Aaron Drummond

My name is Aaron Drummond. I am a psychologist and researcher whose work is most closely associated with psychology, video games, digital behaviour, and gambling-like systems in modern media. Over the years, my academic career has developed from more traditional areas of cognitive and experimental psychology into research that speaks directly to current public concerns, especially loot boxes, microtransactions, user vulnerability, and digital harm. Publicly available records identify me as an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Tasmania, note that I completed my PhD in 2010, and show that I previously served as a Senior Lecturer at Massey University from January 2016 to January 2023.

Academic Background

PhD and Early Research Interests

I completed my PhD in 2010. In the earlier stage of my career, my research interests were more closely tied to cognitive and experimental psychology. I worked on questions involving spatial thinking, imagined viewpoints, mental representation, and the ways people process structured information. That part of my academic life was important because it gave me a strong empirical foundation and shaped the way I approach research: carefully, systematically, and with a strong emphasis on evidence. The University of Tasmania profile explicitly notes the PhD year, and early publication records show work on spatial descriptions and representational bias.

Early Publicly Visible Affiliations

Some of my earlier publications are publicly associated with Flinders University in Australia. Those affiliations link me to work connected with the School of Education, the School of Psychology, and later the Flinders Human Behaviour & Health Research Unit. I see that phase as an important period of development, because it helped me strengthen my methodological grounding before I moved into the areas for which I later became more widely known. The publication trail from PubMed supports this early connection to Flinders University across the early and mid-2010s.

Early Career Development

Building an Evidence-Based Approach

I have never wanted to approach media or games from a purely negative point of view. Even before my later work on loot boxes, I was interested in how digital and interactive systems shape experience and behaviour. I believed that games should be studied seriously rather than reduced to broad moral judgments. Some earlier work connected with my research record examined gaming in a more balanced way, including whether video games necessarily harmed academic performance. That mattered to me because I wanted to distinguish between exaggerated public fears and effects that could actually be supported by evidence.

Transition Toward Media and Behaviour Research

As my research developed, I became increasingly interested in how structured digital environments influence human behaviour. What drew me in was the fact that games and online systems are not passive media. They are environments built around incentives, repetition, anticipation, and reward. That made them psychologically rich and worth studying with the same seriousness as more traditional behavioural contexts. This shift in focus later became central to my work on monetised game systems and gambling-like mechanics.

Massey University Years

Senior Lecturer in New Zealand

A major turning point in my public academic profile came during my years at Massey University in New Zealand. My ORCID employment record lists me as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Massey University in Palmerston North from 18 January 2016 to 16 January 2023. During this period, my work gained much more international visibility, especially through research on loot boxes and the relationship between chance-based digital rewards and gambling-related harms.

Growing International Visibility

The Massey years were especially significant because they coincided with a rapid rise in debate over monetisation in games. Institutional material from Massey University presents my research as contributing to international policy discussion and public understanding of how vulnerable players may be affected by chance-based reward systems. That visibility was important, but for me the real value lay in helping move the discussion toward evidence and away from vague reactions.

Research on Loot Boxes

Why Loot Boxes Became Central to My Work

I became especially well known for research on loot boxes, which are randomised reward mechanisms in video games that players can often purchase with real money. My interest in this topic came from a broader concern with how uncertainty, anticipation, variable reward, and spending behaviour interact in digital environments. I wanted to understand whether these systems were simply entertainment features or whether, for some users, they operated in ways that were psychologically similar to gambling.

A Landmark Publication

One of my most visible publications was the 2018 paper I co-authored with James Sauer, Video game loot boxes are psychologically akin to gambling, published in Nature Human Behaviour. This article became one of the key scholarly reference points in the international discussion about loot boxes. Its importance was not only that it received attention, but that it helped reframe the conversation around specific mechanics, behavioural design, and measurable psychological risk.

Expanding the Research Agenda

After that publication, much of my work continued to explore related issues. I contributed to studies on the relationship between loot box spending and problem gambling, excessive gaming, psychological distress, risky engagement, and other indicators of vulnerability. My aim was not to claim that all players are equally at risk, but to build a more precise understanding of who might be affected, under what conditions, and why these systems deserve attention from researchers and policymakers. Massey University’s impact profile and later publications reflect that continuing focus.

Policy and Public Impact

From Research to Regulation Debates

Part of the significance of this work lies in its policy relevance. Some of my research has directly addressed whether loot boxes could be regulated as gambling, whether limit-setting might help protect vulnerable users, and how psychology can inform public debate around consumer protection in digital systems. The public academic record shows that this side of my work became increasingly important as governments, regulators, and advocacy groups began taking the issue more seriously.

Public-Facing Scholarship

During the period when my research became more widely known, it also attracted broader media and public-policy attention. Massey University specifically states that my work contributed to international reviews and hearings related to protecting vulnerable gamers. I have always seen that as a reminder that psychological research can do more than describe behaviour. It can also help make public debate more precise, more evidence-based, and more useful when complex digital products begin to affect everyday life.

University of Tasmania

Current Role

More recently, public records identify me as an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Tasmania. Recent publications also list University of Tasmania affiliations, showing that this is the current institutional home most clearly supported by the public record. This stage of my career represents both continuity and consolidation. The main themes of my work remain tied to digital behaviour, gambling-like game mechanics, and psychological vulnerability, but I now hold a more established academic position within that field.

Ongoing Research Direction

At this stage, my work continues to reflect an interest in how digital systems influence behaviour, especially when they combine reward, uncertainty, and spending in ways that may affect vulnerable users. The broader shape of my academic path remains consistent: I began with cognition and experimental psychology, moved into games and digital systems, and then focused more sharply on monetised uncertainty and behavioural risk.

How I Would Summarise My Career

If I had to summarise my work simply, I would say this: I study how digital systems shape behaviour, especially when they use uncertainty, reward, and monetisation in ways that may affect vulnerable people. My research has tried to bring evidence and clarity to debates that are often emotional, commercially important, and socially significant. Publicly available records show a career that began in mainstream psychological research, developed through affiliations with Flinders University, expanded significantly during my Massey University years, and continues now at the University of Tasmania.