In 2021, Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 Irish-American company for IT services and consultancy, conducted a survey across four major gaming markets – China, Japan, US, and UK, and established that two thirds of players would rather play socially responsible games than games that have no connection to a socially significant cause.
Out of 4,000 survey respondents, 39 percent agreed and 27 percent completely agreed with the statement that they were more likely to play a game if it was socially responsible, making it a total of 66 percent positive answers.
A quarter or 26 percent of participants answered neutrally, while 5 percent disagreed and 3 percent completely disagreed that the social responsibility factor would play any role in their choice of games.
As a whole, the social aspect of online gaming has gained prominence during the pandemic, the Accenture survey observes, with 74 percent of people admitting that Covid-19 has caused more of their social interactions to be conducted through gaming.
Video games help players connect with others with similar interests according to 84 percent of respondents, 80 percent said games help them meet new people, and 77 percent answered that games help them stay in touch with friends.
Social Responsibility and Responsible Gaming
The findings by Accenture and other research teams were recently examined in the broader context of responsible gaming policies by a study published at https://www.sevenjackpots.com/ and titled “What is a Responsible Gaming Policy? Methods, Tools, and Achievements”.
“In the past decade, Responsible gaming (RG) has become a cornerstone principle of the real-money gaming industry. Mature tech markets and well-regulated gambling jurisdictions have consumers who expect RG practices from operators. The gaming industry itself seeks to demonstrate its reliability and social responsibility even when there are no specific requirements by gambling regulators,” the researchers at SevenJackpots write.
Mature and regulated gambling markets typically report that between 0.5 and 3.3 percent of adults who play show signs of problem gaming behaviour. A common misconception is that responsible gaming policies are intended only for these vulnerable players.
In fact, besides treating already existing problems and disorders, RG policies focus on prevention and mitigation measures, including awareness and education campaigns. “Thus, effective RG policies create risk awareness, safely deliver games and provide support services to those in need – in that order,” the authors point out.
Financial Limits and Reality Checks are the Most Used RG Tools in the UK
A survey conducted in 2000 with 8,000 participants in Great Britain has concluded that financial limits and reality checks are the most used responsible gambling tools in the UK, with the former having been employed by 8 percent of respondents, and the latter – by 5 percent.
At the same time, financial limits (51 percent), time outs (41 percent), and payment card blocking with the player’s bank (38 percent) are the tools that enjoy the highest awareness among British gamblers.
Responsible gambling tools including self-exclusion measures are most likely to be used by younger gamers (in the 18 to 34 age group), online gamblers and engaged gamblers.
Other data quoted by the SevenJackpots study shows that 80,000 people in Sweden have used self-exclusion tools, which is a full 1 percent of the country’s whole adult population of 8 million.
Shifting the focus to India and its emerging online gambling market, the authors conclude that “a framework regulation can ensure the integrity of the industry as well as the legitimacy of domestic operations. With RG as a guiding principle, lawmakers could justify online gaming as a healthy sector to provide jobs and increase tax revenues while protecting consumers.”
“Even more relevantly, a transparent and ethical gaming industry generates the necessary public funding for authorities to monitor and control the market,” the research team highlights.