Game design
behaviour can change, potentially materially, depending on how information is framed. At a previous KPMG eSummit, for example, we ran a live framing experiment in the room, finding that even seasoned gaming professionals were not exempt from exhibiting biases in their behaviour when choices were framed in certain ways. There may be clear positives to framing in the sector. For example, positive framing of responsible gambling tools may lead to a greater take up (and, in turn, consumer protection). However, there have already been cases of framing leading to issues in the sector. The recent UK Advertising Standards Authority investigation into Skill on Net Limited, which focused on the use of a “hot or not” mechanism, included concerns that the way in which information was framed to customers inferred that historical information could be used to assess future performance of games that rely on independent events – preying on the “gambler’s fallacy”. Reference pricing describes the display of previous (or future) prices alongside current prices. The reference price is seen as creating an “anchor” in the consumers mind and, in turn, the current price is often made to look more attractive. Markets with transparent price movements have been
OCA practice Description
Evidence
Complex lan- guage %
The choice architect makes information difficult to understand by using obscure word choices and/or sentence structure The choice architect gives a consumer too much information about a product or a service such that information about the most relevant attributes is difficult to find and assess
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Information overload %
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Choice information – betting and gaming examples Below, we discuss the use of reference pricing and framing in the sector. Note that these examples are not always seen as harmful in the literature. Framing is a practice used to describe how operators describe or present decision-related information to the player in a particular way. Behavioural studies show that consumer
30 • IMGL Magazine • July 2022
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