how to make video games that hook players, whether they like it or not

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html

followed a few links, very interesting reading http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design.php?page=1 , and http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=16984


but seriously, that Cracked article is DEEEEEEP. Worth reading, if just to get to the end of the 2nd page, the final thoughts it offers:

The terrible truth is that a whole lot of us begged for a Skinner Box we could crawl into, because the real world's system of rewards is so much more slow and cruel than we expected it to be. In that, gaming is no different from other forms of mental escape, from sports fandom to moonshine.

Addiction is not about what you DO, but what you DON'T DO because of the replacement of the addictive behavior ... The danger lies in the fact that these games have become so incredibly efficient at delivering the sense of accomplishment that people used to get from their education or career.

[Mr. Analog]

Human psychology plays a role in entertainment? Who woulda thunk it!

[Tom]

Human psychology plays a role in entertainment? Who woulda thunk it!

Entertainment should probably be entertaining though

[Mr. Analog]

Human psychology plays a role in entertainment? Who woulda thunk it!

Entertainment should probably be entertaining though

Most games are, not sure what you're trying to say here. My problem with the article is that the same things could be said about pretty much any form of entertainment. It's just the human condition.

[Tom]

Human psychology plays a role in entertainment? Who woulda thunk it!

Entertainment should probably be entertaining though

Most games are, not sure what you're trying to say here. My problem with the article is that the same things could be said about pretty much any form of entertainment. It's just the human condition.

I'm talking more about the games that have stopped being fun. Its all grind. Like WoW or FarmVille, etc. And as time goes on, more and more games will work this way, just to keep people hooked. So there'll be less FUN games.

[Lazybones]

Human psychology plays a role in entertainment? Who woulda thunk it!

Entertainment should probably be entertaining though

Most games are, not sure what you're trying to say here. My problem with the article is that the same things could be said about pretty much any form of entertainment. It's just the human condition.

I'm talking more about the games that have stopped being fun. Its all grind. Like WoW or FarmVille, etc. And as time goes on, more and more games will work this way, just to keep people hooked. So there'll be less FUN games.

LOL, many original games were Kill X, if anything we have far more story driven games now than ever before.

[Mr. Analog]

Human psychology plays a role in entertainment? Who woulda thunk it!

Entertainment should probably be entertaining though

Most games are, not sure what you're trying to say here. My problem with the article is that the same things could be said about pretty much any form of entertainment. It's just the human condition.

I'm talking more about the games that have stopped being fun. Its all grind. Like WoW or FarmVille, etc. And as time goes on, more and more games will work this way, just to keep people hooked. So there'll be less FUN games.

For you perhaps, but there are THOUSANDS of people who still enjoy that crap. I really don't think we'll see more and more games that work the same way, in fact I see the industry going in new directions simply because it's impossible to compete with existing games that have "hooked" a large fanbase with good, yet repetitive gameplay.

Think about it, WoW has a massive fanbase, no other property has been able to tap that market by offering the same or similar experience, I'd wager that nothing can break it's dominance by just offering the status quo. (this chart, though a bit dated, tells an interesting tale http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html )

So then what happens, developers go back to the drawing boards and create a brand new set of games with a new set of "rewards" and so the ecology of interactive entertainment can evolve again. At some point some new game or publisher will dominate, popularity will soar and people on the internet will try to correlate rewarding gameplay with people who have compulsive personalities.

[Darren Dirt]

Human psychology plays a role in entertainment? Who woulda thunk it!

Entertainment should probably be entertaining though

Most games are, not sure what you're trying to say here. My problem with the article is that the same things could be said about pretty much any form of entertainment. It's just the human condition.

Degree of precision and "efficiency" in the manipulation ... and VOLUME. That's the difference.

There's only a few thousand new movies each year, most of them not even released to the masses in theatres. When it comes to video games, almost anything that isn't in the Bargain Bin is going to be tainted by the now-well-developed science of manipulating/addicting the gamer... And when it comes to MMOs the article is really pointing out how much of the time spent in gameplay is not "fun" in the Old School sense of the word (i.e. discovering the unknown, being rewarded for ingenuity/persistence, etc.) but instead is directed toward just arbitrary, sometimes capricious incrementing counters so you can get the next boolean set to "True". As long as it keeps renewing your subscription, storytelling and character development and "fun" be damned.

imo that is why there's been a huge increase in popularity of "casual gaming" (to a lesser  extent I'd even include "social network gaming", just not the ones that are also so clearly designed to "hook" you without offering novelty beyond the initial phase of discovery of the universe the game designer has created).

But what do I know, I'm an old fart who misses the way it felt to first play Lemmings or Gauntlet, discovering new levels, and even new WAYS of playing the game after you have become very familiar with the mechanics and levels of the game... Hard to say that about a majority of today's prettier games. Not all of them, obviously, but the ones that are Big Business are going to be based on psychological manipulation, and if I'm going to be manipulated, it better be for 2-3 hours TOPS, in a movie, with realistic human emotions displayed and shared by the audience... Because durations beyond that are really just reducing us to Pavlovian dogs. Do not want.

[Mr. Analog]

I see the relation in the rise of casual gaming to the increase of personal computer use by the general masses.

I see nothing sinister in this at all, as soon as you add reward to an activity it becomes pleasurable, when that happens it shouldn't be a surprise that some people can't resist the "temptation" to be pleasured.

As bizarre as it sounds there are those who find grinding in a repetitive game pleasurable.

[Darren Dirt]

the following Yahtzee parody is related to this topic, a whining rant about how games used to be -- but really for the most part are not any more -- FUN.

... and yes, you might just recognize who is the voice if you think way back to the Pure Past...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7VAhzPcZ-s




(I think it's from a few years ago, though, i.e. before iPhone games re-introduced Creativity )