Academic Journal
Global review of assessments of online video gaming policies affecting young people: Loot boxes, age ratings, gameplay time restrictions, and beyond.
| Τίτλος: | Global review of assessments of online video gaming policies affecting young people: Loot boxes, age ratings, gameplay time restrictions, and beyond. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Xiao LY; School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, China; beClaws.org, UK. Electronic address: leon.xiao@cityu.edu.hk., Czakó A; Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar; Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary., Deery C; School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, China., Heath C; School of Psychology, Swansea University, UK., Király O; Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar; Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary., King D; Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar., Demetrovics Z; Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar; Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary; Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, College of Human Sciences and Culture, Flinders University, SA, Australia. |
| Πηγή: | Comprehensive psychiatry [Compr Psychiatry] 2026 Jun; Vol. 148, pp. 152713. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 May 15. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article; Review |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: W.B. Saunders Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0372612 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1532-8384 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0010440X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Compr Psychiatry Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Philadelphia Pa : W.B. Saunders Original Publication: New York. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Internet*/legislation & jurisprudence , Video Games*/legislation & jurisprudence , Video Games*/psychology , Behavior, Addictive*, Adolescent ; Humans ; Young Adult ; Age Factors ; Digital Media ; Gambling ; Internet Addiction Disorder |
| Περίληψη: | Online video gaming is a highly popular activity, especially amongst young people (aged ≤25), with entertainment, emotional, and social benefits. However, stakeholders are also concerned about potential risks and harms, including exposure to inappropriate (e.g., violent and sexual) content; excessive use (i.e., 'addiction' and 'gaming disorder'); and overspending, particularly in relation to gambling-like products (e.g., loot boxes). Various regulatory policies have been adopted worldwide in response. We reviewed empirical evaluations of the implementation of these policies. Results showed that age rating systems that provide information on the suitability of a game's content are widely adopted; however, many young people and their parents do not follow the guidance. Restrictions on how long and when young people can play video games in Asia could be easily circumvented and are not obviously beneficial. Regulations governing gambling-like loot boxes and in-game monetary spending in Europe and Asia are poorly complied with and enforced, leaving significant consumer protection concerns unaddressed. Many aspects of the adopted policies remain untested, and the regulatory situation in many countries remains unreported in the English academic literature. Stricter enforcement of pre-existing regulations, which has not occurred, may address many concerns. More research is needed to ensure all adopted policies are regularly monitored and tested: effective policies should be considered for adoption elsewhere, whilst ineffective policies should either be improved or repealed. Governments should fund more research into countermeasures to reduce the unwanted psychosocial effects of video games. (Copyright © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Conflicts of Interest L.Y.X. has provided paid consultancy and research services for (i) Public Group International Ltd (t/a PUBLIC) (Companies House number: 10608507), commissioned by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to conduct independent research on understanding player experiences of loot box protections (October 2024 – May 2025); (ii) the Council of Europe International Cooperation Group on Drugs and Addiction (the Pompidou Group) on a project concerning the risks of online gambling and gaming to young people co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission (December 2024 – May 2025); and (iii) the Institute of Public Health on a report concerning the advertising of harmful products to children funded by the Irish Department of Health and intended for its Online Health Taskforce (July 2025). L.Y.X. was supported by a PhD Fellowship funded by the IT University of Copenhagen [IT-Universitetet i København] (December 2021 – November 2024). L.Y.X. was employed by LiveMe, then a subsidiary of Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM), as an in-house counsel intern from July to August 2019 in Beijing, China. L.Y.X. was not involved with the monetisation of video games by Cheetah Mobile or its subsidiaries. L.Y.X. undertook a brief period of voluntary work experience at Wiggin LLP (Solicitors Regulation Authority number: 420659) in London, England, in August 2022. L.Y.X. has contributed to research projects enabled by data access provided by the video game industry, specifically Unity Technologies (NYSE:U) (October 2022 – August 2023). L.Y.X. has been invited to provide advice to the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and its successor (the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; DCMS) on the technical working group for loot boxes and the Video Games Research Framework. L.Y.X. was the (co-)recipient of three Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling (AFSG) postgraduate research support grants (March 2022, January 2023, and July 2024) and a minor exploratory research grant (May 2024) derived from ‘regulatory settlements applied for socially responsible purposes’ received by the UK Gambling Commission and administered by Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO) and its successor (Greo Evidence Insights; Greo). L.Y.X. accepted funding to publish open-access academic papers from GREO and the AFSG that was received by the UK Gambling Commission as above (October, November, and December 2022, November 2023, and May 2024). L.Y.X. was the recipient of an Elite Research Travel Grant 2024 [EliteForsk-rejsestipendium 2024] awarded by the Agency for Higher Education and Science of the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science [Uddannelses-og Forskningsstyrelsen under Uddannelses-og Forskningsministeriet] (February 2024). L.Y.X. has accepted conference travel and attendance grants from the Socio-Legal Studies Association (February 2022 and February 2023); the Current Advances in Gambling Research Conference Organising Committee with support from GREO (February 2022); the International Relations Office of The Jagiellonian University (Uniwersytet Jagielloński), the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA; Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej), and the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska) with co-financing from the European Social Fund of the European Commission of the European Union under the Knowledge Education Development Operational Programme (May 2022); the Society for the Study of Addiction (November 2022, March 2023, and November 2024); the organisers of the 13th Nordic SNSUS (Stiftelsen Nordiska Sällskapet för Upplysning om Spelberoende; the Nordic Society Foundation for Information about Problem Gambling) Conference, which received gambling industry sponsorship (January 2023); the MiSK Foundation (Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Foundation) (November 2023); and the UK Gambling Commission (March 2024). L.Y.X. has received honoraria from the Center for Ludomani for contributing parent guides about mobile games for Tjekspillet.dk, which was funded by the Danish Ministry of Health’s gambling addiction pool (Sundhedsministeriets Ludomanipulje) (March and December 2023), the Fundació Pública Tecnocampus Mataró-Maresme (TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme Foundation) for a guest lecture (November 2023), the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Greater Toronto Youth Gambling Awareness Program for a presentation, which was funded by the Government of Ontario, Canada (March 2024), Lunds universitet (Lund University) for the right to translate parent guides about mobile games into Swedish for Kollaspelet.se, which was funded by Mediamyndigheten (the Swedish Agency for the Media) and Barnahus Stockholm (December 2024); Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art for a guest lecture (December 2024); and DiGRA Korea and the Game-n-Science Institute [게임과학연구원] under the Game Culture Foundation [게임문화재단] under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea [문화체육관광부] for participating in an academic research survey (January 2025). L.Y.X. received royalties by virtue of the copyright subsisting in some of his publications from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) (Companies House number: 01310636) (March 2023, 2024, & 2025). A full gifts and hospitality register-equivalent for L.Y.X. is available at: https://www.leonxiao.com/about/gifts-and-hospitality-register. The up-to-date version of L.Y.X.’s conflict-of-interest statement is available at: https://www.leonxiao.com/about/conflict-of-interest. C.D. was previously employed with research funding from the AFSG. As to Z.D. and A.C., the University of Gibraltar received funding from the Gibraltar Gambling Care Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit charity, and donations from gambling operators through the LCCP RET process supervised by the UK Gambling Commission. C.H., O.K., and D.K. declare no conflicts of interest. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Addictive behaviour; Adolescents; Age ratings; Behavioral addiction; Children and young people; Computer gaming; Gaming disorder; Internet; Internet Use Disorder; Internet addiction; Internet use; Loot boxes; Online gaming; Policy; Regulation; Technology addiction; Video games |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260521 Date Completed: 20260612 Latest Revision: 20260625 |
| Update Code: | 20260625 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.comppsych.2026.152713 |
| PMID: | 42167097 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1532-8384 |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.comppsych.2026.152713 |