Global playgrounds: young people, digital citizenship and loot boxes

Young people, like their older counterparts, are increasingly spending time online, exacerbated by the shift to remote schooling, socialising and living brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in many parts of the world. In this chapter, we explore some contemporary issues regarding young people’s experiences and activities online through the phenomenon of loot boxes as a subject of regulatory and policy debate. Using the framing of young people’s digital citizenship and the regulation of online spaces more generally and specifically visa-vis young people’s activities online, we consider how a risk based approach has mainly been taken towards young people online, which may not take sufficient account of their participation online. As regards loot boxes, there are widely diverging approaches to how they have been categorised and regulated (or not). Our case study China has taken a strongly protective approach. However, even in China, rules can be circumvented – by young people themselves as an exercise of their participative digital citizenship. We argue that regulatory approaches to young people online must do better to facilitate young people’s participation as digital citizens while still protecting them from harm.