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Games

THERE is an argument raging at the moment over whether some video games are a form of gambling and need to be regulated.

Are loot boxes within games, which are bought for real money and contain random virtual items, akin to a spin on a slot machine? Last month, members of the UK parliament boxes to be banned for children. Game developers are pushing back because these boxes make significant revenue for some of the world鈥檚 most popular games.

I think loot boxes should be regulated, but mostly for selfish reasons. Games that include them can be less fun if you don鈥檛 want to part with cash, so I tend to skip them. I am slightly baffled by stories of people spending thousands on such items.

Yet playing Borderlands 3, a game that doesn鈥檛 have loot boxes but is essentially built around acquiring loot, has made me understand how people get hooked. The series is a first-person shooter in which the guns are randomly generated. The developer, Gearbox Software, claims there are more than a billion weapons in the latest instalment, although many of these will be small variations of each other in terms of damage, accuracy and so on. Borderlands 3 may not use loot boxes, but the tricks it uses to get you hooked on finding the next gun are much the same as in the games that do.

鈥沦丑辞耻濒诲 Borderlands 3 be regulated? No, but it doesn鈥檛 hurt to think about how it is made to keep me hooked鈥�

You get new guns by killing enemies or opening treasure chests within the game. Greater rewards are accompanied by more lavish animations: taking down a particularly difficult foe sees loot spilling out as if from a smashed pi帽ata. It feels great, and that may be a problem. that the lights and sounds of both real and virtual slot machines play a part in getting people hooked; this kind of reward presentation may have a similar effect.

The uncertainty of reward is also a factor. In Borderlands 3, guns are graded according to rarity: standard white, uncommon green, rare blue, epic purple and legendary orange, the last ones often possessing prized properties like infinite ammo. When I see a flash of purple or orange, I can almost feel the dopamine coursing through my brain.

I am sceptical that video game addiction is a real psychological condition (many researchers agree with me), but I have certainly found my Borderlands 3 sessions stretching out longer than I intended. Given that no money is involved, should the game be regulated? No, but it doesn鈥檛 hurt to think about how it is designed to keep me hooked.

IT IS getting cold in London, and not just because it is October. I have been playing Frostpunk, a city-builder set in an alternative 19th century. Here, the world is plunged into chaos by a worldwide winter caused by volcanic eruptions, and an expedition sets out from London to cross frozen seas and establish a new home.

At the centre of your city is a coal-guzzling generator: a towering furnace designed to keep the survivors warm. You have to make difficult decisions, such as whether to put children to work, or mandate 24-hour shifts to secure more coal, food and other resources to keep the city going, while balancing people鈥檚 discontent and hope. It is similar to Surviving Mars, which I wrote about earlier this year, but much grimmer, and certainly one of the best climate fiction games I have come across.