Key Concepts and Recent Evolutions in the Videogame Environment
摘要
Children are increasingly present in a videogame environment which is in turn increasingly ‘gamblified’, referring to the integration of design elements or mechanisms traditionally found in gambling activities into the videogame environment. When videogame monetisation uses traditional gambling design features or elements, this may impact children as vulnerable players. These so-called ‘gambling-like elements’ blur the lines between videogaming and gambling and may therefore expose children to gambling-related risks, as well as to risks unique to this converging gaming-gambling environment. At the same time, data-driven design has made its way into the videogame environment, enabling videogame companies to rely on large scale data collection and analysis within their monetization strategies. These evolutions in the videogame environment illustrate the need for a regulatory framework which addresses the concerns raised by gambling-like elements and behavioural design practices. This framework consists of different legal domains, including gambling regulation, EU regulation on consumer protection, data protection and platform regulation, and videogame industry self-regulation. In this chapter, all the different key concepts are explained, serving as building blocks for the analysis conducted in later chapters of the book.