GAM(e)(a)BLE

On Friday 12th of January, @gameable.bsky.social participated in the ethical games conference by
@celiahodent.bsky.social, Fran Blumberg, @codingconduct.bsky.social! Maarten Denoo, Bruno Dupont & Bieke Zaman presented
their paper "Many faces, many names? Ethics in Belgian game design curricula"

Ultimately, our study may tease out debate on how to regulate games successfully in the face of players’ technical abilities and motivation to gain access.

of 'depth' (belonging to an online community, perceived gaming ability, gaming disorder, and risky lootbox use) and 'breadth' characteristics (frequency of #skinbetting, selling loot box rewards, and (re)watching loot box opening #livestreams)

Findings suggest that #counterplayers resist current regulatory arrangements, delineating the boundaries of a national ban in a global game ecology. Counterplayers differentiate themselves from non counterplayers both in terms

The authors drew from an online survey among Belgian adolescents with two questions: what counterplay practices are used to circumvent the ban on #lootboxes, and how do counterplayers compare to non counterplayers in terms of engagement with loot boxes and #games more broadly?

🎉recent publication for @gameable.bsky.social about circumventers of the #Belgian "ban" on #lootboxes! Our researchers @DenooMaarten @Brunolizator @EvaGrosemans @biekezaman @RozaneDC analyzed circumventing as #counterplay practice (@t0MM7)

doi.org/10.1145/3611024

with #lootboxes and the industry self-regulatory approach to probability disclosures to address potential harms. This paper dives deeper into the case with a multidisciplinary group of experts from #gamestudies, #law, and #humancomputerinteraction. 🕹️

tens of thousands of Korean players from the game Maple Story (Nexon, 2003) mobilised in unprecedented online and offline protests in Spring 2021. Together with players from other #freetoplay (F2P) games, Maple Story players rallied against the industry norms of #monetising 🔽

If you are interested in "A Story of #Lootboxes, #Probability disclosures, and #Gamer Consumer #Activism", have a look at the abstract: "The Maple Refugee incident was perhaps one of the most disruptive video game incidents that occurred in #SouthKorea in recent years. 🔽

📬Publication alert: fruitful collaboration between @SolipPark @AaltoUniversity, Gam(e)(a)ble researchers @DenooMaarten and @EvaGrosemans, @YaewonJ, and our external members @elegordopetrovs.bsky.social & @leonxiaoy.bsky.social led to a paper about the #maplerefugees case: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

If you are interested in "A Story of #Lootboxes, #Probability disclosures, and #Gamer Consumer #Activism", have a look at the abstract: "The Maple Refugee incident was perhaps one of the most disruptive video game incidents that occurred in #SouthKorea in recent years. 🔽

with #lootboxes and the industry self-regulatory approach to probability disclosures to address potential harms. This paper dives deeper into the case with a multidisciplinary group of experts from #gamestudies, #law, and #humancomputerinteraction. 🕹️

tens of thousands of Korean players from the game Maple Story (Nexon, 2003) mobilised in unprecedented online and offline protests in Spring 2021. Together with players from other #freetoplay (F2P) games, Maple Story players rallied against the industry norms of #monetising 🔽

If you are interested in "A Story of #Lootboxes, #Probability disclosures, and #Gamer Consumer #Activism", have a look at the abstract: "The Maple Refugee incident was perhaps one of the most disruptive video game incidents that occurred in #SouthKorea in recent years. 🔽

Our researchers have published a report on the provisions concerning gambling(-like) elements in video games against the background of the existing children’s rights framework found at the international and European level.
 
Read the report (in English) here: www.gameable.info/_files/ugd/7...

Between November 2021 and February 2022, Gam(e)(a)ble ran the first wave of a survey among Flemish teenagers about their own and their children's digital gaming and gambling behavior.

The report (in Dutch) can be read here: www.gameable.info/_files/ugd/7...

4. Address gaps in prevention, early intervention and social assistance.

3. Investigate the potential stepping-stone effect between simulated gambling and actual gambling.

2. Provide an overview of (inter)national legislative and self/co-regulatory instruments : gambling legislation, consumer protection, and data protection.

1. Unravel the design complexity of gambling in games, and reveal persuasive media tactics.

4. Mapping business models, and analysing the users, attitudes and normative self-beliefs towards dark design patterns in industry and in education programs training future game developers.

3. Unravelling the relation between gambling advertising, sponsoring, social influencers and attitudes towards gambling, simulated gambling and actual behaviour.

2. Identifying the use of gambling elements in games in a longitudinal way among (early) teenagers in Flanders.

1. Solving knowledge gaps that hinder the development of protective measures by building a scientific clear taxonomy and consistent terminology of gambling elements in game design.

@gameable.bsky.social is funded by FWO Vlaanderen and run by a Flemish consortium of two universities (KULeuven and UGent) and a university of applied sciences (UCLL).

At the Meaningful Interactions Lab (Mintlab), researchers will be involved in the following work packages:

The Gam(e)(a)ble Project, financed by FWO, studies this convergence of gaming and gambling from a media-technological, psychological development, legal and pedagogical prevention perspective.

Our four objectives:

Why Gam(e)(a)ble? #gaming #gambling

​The lines between gaming and gambling are becoming increasingly blurred in (online) games that are popular among teenagers, which raises the societal concern that minors are being progressively exposed to gambling.

Hello Bluesky! Gam(e)(a)ble is now present!

Thank you @liegegamelab.bsky.social for providing us with a Bluesky code.

Follow us here on Bluesky, on X: twitter.com/gameable_youth, or visit www.gameable.info, and keep up to date on our research & activities!