These pop psychology articles prove you wrong. Gaming companies strive deliberately to make their games addicting. And by addicting I mean addicting, not fun.

These pop psychology articles prove you wrong. Gaming companies strive deliberately to make their games addicting. And by addicting I mean addicting, not fun. http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-gam... + http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design.php?page=1 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_d... The techniques that I'll discuss in this article generally fall under the heading of behavioral psychology. Best known for the work done on animals in the field, behavioral psychology focuses on experiments and observable actions. One hallmark of behavioral research is that most of the major experimental discoveries are species-independent and can be found in anything from birds to fish to humans. What behavioral psychologists look for (and what will be our focus here) are general "rules" for learning and for how minds respond to their environment.