it made the rounds in the news a few years back. it absolutely happens. They're involved in everything including making sure the animation that plays when you open a loot box is maximally pleasing to get you to keep playing / purchasing.
Wouldn't shock me if Activision had those folks. I can say, however, that at most companies, it's actually just an artist or UX person who is doing research on things like "how do I make this ceremony maximally impactful", not an actual psychologist, and the only people who actually see the overall system for what it is are at a production level. "I want opening a loot box to feel good" doesn't seem like the kind of exploitation it actually is from the ground level, because the individual implementer just sees it as a variation on, "This should look good!" Banality of evil, etc, etc.
it made the rounds in the news a few years back. it absolutely happens. They're involved in everything including making sure the animation that plays when you open a loot box is maximally pleasing to get you to keep playing / purchasing.
Wouldn't shock me if Activision had those folks. I can say, however, that at most companies, it's actually just an artist or UX person who is doing research on things like "how do I make this ceremony maximally impactful", not an actual psychologist, and the only people who actually see the overall system for what it is are at a production level. "I want opening a loot box to feel good" doesn't seem like the kind of exploitation it actually is from the ground level, because the individual implementer just sees it as a variation on, "This should look good!" Banality of evil, etc, etc.