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Of course. People can get addicted to anything. But when a company makes a product that they know is not only addictive but harmful. When they go out of their

Of course. People can get addicted to anything. But when a company makes a product that they know is not only addictive but harmful. When they go out of their way to make the product more addictive without any regard for the harm being done. When they go out of their way to specifically target those who are the most addicted. Well, then you run into some very clear-cut ethics problems. And that's the state we are in right now with a sizeable number of games. Certainly far from all, but those who are right now being the most exploitative are probably going to face a lot of scrutiny in the next several years.

EdgarVerona 8y ago
I agree. This entire industry needs to take a good, long look in the mirror and ask ourselves whether the ends justify the means. Now, I'm not saying it's a clear-cut issue. There's a lot of murky grey area in the land of "what is entertainment?" versus "what is addiction?" And I think culpability on a moral level - though perhaps by necessity not a legal level - will ultimately end up being determined by the product's intent. If you ever want to bum yourself out, go down the road of asking yourself why you really find the things you do for entertainment entertaining. I don't know if it would be for everyone, but it was certainly sobering for me. As a species, we like to think that we have many of the answers about how our brain works and what certain things that feel intuitive mean - things like "entertainment." But I think we're actually a long way off from truly understanding these concepts.
- smt88 8y ago
  There's a big difference between producing something that's addictive by accident vs. engineering the addiction. Even in the former situation, it's reasonable to ask researchers to detect and flag accidentally addictive mechanics.
  - EdgarVerona 8y ago
    Yes, exactly - I totally agree. That's why we both need to have an introspective moment in our industry - where we think about what the things we're making are really doing - and why intent is so important when talking about this issue. I genuinely do believe that a lot of companies have - for lack of a better term - stumbled into addiction.

EdgarVerona 8y ago

I agree. This entire industry needs to take a good, long look in the mirror and ask ourselves whether the ends justify the means. Now, I'm not saying it's a clear-cut issue. There's a lot of murky grey area in the land of "what is entertainment?" versus "what is addiction?" And I think culpability on a moral level - though perhaps by necessity not a legal level - will ultimately end up being determined by the product's intent. If you ever want to bum yourself out, go down the road of asking yourself why you really find the things you do for entertainment entertaining. I don't know if it would be for everyone, but it was certainly sobering for me. As a species, we like to think that we have many of the answers about how our brain works and what certain things that feel intuitive mean - things like "entertainment." But I think we're actually a long way off from truly understanding these concepts.

smt88 8y ago
There's a big difference between producing something that's addictive by accident vs. engineering the addiction. Even in the former situation, it's reasonable to ask researchers to detect and flag accidentally addictive mechanics.
- EdgarVerona 8y ago
  Yes, exactly - I totally agree. That's why we both need to have an introspective moment in our industry - where we think about what the things we're making are really doing - and why intent is so important when talking about this issue. I genuinely do believe that a lot of companies have - for lack of a better term - stumbled into addiction.