Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions
Abstract Video games frequently contain loot boxes, i.e. virtual in-game items sharing structural similarities with gambling. On YouTube©, there are multi-million subscriber channels prominently featuring loot box-related content. A gamblification of digital games may increase player engagement, and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01482-5 |
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| author | Elke Smith Yannik Poth Kara S. Z. Sohns Kai Kaspar Jan Peters |
| author_facet | Elke Smith Yannik Poth Kara S. Z. Sohns Kai Kaspar Jan Peters |
| author_sort | Elke Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Video games frequently contain loot boxes, i.e. virtual in-game items sharing structural similarities with gambling. On YouTube©, there are multi-million subscriber channels prominently featuring loot box-related content. A gamblification of digital games may increase player engagement, and we tested if user engagement on YouTube is linked to loot box content. We extracted aggregate user engagement measures from more than 22 thousand YouTube gaming videos with and without focused display of loot boxes. Principal component analysis was used to reduce dimensionality and derive components reflecting overall and sustained, and relative user engagement, respectively. Confirming our pre-registered hypothesis (see https://osf.io/nh7zr ), a significant effect of loot box content on the first principal component was found, reflecting higher overall and sustained user engagement for videos featuring loot box content. This increased engagement may be linked to the gambling-like properties of the reward structure conveyed by loot boxes. Publicly available user data may serve as an early indicator of potential changes in problematic internet use and gambling-related behaviour. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b40da4ff7e8341a9bf5c0a53b4c8635c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-b40da4ff7e8341a9bf5c0a53b4c8635c2025-08-20T03:10:20ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-05-0115111010.1038/s41598-025-01482-5Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictionsElke Smith0Yannik Poth1Kara S. Z. Sohns2Kai Kaspar3Jan Peters4Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of CologneDepartment of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of CologneDepartment of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of CologneDepartment of Psychology, Social and Media Psychology, University of CologneDepartment of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of CologneAbstract Video games frequently contain loot boxes, i.e. virtual in-game items sharing structural similarities with gambling. On YouTube©, there are multi-million subscriber channels prominently featuring loot box-related content. A gamblification of digital games may increase player engagement, and we tested if user engagement on YouTube is linked to loot box content. We extracted aggregate user engagement measures from more than 22 thousand YouTube gaming videos with and without focused display of loot boxes. Principal component analysis was used to reduce dimensionality and derive components reflecting overall and sustained, and relative user engagement, respectively. Confirming our pre-registered hypothesis (see https://osf.io/nh7zr ), a significant effect of loot box content on the first principal component was found, reflecting higher overall and sustained user engagement for videos featuring loot box content. This increased engagement may be linked to the gambling-like properties of the reward structure conveyed by loot boxes. Publicly available user data may serve as an early indicator of potential changes in problematic internet use and gambling-related behaviour.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01482-5Loot boxUser engagementYouTubeGamingGambling-like mechanismsGambling |
| spellingShingle | Elke Smith Yannik Poth Kara S. Z. Sohns Kai Kaspar Jan Peters Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions Scientific Reports Loot box User engagement YouTube Gaming Gambling-like mechanisms Gambling |
| title | Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions |
| title_full | Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions |
| title_fullStr | Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions |
| title_short | Increased user engagement on YouTube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions |
| title_sort | increased user engagement on youtube for loot box content and its potential relevance for behavioural addictions |
| topic | Loot box User engagement YouTube Gaming Gambling-like mechanisms Gambling |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01482-5 |
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