaborated say it: the more children are exposed to games of chance and money, the greater their risk of developing an addiction as an adult.”
“If a child is given the choice between a game where he must point to the cats in a picture or spin a wheel to win a gift, he will have more fun with the wheel of fortune. It’s a physiological question of serotonin secretion!”
According to Maude Bonenfant, we could be creating a generation of people addicted to games of chance and money. “We catch them when they are very young when they do not have the tools or the maturity to discriminate between good mechanics and bad ones,” she insists. If a child is given the choice between a game where he must point to the cats in a picture or spin a wheel to win a gift, he will have more fun with the wheel of fortune. It’s a physiological question of serotonin secretion!”
There are, however, good mobile games for children and teenagers, underlines the specialist, but they are drowned in a sea of “free” games which monetize their existence with unhealthy mechanics. To help parents choose good video games and effectively supervise their use, she has just published the book Video games for children: understanding them well to choose them better (PUQ), co-signed with Simon Delorme, Alexandra Dumont and Cédric Duchaineau.
Six recommendations for the Commission
During her visit to the Parliamentary Commission, Maude Bonenfant submitted a memorandum presenting six concrete recommendations, easy to implement by political decision-makers. The first aims to create an independent body for classifying games and platforms for children made up of experts. The second proposes the creation of a classification which takes into account the content, but also the interactivity and mechanics of games and platforms for children. “This classification would allow parents to see things more clearly and developers who care about the well-being of children to benefit from a competitive advantage, because we could easily identify games meeting this new standard. The idea is not to bankrupt the video game industry, but to give companies that want it a competitive advantage.”
“It is imperative to embed child protection in the design of mobile games.”
The professor recommends a legislative framework for rigged interfaces (such as buttons on which we are “forced” to click by mistake, due to failure to find the ones we are really looking for), behavioral incentives and other persuasive mechanisms depending on the age, and setting out a design-based code of practice that protects children’s privacy online. “It is imperative to embed child protection in the design of mobile games. For example, we could ban differentiated stores before the age of 18. Or, as in England, set the privacy settings to the highest level by default, whereas here it is up to the parent to change these settings.”
Finally, Maude Bonenfant proposes an expansion of the definition of games of chance and money to include the current phenomena of “gamblification”, and to broaden the mandate of Loto-Québec by adding a program intended for minors. “I think that the deputies who sit on the committee want to adopt a law to better regulate the use of screens, social networks and online games among young people and, in this sense, our recommendations have been well received,” concludes -She.
