Games Without Frontiers

Recent academic and policy attention focuses on the “convergence" of gambling and games. Yet, looking at the social and historical context of gambling and games, we see they were always intertwined, with both reflecting broader social, economic and cultural conditions. Setting out the argument for this book, this chapter contends that what we see today, with phenomena like loot boxes, is an acceleration of this trend, amplified by the changing technologies which underpin both industries. Little attention has been paid to these broader social and historical processes, which limits our understanding of them and our anticipation of what might happen next. This book aims to act as a primer to place the "convergence” of gambling and gaming within its rightful historical context and encourages us to take a broader perspective when thinking about the impact of these developments.