Pay for play – Behavioural patterns of pay-to-win gaming

Highlights

• Five behavioral patterns of P2W gaming were identified.

• P2W gaming patterns differentiate gaming intensity in a non-linear manner.

• Problem P2W gaming is most strongly associated with frequent non-high payments than with frequent playing.

• Rare P2W gaming payments are most closely related to non-problem gaming.

Abstract

The article presents the results of two studies on the involvement of Pay-to-Win games – a type of video games in which it is possible to pay to advance in the game. The first study was conducted on a representative sample of adult Poles (N = 2000), and the second among Pay-to-Win gamers (N = 1702). Among Pay-to-Win gamers, a subgroup of gamers who made payments to gain an advantage in the game was identified (N = 1012). The research aimed to assess the involvement in Pay-to-Win games in Poland and to identify factors associated with the use and excessive use of such games and making payments in them. Besides, P2W gaming patterns and their relationship to the manifestations of problem gaming were identified. The survey showed that 1.7% of adult Poles played Pay-to-Win games, and 20% of them made payments in them. These games were played more often by men, but payments were made more often by women. This study is the first devoted to the practice of Pay-to-Win games in Poland. Five patterns of involvement in the game have been identified among Pay-to-Win gamers, distinguished by frequency of play, frequency of in-game payments, amounts of payments and duration of a single game session. Results revealed that gaming patterns differentiated the level and type of gaming problems.

Introduction

Involvement in gaming has sparked the interests of researchers for many reasons. These include the potential risk of becoming addicted to gaming or linking gaming to gambling (King et al., 2015; Molde et al., 2018; Sanders & Williams, 2018). In 2013, in the fifth edition of the classification of disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5), Internet Gaming Disorder was identified in Section III as a condition warranting more clinical research and experience before it might be considered for inclusion in the main book as a formal disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), Gaming Disorder was identified and included in “Disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviors” (World Health Organization, 2018). In ICD-11 (offline and online) gaming disorder is characterised by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour manifested by: impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. More clear symptoms of internet gaming disorder were presented in DSM-5 classification – there are nine symptoms, among others – lack of control, withdrawal, tolerance (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Despite official definitions, pathological video gaming remains an issue of controversy among scholars. According to Ferguson and Colwell (2020), empirical data and scholarly opinions differ regarding the status of pathological gaming and whether “addiction” is the best frame to understand video game. All nine symptoms of internet gaming disorder in DSM-5 are analogous to those for substance abuse. The ICD-11 diagnosis of gaming disorder includes no clear symptoms. Saunders et al. (2017) stated that “Gaming disorder shares many features with addictions due to psychoactive substances and with gambling disorder, and functional neuroimaging shows that similar areas of the brain are activated” (p. 271).

Most of the research focused on the harm of youth gaming. Scholars mentioned decreased life satisfaction, loneliness, and social competence (Lemmens et al., 2009), increased impulsivity (Gentile, 2009), aggression (Griffiths et al., 2012) as well as depression and anxiety (Mentzoni et al., 2011), lower academic achievement and conduct problem (Brunborg et al., 2014). Choi et al. (2018) in studies of adults, pointed out that bullying in work and abusive supervision increases the severity of video game addiction. In turn, the addiction intensified work-family conflicts. Przybylski et al. (2016), based on the results of international research (n = 18,932) stated that about 1% of the general World population might present symptoms qualifying for the diagnosis of gaming disorder. Also, they stated that the relationship between gaming disorder and physical, social, and mental health outcomes is decidedly mixed, indicating the need for further research.

Studies on gaming conditions and gambling addiction are increasingly common, but almost always concern games in general, without distinguishing their types (Choi et al., 2018; Marchica et al., 2019). Due to the existence of many types of games and the specificity of their enhancement mechanisms, we decided to focus on Pay-to-Win (P2W) games because of their payment element. P2W games are analysed mainly by economists interested in financing mechanisms (Seufert, 2013; Tomić, 2018). However, games with a payment feature have also increasingly become the focus of psychologists due to the psychological mechanisms that induce payment in such games. Attention is also drawn to the increasing problems of payments made by children, which, according to some authors, are a risk factor in gambling addiction, especially among children (Children's Commissioner for England, 2019; King & Delfabbro, 2018; Zendle & Cairns, 2018).

In the initial period of video gaming history, the user had to pay the supplier (publisher) to buy the game and use it after installing it on their computer (pay-to-play concept) (Tomić, 2017). Over time, the gaming market became increasingly saturated, and it also became easier to download an illegal copy of a game shortly after its release, which led suppliers (publishers) to change the model of sharing and making a profit on games. Instead of selling the full version of the game, the basic version was made available for a low price or even free of charge, while all add-ons and premium features became payable (Tomić, 2017). In gaming terminology, games available free of charge are generally referred to as free-to-play, or freemium, whereby income is generated by selling small “pieces” of the game (Alha et al., 2014; de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele, 2016; Kumar, 2014; Seufert, 2013).

Purchases made during the game have been coined microtransactions (because they usually concern small amounts), which concern virtual goods of various forms, such as avatars, extensions, add-ons or updates (Evers et al., 2015; van Berlo & Liblik, 2016). Some of these goods, e.g. character clothes, may not have any influence on the course of the game, but some, e.g. specific armour, may give the player an in-game advantage (van Berlo & Liblik, 2016). These virtual transactions require the player to exchange real money for virtual game currency (Chua et al., 2019). Tomić (2017) notes that, from a marketing point of view, it is easier to induce a player to pay multiple small charges than to pay a substantial one-off fee (e.g. to buy the whole game), so that in the end the amounts of these microtransactions reach very high values. According to Tomić (2017), free access to games almost eliminated piracy from the market.

Despite extensive research on the phenomenon of gaming, there were very few studies on the specifics of selected types of games, and it seems to be an emerging field in gaming research. For this reason, extensive research on P2W games was undertaken, a novelty for Poland.

Bearing in mind the definition problems associated with the concepts used to define the types of games and the fact that the definitions are usually quite loose and vary from author to author, we developed a definition of P2W games for our research. P2W games were defined as free video games via a site or an application, on computer, mobile, tablet or on social networks, in which it is possible to pay to advance in the game.

The article presents the results of two studies conducted in Poland – the first on a representative sample of adult Poles and the second among gamers involved in P2W games. P2W gamers were defined as those who have declared to make payments in online games in order to gain an advantage over gamers who refuse to pay. The research aimed to estimate the involvement in P2W games in Poland and to observe the characteristics of P2W gamers. Previous research indicates that 17.9% of the adult Polish population (aged 16–74) use the Internet to play or download computer/mobile games (Główny Urząd Statystyczny, 2020). In the group of the youngest people (up to 25 years of age) the prevalence of this activity is approximately 45.9%. This type of involvement declines with age. According to the Newzoo report (2020), in 2019 there were 2.55 billion video gamers in the world, which was about 34% of the world's population from the age of 15 (Newzoo, 2020). Another objective was to identify the behavioural patterns of playing and P2W games and making payments in them as well as to investigate their relationship with the symptoms of problem gaming. In Study 1, we posed two research questions: 1. What is the prevalence of P2W gaming among adult Poles? 2. What are the sociodemographic characteristics of P2W gamers in Poland? In Study 2, we posed the following research questions: 1. What are the behavioural patterns of engagement in the game among P2W gamers? 2. Is there a connection between behavioural patterns of playing P2W and symptoms of problem P2W gaming?