Acknowledging the harm that might result from any leisure activity can be taboo but, when it comes to online gaming, the science suggests that embracing harm minimisation strategies could make us all better players.
“What we know about how the brain processes reward is that when there are cues around that predict a reward they activate certain neurotransmitters in the brain,” Dr Molly Crockett, a tutorial fellow in the department of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, tells iNTERGAMINGi magazine.
“In a casino or on a website, you will most likely see money and symbols representing money everywhere; these are cues associated with reward and what that does is stimulate the dopamine system, which then motivates you to seek out those rewards.”
The scientific research undertaken by Crockett and others, some of which is featured in the forthcoming issue of iNTERGAMINGi, suggests that the neurological response to these reward cues can make it harder for individuals to exercise free will - even if they visit a site solely with the intention of initiating the self-exclusion process on offer from the vast majority of operators.
At present, if a player wishes to limit their ability to log in to an online gaming account, that individual has little option but visit the relevant operator’s website and seek out the self-exclusion pages, scrolling past countless visual cues that erode that player’s ability to make good their plans to self-exclude.
It is illogical to expect players to make clear-headed decisions if the very pages intended to help them contain cues that, science firmly suggests, erode their ability to help themselves.
So what is to be done? The Responsible Gambling Trust, the Remote Gambling Association and the industry at large are currently all working towards improved coherence and cooperation to offer meaningful support that would enable some players to manage their playing habits without ever needing to fully self-exclude, which should be regarded as a last resort.
As long as harm minimisation sits low on the agenda, those efforts can only ever achieve so much.
What is needed now is what politicians like to call a “conversation.” Harm minimisation should not be taboo; let’s talk about it and what it means - it will improve the industry and its image.
Read more from the science community and the RGA on this topic in the forthcoming issue of iNTERGAMINGi magazine
