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Video games designed to be addicting?

grommet

grommet

Well-Known Member
I was listening to The WAN Show by Linus Tech Tips on Youtube and Linus commented that video games are meant to be addicting. This may be obvious to most people and known for a long time but until he said that, I did not know it. When I play I have this feeling of I am about to accomplish something and if I could play just a little bit longer I could do it. But when I do that thing, there is a next thing that feels the same way. I once played a game for 10.5 hours.

It is a feeling of almost accomplishing something and wanting to see it through but that feeling never seems to go away no matter how much I play. I enjoy them very much but
 
Of course, they are designed to be addicting. But that addiction is less toxic than an addiction to news media, drugs/alcohol or gambling. It is my addiction of choice these days.
 
It's important to understand that addiction is only an extreme of the standard motivation. Eternally being denied the perfect satiation is how we are pushed to do all that we do. Addiction is specifically where one of these motivations becomes so strong it pushes you down a self-destructive path. Often in the form of neglecting your health.
 
Knower of nothing said:
It's important to understand that addiction is only an extreme of the standard motivation. Eternally being denied the perfect satiation is how we are pushed to do all that we do. Addiction is specifically where one of these motivations becomes so strong it pushes you down a self-destructive path. Often in the form of neglecting your health.
Click to expand...

I used the word addiction because that is the word that was said in the podcast but I did not and I do not think they meant it literally.

I am wondering if the designers of games are purposely making the games so you feel a compulsion to keep playing. It seems to me that it is inadvertent because it is so hard for me to believe people would do that while at work, purposely. It may be the situation though. If it is I wonder if the people in the business who think well of themselves are able to align that belief with doing that.
 
grommet said:
I used the word addiction because that is the word that was said in the podcast but I did not and I do not think they meant it literally.

I am wondering if the designers of games are purposely making the games so you feel a compulsion to keep playing. It seems to me that it is inadvertent because it is so hard for me to believe people would do that while at work, purposely. It may be the situation though. If it is I wonder if the people in the business who think well of themselves are able to align that belief with doing that.
Click to expand...
All games have at the very least the general motivation of wanting people to play them so they get bought in the first place and can actually be sustained as an art form. However there are companies and even whole genres dedicated to messing with the primal euphoria of achievement and greed as it is objectively profitable to make someone addicted to your work. Some mobile games or MMOs for example have a free to play model to initially lure people in, then they rely on a select few vulnerable people to become seriously addicted (named "whales" for their large spending) as the means to sustain and make a profit. Any game with market, gacha or lootbox mechanics that costs real money to use is in essence aiming for this. In europe it has been legally classified as a type of gambling so it's getting more restricted since in many cases these games end up inadvertently targetting kids.
In short, some companies are very consciously choosing to do this but any game that contains xp bars, collectibles, achievements, big MISSION CLEAR pop-ups or whatever else is also playing on the same addictive center in your brain though likely just because they want people to have fun.
 
Knower of nothing said:
All games have at the very least the general motivation of wanting people to play them so they get bought in the first place and can actually be sustained as an art form. However there are companies and even whole genres dedicated to messing with the primal euphoria of achievement and greed as it is objectively profitable to make someone addicted to your work. Some mobile games or MMOs for example have a free to play model to initially lure people in, then they rely on a select few vulnerable people to become seriously addicted (named "whales" for their large spending) as the means to sustain and make a profit. Any game with market, gacha or lootbox mechanics that costs real money to use is in essence aiming for this. In europe it has been legally classified as a type of gambling so it's getting more restricted since in many cases these games end up inadvertently targetting kids.
In short, some companies are very consciously choosing to do this but any game that contains xp bars, collectibles, achievements, big MISSION CLEAR pop-ups or whatever else is also playing on the same addictive center in your brain though likely just because they want people to have fun.
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This is fascinating. I did not know all of that. I wondered why so many games are free, I could not understand how they could make money that way. I always think people think like I do, they want to do the right thing. I wonder about the morality of having a business like you talk about.

Once I contacted a company because my package did not arrive. They re-sent the entire order and asked me to ship back the original if it finally arrived. It did and I sent it back. We were all honest and kind and I thought that was the right way.

I understand kindness, I do not understand starting out with the idea to take advantage. I could understand a single person doing that in a desperate situation but not in a calm way every day when the go to work. I just do not understand it.

There is a biologist who tried to explain by giving the example of a fictitious group of sea birds. He says it takes energy to catch fish. Some birds will figure out it takes less energy to steal the fish from birds back from hunting. He says a percentage of the population will be criminals.

But I think people can think better than that and know what is like to be preyed on. So hard for me to imagine and understand real people in a meeting in a room somewhere talking about and making thing addictive to get people's money. I am assuming either they are not doing anything wrong and it is me who just feels differently about it or they know what they are doing is wrong but do it anyway and that is where I get stuck.

Thank you for your very interesting facts.
 
grommet said:
I was listening to The WAN Show by Linus Tech Tips on Youtube and Linus commented that video games are meant to be addicting.
Click to expand...
Some do seem to be designed to be addictive. My daughter got involved in some virtual worlds where you needed to play longer or spend to keep up with other players and she was putting to much time into them. I had to put a stop to it. I was the world's worst parent for a month, or so I was told. She seems to have gotten over it. (She was around ten or eleven at the time.)
 
I once played on my Nintendo switch for eight hours straight with no breaks.. definitely a bad idea. Planning to do something similar tomorrow but taking breaks in between.
 
Yes, like the cases of people who played famous games such as Star Craft until they died.
 
Yeah. Most games are designed to trigger that "I did that" switch in your brain.
Best way to combat it is with long term pleasure activities.
Things like Hiking and other exercise activities.
Puzzles and Reading (not audio books, actual reading - letters on paper)
ANYTHING that requires a longer than 10 minute attention span!
If you're not going to invest in interpersonal relationships these are the things that can give your life meaning IF and ONLY IF they matter to you.
(Edited for better understanding)
 
velociraptor said:
Some do seem to be designed to be addictive. My daughter got involved in some virtual worlds where you needed to play longer or spend to keep up with other players and she was putting to much time into them. I had to put a stop to it. I was the world's worst parent for a month, or so I was told. She seems to have gotten over it. (She was around ten or eleven at the time.)
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World's worth parent. Funny. Kids have so much passion they only see the moment and their whole world seems ruined because you won't let them do something. I think kids are cute but tiring as you try to keep up.
 
Xerces Blue said:
Yeah. Most games are designed to trigger that "I did that" switch in your brain.
Best way to combat it is with long term pleasure activities.
Things like Hiking and other exercise activities.
Puzzles and Reading (not audio books, actual reading - letters on paper)
ANYTHING that requires a longer than 10 minute attention span!
If you're not going to invest in interpersonal relationships these are the things that can give your life meaning IF and ONLY IF they matter to you.
(Edited for better understanding)
Click to expand...

I very much enjoy long-term activities, maybe the most. It is soothing. I was surprised by my reaction to video games though. I just learned about and started playing them the last two years. I like the way you put it, the "I did that" switch. That is what it feels like. But as soon as I m meet that challenge I have to do the next thing or I feel awful, incomplete. But it never feels complete, always one more thing to do and so close to doing it. That feels pretty bad. Strange combination of fun and pressure to never stop. Like I feel guilty if I quit because I was so close.
 
Here's an interesting video on what's happening in game design. IMO this guy is a very good presenter.


Bottom line: newer games are being made as addictive as possible, the process is already highly evolved, and very effective.

Note the examples are all mobile games, because he's a phone guy. He says it's happening on other gaming platforms too.
 
There's a funny Tony Attwood video where Dr. Attwood is discussing this and says, "Of course, because it's the cure!!!" This isn't such a benign addiction, when it stretches on and deactivates any other personal agency that we might develop.

I'd also add social media to this, because that's "the cure" too. It makes us feel connected when we have social deficits, but the quality and seriousness is so low, and anonymous trolling is so high. That's why I've taken more refuge here, because the v-bulletin forum model is more conducive to actual conversation than the Fa(k)ebook-style platforms such as Reddit, et al. These subject-based, rather than personality-based, forums are going more and more extinct everyday.

I think gaming is great special interest and all, but for some it ends up feeling a lot more like social success than it really is.
 
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