Sociodemographic and Psychological Predictors of Loot Box Purchasing: A Systematic Review

The “loot box” (LB) monetization strategy has established itself as a dominant and controversial feature in the world of video games. While numerous studies have found that gambling and gaming behaviors may predict LB purchases, sometimes to problematic levels, there is a dearth of research regarding systematic reviews with non-behavioral predictors. Likewise, while LBs may have become mainstream, there is a notable lack of agreed definition for this microtransaction, with researcher proposing their own definition with nuances that may make it difficult to group findings from different studies. The aim of this study is to review the literature on the definitions of LB, and the sociodemographic and psychological predictors of LB purchases. Following this strategy, 1540 articles were found from SCOPUS, EBSCOHost, PubMed and Google Scholar. After screening and eligibility procedures, 22 articles were included and analyzed. Findings show that while there are some traits from LBs that are reported in several studies when being defined, a discrepancy exists between studies on what characteristics are included in the definitions, which may affect how LBs are used in research. It was also found that few studies use sociodemographic variables as predictors, with results beings mixed. More importantly, psychological predictors found were divided into two subgroups: psychological (e.g., reward sensitivity, impulsivity, self-esteem modification and FOMO) and motivational (e.g., fun-seeking, desire for progression, cosmetics and completion). These results show that there is a wide array of psychological and motivational predictors that may overlap, thus more research on the topic is needed.