New Study Suggests Kids Are Now Experiencing Social Pressures to Buy In-Game Items

Once you hit middle school, the pressure to "fit in" hits. Naturally, this includes games now.

Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash

Reminder: Crossplay is on sale until the end of next week, knocking 25% off the price for both monthly and annual subs. Choosing to back, or continuing to back, Crossplay means that I’m able to develop this into a more ambitious project. You can take advantage of the sale here!

The popularity of games among young people is creating social pressure to buy items and skins to avoid feeling left out or bullied, according to a fascinating pair of new studies published by Norwegian researchers, as part of a broader effort by Norway's government to better understand the relationship children have with video games.

Researchers Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes and Clara Julia Reich of Oslo Metropolitan University were tasked with studying the influence of money in video games by the Norwegian government’s Ministry of Children and Family Affairs division.

“There is still much to learn about the social dynamics within children’s virtual worlds and governments and policymakers worldwide are interested in this topic from a regulatory perspective,” said Steinnes and Reich in joint answers to Crossplay recently. “Video games are also an important part of children’s everyday lives and there is little research on young people’s digital consumption in a Norwegian context.”

Sadly, their research is not available in English, but if you’re adventurous, they’re available in Norwegian. ScienceNorway.no, thankfully, has a readable summary.

• Children's Consumption in Video Games and How It Affects Social Relationships

• Mapping of Manipulative Game Design

A notable section from ScienceNorway.no’s explanation of the report:

“The researchers explain that the gaming market integrates with everything else children do in life.

“There's no sharp distinction between their online and offline world. These are just different parts of the social world they navigate, and appearance, or skins, are important identity markers,”Steinnes says.

As Frank (13 years old) puts it: 

“If you don't play with anyone, you kind of have nothing to talk about at school.”

The two studied the impact of games on children ages 10 to 15, a pivotal moment where life gets more complicated and stressful, and you need to learn to “fit in.” Is it any surprise, then, games would become part of the cultural fabric of that moment?

“The pressure to fit in resembles what is already taking place in other contexts but takes on new forms,” said the researchers. “Some children might end up feeling excluded if they lack the resources (e.g., Wi-Fi, gaming equipment, in-game currency) to play with their friends or might get picked on based on what ‘skin’ they are wearing.”

Part of the problem, they point out, is the way video game creators have become increasingly nimble at putting marketing in front of players that’s difficult to avoid.

“There are important differences when comparing video games to other leisure activities among children,” the researchers explained. “In football, for example, children may get exposed to commercial content such as banners for football shoes, typically for a limited time within a given physical context (e.g., during training at the football court). Video games, however, employ a variety of tailored marketing strategies to constantly target children and their need to feel a sense of belonging and individuality. Moreover, we found various deceptive design strategies (i.e., ‘dark patterns’) in games and a lack of regulation. This implies that young people have less consumer protection online compared to physical arenas.”

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, settled with the U.S. government over “dark patterns” for hundreds of millions of dollars. “Dark patterns” describes methods of tricking people into paying money, and hey, Fortnite is played by millions of kids.

The researchers found some children were not aware they were even spending real money, a nod to how games like Fortnite (V-Bucks) and Roblox (robux) intentionally obfuscate the act of buying and spending money. Think about how often you go into games like this and discover endless colored meters, countdown timers, and other elements specifically engineered to introduce a feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out).

“Some children talked about various strategies they used to protect themselves from commercial influence, such as not visiting the in-game shop or doing chores (like vacuuming) instead of playing video games,” said the researchers. “Social influence was added to the commercial pressure, where the children wanted to stay updated on ‘skin-trends’ and to belong in-game among peers.”

Ahead of this study, both researchers told me they were familiar with video games, but mostly story-based single-player games and mobile games. Once they started playing games aimed at young kids, they were “surprised to find elements resembling gambling, such as casinos and wheels of fortune.” Half the “fun” of being a parent these days is helping your child navigate this casino atmosphere in many games.

“In Norway, gambling in physical casinos is age-restricted and heavily regulated, but video games have largely escaped rules and policies,” they said. “We believe this is likely to change in the coming years, as game developers will have to adhere to more regulations—particularly related to gambling elements in games directed at children.

It doesn’t help that, for the most part, parents are just as confused about how to handle this change. In their research, the researches found “a large variety in terms of parents’ knowledge of video games and microtransactions,” which tracks with my reporting at Crossplay. It’s confusing on purpose, obviously, and the lack of regulation means game makers are running circles around kids, parents, and lawmakers. 

“Some parents introduced their children to gaming and played together with them, while others were skeptical of gaming and its social value and restricted purchases of games or in-game items,” said the researchers. “We found that some of the children in our sample sought out help and guidance from their parents when they encountered issues such as bullying or hacking in video games.”

Which also tracks with another common refrain at Crossplay: play video games with your children. It’s acceptable to ultimately say “no” to something like Roblox, as one father recently explained to me, but that “no” came from a place of understanding what Roblox is, not ignorance over what it might be. Absent meaningful government intervention, you should assume a lot of these games will be as exploitative as possible until someone legally tells them to stop. You remain your child’s best defense.

With any luck, studies like this will nudge those with power in the right direction.

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

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Also:

• I love reading studies like this! If you’re involved with one, or come across one, please do not hesitate to reach out with a link.

• What was your version of having to “fit in” in school? I’m struggling to come up with a comparison of my own, but I largely had the same core group of friends from elementary school, all the way through high school. That’s a little unique.

• You do see trends floating through schools by walking through a hallway and browsing backpacks. Few years back, everyone had Grogu stuff, and I can guarantee you that the vast majority of those kids never watched Mandalorian.