This new project is harvesting primary school students, one card can be sold for 210,000! Be careful

Since its inception, card-drawing mobile games have always been a love-hate relationship for game enthusiasts and the ACG community. The feeling of "drawing your favorite item ten times in a row" often makes players spend a lot of money, while those who are unlucky and unwilling to spend a lot of money can only cry silently with the guaranteed minimum. Thanks to the game control mechanism, these card-drawing mobile games, which can become a bottomless pit of recharge once you get addicted, are mostly played by adults.

However, recently, the trend of card drawing has also emerged among young people. Many primary and secondary school students are keen to order card blind boxes in the live broadcast room, and the anchor will open the cards and evaluate the quality of the cards. Some rare cards are even priced as high as 210,000 yuan. In order to collect rare cards, children spend money almost crazily to draw cards, which makes people worry whether this will lead to the abyss of gambling.

Image from CCTV Finance

Why is card drawing so addictive? How should we teach our children about these popular card drawing games? Let’s start with how card drawing is addictive.

Uncertain rewards for card draws

Card products generally include ordinary cards, intermediate cards and advanced cards. The higher the card position, the scarcer the quantity and the smaller the probability of getting one. We can only know what card we have drawn after we buy it. Due to the scarcity, many people only want to draw advanced cards, and throw away ordinary and intermediate cards that are easy to draw.

In psychology, this kind of gameplay is actually a variable ratio reinforcement , which means that the probability of getting a reward is uncertain, that is, the player does not know when he will get the reward . The famous psychologist B.F. Skinner once used pigeons as experimental subjects to study variable ratio reinforcement. In the experiment, after the pigeons pressed the lever, they sometimes received food rewards and sometimes not, because the intervals of rewards were random. It was found that the pigeons showed an extremely high frequency of pressing the lever, and continued to press even without food rewards.

Through a series of studies, Skinner believed that uncertain rewards would make individuals more excited and engaged, which could easily lead to addiction. In the card-drawing game, every player is actually like the "pigeon" in Skinner's experiment. Because of the uncertainty of the probability of drawing a card, every card draw is an uncertain experience. Although we cannot predict the rarity of the next card, we always hope to get a rare card next time. This uncertainty brings a strong sense of expectation and excitement, which makes us unable to stop at all.

Gambler's curse: "I will definitely win next time"

In the card-opening live broadcast rooms of short video platforms, there are even more exciting card-drawing methods popular. For example, the most common one is called " Stacking ". The rule is simply that if you draw a medium-level card of medium rarity, you will be rewarded with a free chance to "try again". If you draw a medium-level card again, the reward will be upgraded to "try twice more", and so on. If you are lucky enough and stack enough times, the possibility of drawing a rare card will be greater.

This is actually using the Near-Miss Effect in psychology to stimulate consumers' desire to continue drawing cards. This effect refers to the psychological and physiological reactions people experience in gambling situations when participants are close to winning a reward but ultimately fail (i.e., "near miss") . Although logically, near misses are equivalent to direct failures (i.e., not winning at all or winning a common card) in terms of results, because the purpose of crazy card drawing consumption is to draw the rarest card, but psychologically, near misses are perceived as a signal that is closer to success, which will stimulate a stronger response.

A Canadian study used scratch cards as gambling props and recruited 131 volunteers as gamblers. Each person could scratch the card three times in each round. Only by scratching off three jackpot symbols could they redeem the jackpot, and by scratching off three small prize symbols could they redeem the small prize. The results showed that when people got a small prize, they would feel a strong sense of pleasure and could not wait to scratch the next round.

When people only scratched 2 jackpot symbols, they were only one step away from the jackpot, which was a near miss. In this case, people would feel extremely frustrated and defeated, but they would still have a strong desire to continue scratching the card. When people did not scratch any reward symbols and were in a complete loss, they would also be frustrated, but their desire to continue scratching the card was the lowest.

Researchers believe that near misses can cause people to have a higher state of arousal , such as increased heart rate and intense emotions. These reactions are often associated with potential rewards and wins, which activate the brain's reward center , especially the dopamine system, resulting in a stronger motivation to continue trying even if the result is that the rare card is not drawn. Another reason may be that people mistake "near misses" as a sign that they are about to turn their luck around , and this illusion makes gamblers believe that "trying again will definitely succeed."

Therefore, as this study points out, card-drawing games like "Jenga" are actually taking advantage of the near-miss effect, inducing people's urge to continuously place orders to draw cards, because drawing an intermediate card can be regarded as winning a small prize, while at the same time there is a sense of missing out on the grand prize, which makes consumers always want to "try again."

Minors are more vulnerable to card draws

In addition to the influence of the card drawing mechanism and gameplay, the mental development characteristics of minors also determine that they will find it difficult to resist the temptation of card drawing games. There are several key factors:

1

Lack of self-control

Developmental psychology points out that the prefrontal cortex of children and adolescents is not fully developed, and the prefrontal cortex is the key area responsible for decision-making and self-control. This leads to the fact that adolescents generally have weak impulse control ability and are easily affected by external stimuli. Even adults with mature self-control ability may not be able to control the urge to draw cards, let alone immature children.

2

Peer influence

Children and adolescents are in a critical period of establishing peer relationships. They often learn how to make friends and get along with friends during this period, so their behavior is easily influenced by their peers . In card drawing games, adolescents often need to share their card drawing experiences with friends. Drawing a rare card may win them a lot of friends and improve their peers' status, which can further increase their motivation to continue drawing cards.

3

Need for achievement

According to psychologist Erikson's theory of developmental stages, adolescents are in a critical period of establishing self-identity and a sense of accomplishment. Card-drawing games provide a quick and direct sense of accomplishment . When adolescents obtain rare cards, they feel a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. In order to further enhance their sense of accomplishment, many people will choose to show off their rare cards in front of their peers. Whether they are showing off or bystanders, this competitive behavior will make them want to continue drawing cards.

How to guide children to prevent addiction?

Therefore, for children, being addicted to card drawing games has the greatest impact on the healthy development of their psychological and cognitive abilities. This will lead to poor development of their self-control ability , and they may show poor self-control even in adulthood. It is also not conducive to them establishing a good peer relationship model and a healthy source of sense of accomplishment. They will become more inclined to obtain a sense of accomplishment from external materials rather than from self-growth.

However, it is not recommended that parents completely prohibit their children from playing such games, as this may backfire. The correct approach is to agree with children on the rules and restrictions of playing games, play games within a reasonable range, and guide children to develop better interests and activities , such as outdoor sports, handicrafts, family reading clubs, etc., which are not only conducive to physical and mental health, but also increase communication and interaction between parents and children, all of which help prevent children from becoming addicted to card drawing games.

References

[1] Skinner, BF (1938). The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis. New York: Appleton-Century.

[2] Stange, M., Grau, M., Osazuwa, S., Graydon, C., & Dixon, MJ (2017). Reinforcing small wins and frustrating near-misses: Further investigation into scratch card gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 33, 47-63.

[3] Casey, BJ, Getz, S., & Galvan, A. (2008). The adolescent brain. Developmental review, 28(1), 62-77.

Planning and production

Author: Chen Yufeng, Master of Developmental and Educational Psychology

Reviewer: Fan Chunlei, Associate Researcher, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Planning丨Ding Zong

Editor: Ding Zong

Editor: Xu Lai, Lin Lin

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