James Sauer

Associate Professor Jim Sauer (University of Tasmania) is a psychological scientist with an interest in the effects of media, especially video gameplay, on cognition and behaviour.

Since 2018, with colleague Dr Aaron Drummond, he has had a particular interest in the effects of engaging with loot boxes (gambling-like rewards in video games) on player’s gaming behaviour and well-being. Together, they published the first empirical evaluation of the psychological similarities between loot boxes and gambling (2018), a second paper establishing that loot boxes meet some important legal criteria to be considered gambling (2020) – both published in Nature Human Behaviour – and the first meta-analytic demonstration of the positive association between loot box spending and problem gambling symptomatology (2021).

Since 2018, Sauer and Drummond have authored a series of peer-reviewed publications on loot boxes, which have supported expert testimony to Australian, UK, NZ and US governmental inquiries, and a variety of consumer safety efforts. Our work has contributed to loot boxes being added to the US Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and European (PEGI) classification descriptors, and to public awareness and consumer protection endeavours with the Department of Internal Affairs (NZ), Hāpai Te Hauora (Māori Public Health), Atareira Mental Health Support, the New Zealand Psychological Society, the International Association of Gaming Regulators, Te Mana Whakaatu (Classification Office NZ), and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand.

More recently, his interest has extended to mitigating digital harms more broadly, including to the use of online messaging to help adolescents and young people avoid risky behaviours and access necessary supports.