ReviewCurrent addiction reports2021
Characteristics of Gamers who Purchase Loot Box: a Systematic Literature Review.
Review in Current addiction reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gambling-Related Cognitive Distortions Among Adolescents: A Gender-Based Analysis.Journal of gambling studies · 2026Article
- When Gaming Becomes Like Gambling: The Role of Flow, Immersion, Craving, and Self-control in Risky Loot Box use among Polish gamers.Journal of gambling studies · 2026Article
- Impulsivity, Cognitive Distortions, and Problem Gambling Among Spanish Adults Who Gamble: Exploring the Moderating Role of Gambling Self-Efficacy.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- Sex differences, perceived stress, gaming motives, and gambling-like attitudes toward loot-boxes predict risky loot box use among Polish gamers.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Heavy spenders in digital games: expenditure disparities and associations between microtransactions, gaming disorder and gambling disorder among adolescents.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Better than industry self-regulation: Compliance of mobile games with newly adopted and actively enforced loot box probability disclosure law in South Korea.Acta psychologica · 2025Article
- Engagement in New Gambling Practices and its Association with Gambling Disorder, Impulsivity, and Cognitive Distortions: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sample of Spanish Gamblers.Journal of gambling studies · 2025Article
- Associations between Marketing Exposure, In-game Purchases, Problem Gaming, Simulated Gambling, and Psychological Distress among Adolescents.Journal of gambling studies · 2025Article
- Article
- Harm-to-self from gambling: A national study of Australian adults.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2024Article
- The relationship of game genres, in-game purchases, and playing duration with probable gaming disorder in two independent, large-scale online surveys of Japanese adults.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2024Article
- Exploring the relationships between psychological variables and loot box engagement, part 2: exploratory analyses of complex relationships.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Loot box purchasing and indebtedness: The role of psychosocial factors and problem gambling.Addictive behaviors reports · 2023Article
- Exploring the relationships between psychological variables and loot box engagement, part 1: pre-registered hypotheses.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- A scoping review of the association between loot boxes, esports, skin betting, and token wagering with gambling and video gaming behaviors.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2023Article
- Blind box over-engagement and suicide risk among adolescents and young adults: Results of a large-scale survey.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
- The role of microtransactions in Internet Gaming Disorder and Gambling Disorder: A preregistered systematic review.Addictive behaviors reports · 2022Article
- Prediction of problem gambling by demographics, gaming behavior and psychological correlates among gacha gamers: A cross-sectional online survey in Chinese young adults.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Development and Validation of a Risk Assessment Tool for Gaming Disorder in China: The Gaming Hazard Assessment Scale.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Development and Validation of the RAFFLE: A Measure of Reasons and Facilitators for Loot Box Engagement.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purpose of reviewResearch has indicated that loot boxes are risky gaming components that could exacerbate Internet gaming disorder due to a link between loot box purchasing and gambling. We conducted a systematic review to identify the characteristics of people who purchase loot boxes with real money, focusing on the relationships (a) between loot boxes and gaming, (b) between loot boxes and gambling, and (c) between loot boxes and other variables. RECENT
findingsOf the 201 studies examined for eligibility, we reviewed 20 studies that met the predefined criteria, which were extracted by searching electronic databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Ovid, EBSCO, and Web of Science) and the reference lists of included studies, and that were published up to March 27, 2021. Overall, this review identified positive relationships among Internet gaming disorder-related symptoms, disordered gambling symptoms, and engagement with, or investment in, loot boxes. In addition to gaming and gambling, the relationships among some variables, such as mood, gender, physiological state, motivation, and loot box engagement, were examined. SUMMARY: The present review clarified relationships between loot box engagement, gaming, gambling, and other variables, such as mood, gender, physiological state, and motivation, and partially identified the characteristics of people who purchase loot boxes using real money. Specifically, those who spend more money in-game on loot boxes exhibit Internet gaming-related and/or disordered gambling symptoms and behaviors. Finally, we discussed future directions for clinical psychological studies on loot boxes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.