Shifting Meanings of Lootboxes in Western Culture

FACULTY OF SOCIAL STUDIES Shifting Meanings of Lootboxes in Western Culture Master Thesis BC. ONDŘEJ KLÍMA Supervisor: doc. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D. Department of Sociology Programme Sociologie Brno 2021 SHIFTING MEANINGS OF LOOTBOXES IN WESTERN CULTURE Bibliografický záznam Autor: Bc. Ondřej Klíma Fakulta sociálních studií Masarykova univerzita Chyba! Nenalezen zdroj odkazů. Název práce: Shifting Meanings of Lootboxes in Western Culture Studijní program: N-SOC Sociologie Studijní obor: Sociologie Vedoucí práce: doc. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D. Rok: 2021 Počet stran: 92 Klíčová slova: gaming theory, lootbox, loot box, societalization, civil sphere, gaming sphere, cultural sociology, thick description, surprise mechanics, social crisis 2 SHIFTING MEANINGS OF LOOTBOXES IN WESTERN CULTURE Bibliographic record Author: Bc. Ondřej Klíma Faculty of Social Studies Masaryk University Department of Sociology Title of Thesis: Shifting Meanings of Lootboxes in Western Culture Degree Programme: N-SOC Sociologie Field of Study: Sociologie Supervisor: doc. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D. Year: 2021 Number of Pages: 92 Keywords: gaming theory, lootbox, loot box, societalization, civil sphere, gaming sphere, cultural sociology, thick description, surprise mechanics, social crisis 3 SHIFTING MEANINGS OF LOOTBOXES IN WESTERN CULTURE Abstrakt V této práci se zabývám kulturní analýzou lootboxů skrze lootboxovou kontroverzi z roku 2017 a její vývoj až do konce roku 2020. V první části se zabývám rešerší literatury ohledně teorie gamingu a teorie lootboxů. Poté vysvětlím model societalizace a teorie civilní sféry od Jeffreyho Ale- xandra. Následně představím můj dataset online článků a také metodo- logii hustého popisu a interpretativní analýzy. Poté provedu analýzu lo- otboxové kontroverze za pomocí modelu societalizace. Na závěr zhodno- tím, že lootboxová kontroverze byla sociální krizí. Počet znaků práce: 148 110 4 SHIFTING MEANINGS OF LOOTBOXES IN WESTERN CULTURE Abstract I deal with the cultural analysis of the lootbox by looking at the lootbox controversy from 2017 and how it continued until the end of 2020. First, I provide a comprehensive summary of the literature on the gaming theory and theory of lootboxes. Second, I explain in-depth the model of societalization by Jeffrey Alexander and his theory of the civil sphere. Third, I present my dataset of articles and the methodology of thick description and interpretative analysis. Fourth, I analyze the lootbox crisis using the model of societalization. Lastly, I conclude that lootbox controversy was a social crisis. 5 SHIFTING MEANINGS OF LOOTBOXES IN WESTERN CULTURE Declaration of Honor I declare that I have independently prepared the presented master thesis: Shifting Meanings of Lootboxes in Western Culture and that I did not use any literature or resources other than those indicated. Verbatim or non-verbatim citations are all marked, and their origin is specified. Brno, January 10, 2021 ....................................... Bc. Ondřej Klíma Šablona DP 3.0.6-FSS (2019-11-29) © 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 Masarykova univerzita 7 SHIFTING MEANINGS OF LOOTBOXES IN WESTERN CULTURE Acknowledgement I would first like to thank my thesis advisor doc. Bernadette Nadya Ja- worsky, Ph.D. She consistently allowed this thesis to be my own work, but gently steered me in the right direction whenever I needed it. She always found the time to offer helpful advice while also being critical to help me improve my thesis towards my vision. Thank you. I also must express my gratitude to my parents for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. I also want to thank all my friends who helped me proofread and who suggested even the small changes. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you. 8 TABLE OF CONTENT Table of Content List of Images 11 Glossary and abbreviations 12 1 Introduction 13 2 Theoretical Framework 17 2.1 The Gaming, Gamers and Lootbox Research ................................... 17 2.2 The Civil Sphere and Non-Civil Institutions .................................... 22 2.3 The Societalization of Social Problems.............................................. 23 2.4 The Gaming Sphere ................................................................................... 27 3 Methodology 32 3.1 Data Selection and Data Collection ..................................................... 32 3.2 Thick Description and Interpretative Analysis .............................. 34 4 The Societalization of Lootboxes 37 4.1 T1 – The Stable State ................................................................................ 39 4.2 T2 – The Beginning of Societalization ............................................... 43 4.3 T3 – The Regulatory Interventions ..................................................... 47 4.4 T4 – The Backlash from the Non-Civil Institutions ...................... 52 4.5 T5 – Social Repair or Stand-off ............................................................. 58 5 Conclusion 64 Sources 69 Appendix A Partial transcript HC 1846 78 Appendix B Guiding Timeline 80 Appendix C Lootbox GIF interpretation 81 Index 89 9 LIST OF IMAGES List of Images Image 1 A poster campaign on Reddit.com in the protest against lootboxes. ....................................................................................................................... 42 11 GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS Glossary and abbreviations ME:SoW – Abbreviation for the videogame: Middle-Earth: Shadow of War EA – Electronic Arts; videogame publisher IFPI – International Federation of the Phonographic In- dustry CET – Central European Time UK – The United Kingdom US – The United States of America BGA – Dutch Betting and Gaming Act NHS – United Kingdom National Health Service Covid-19 – Coronavirus disease that started in 2019 ESRB – The Entertainment Software Rating Board 12 INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction Gaming is no longer just a pastime activity of a few. The gaming industry grew over the past decades into a giant, providing not only entertainment for billions of people but also created new job opportunities as gaming became a profession. According to the IFPI, Motion Pictures As- sociation, Digital Entertainment Group, and New Zoo (Malim, 2018), the gaming industry will (even more) overshadow the film and music industry by $258,3 billion by 2023, and it was already in the lead with $101 billion over both film ($49 billion) and music ($16 billion) industries in 2016. Furthermore, like other big entertainment industries, the gaming industry is shifting from a buy-own model towards a “live service” model. Subscription systems and microtransactions are providing a constant stream of revenue as opposed to just buying a game once and playing it for free. This focus on live-services subscription systems and microtransactions also created a massive spike in revenue in the gaming industry. NetEase (Knives Out), Activision Blizzard (Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft), EA (Apex Legends, FIFA1, Madden), Nexon (Dungeon Fighter Online), and Epic Games (Fortnite) earned over $16 billion from microtransactions alone in 2019, and they are just the top 5 gaming companies that have a public earning record (Strickland, 2020). There is a big difference, though. You probably have a subscription, such as Netflix, Spotify, or even Microsoft Office. These subscriptions cost dozens of dollars per month and give you access to digital libraries full of music, films, and serials. We can see similar subscription systems in the gaming industry that let you access digital libraries full of videogames. Where the gaming industry deviates is the use of microtransactions. Imagine that you would have to buy a “Tyrion Lannister character pack,” which would include this popular character from Game of Thrones into your serial, and without it, he would not appear. Or maybe you were not satisfied with the ending of Season 8 and would like to buy a different conclusion for just $9,99. What if you purchased the “resistance to poi- soning bundle” so Joffrey Baratheon would survive? These are examples 1 FIFA refers here and throughout the thesis to the game FIFA not the Fédération In- ternationale de Football Association 13 INTRODUCTION of microtransactions. They might seem absurd in the context of serials, but they are common practice in the gaming industry. Microtransactions allow gaming companies to cut and resell content but also may offer gamers the possibility to buy advantages over others. This created a cultural tension in what I call the “gaming sphere” regarding fairness and other norms, but also tensions between the gaming and the civil sphere. These tensions surrounding microtransactions, which I will now briefly illus- trate, are at the center of the thesis. The first microtransaction (a fancy armor for a horse) was intro- duced into the critically very well acclaimed and trendy game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006 (Ransom-Wiley, 2006). Since then, we saw a rise of microtransactions in videogames, generating a considerable part of the revenue for gaming publishers but also concerns for “fair play,” “buying power,” and “compensation for the lack of skill with real-world money” (Williams, 2017). But these concerns were mainly what Alexan- der (2006) would call the intra-sphere problems – meaning that they were contained within the boundaries of a gaming sphere. Everything

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