4 ms·
I think that's more about the player than the game. Most people would consider Halo a pretty casual game, but I've lived with people that played 4-5 hours of it
by cjrp 14y ago
I think that's more about the player than the game. Most people would consider Halo a pretty casual game, but I've lived with people that played 4-5 hours of it per day (on average). Similarly, I used to play WoW for a few hours per week, and then just got bored and stopped. Not exactly addictive.
- enraged_camel 14y agoI think a case could be made that games like WoW are designed to attract and exploit addictive personalities. The WoW playerbase probably contains a higher percentage of addicts than most other games, since the game's quest structure is fine-tuned to balance the frequency and quality of rewards. That said, you're absolutely right, this does not mean that everyone who plays WoW is a basement-dwelling addict.
- pi18n 14y agoWoW is ethically worse than, say, Mario, but better than a slot machine, which is in turn better than everything from Zynga.
- jetti 14y agoHow are ethics involved in WoW? (Sincere question)
- pi18n 14y agoOh, I mean in the sense that it is manipulating players into continuing, I think it's ethically questionable.
- jetti 14y agoSee, as somebody who was addicted to the game for a few years during college, I don't see how it is manipulating anybody? The game is fun and it has a lot of content and they keep adding content. It was MY lack of self control that led to me playing the long hours I did, it had NOTHING to do with Blizzards "manipulation". Blizzard is in the business of making money through making games. It is in their interest to keep users playing month to month because of their recurring fee. In order to do that, they need to keep the game fresh so they introduce a lot of content. People want to play this new content so they keep playing.
- pyre 14y agoThe idea of manipulation in games is when they add specifically add game elements meant to keep the user in the game, and encourage them never to leave. Sure it's all a matter of self-control. Not losing your life-savings at a casino is also about self-control. That doesn't mean that casinos can't do ethically dubious things to take advantage of people without self-control. E.g. The inside of a casino always looks the same, even at night. No windows (being near the entrance is the exception), lots of bright lights. It makes it easier for a gambler to lose track of time.
- sigzero 14y agoIf she posted "I played WoW all day and did not do any work" on the face that is a genuine ping on her work ethic. You have to look and see what kind of "work" she does though to ascertain that and other details like did she bill her time anyway.
- roc 14y agoGame design can quite trivially trigger obsessive and compulsive responses and progressively increase time/money commitment to the next 'hit'. (see: Zynga) Before Zynga and before free to play games were popular, MMO's like WoW were the default case study for arguments about where the line is, between a pass-time and a conditioning chamber.
- dbaupp 14y agoI agree with your assessment, but the "social games" (Farmville etc.) probably have the highest percentage of addicts, since being an addictive drug is essentially their purpose.
- pyre 14y agoI'd say it may be less about addiction and more about escapism. The problem being that unlike other video games/books/etc, the story doesn't end, but keeps on going. This allows the escapist to allow themselves to be engulfed by the world.