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I've spent thousands of dollars on Magic: the Gathering cards and stuff (across 15 years). I think it's way more than I should have, and I'll never get it back

I've spent thousands of dollars on Magic: the Gathering cards and stuff (across 15 years). I think it's way more than I should have, and I'll never get it back. It does have the addicting part (packs and drafts are addictive as hell), and a "collectible" part for rationalization. I have some kind of personal problem that leads me into these time sinks, because I've mostly quit, only to replace it with other time wasters (League of Legends and others). edit: omonra, your post is dead.

jacques_chester 14y ago
> I have some kind of personal problem that leads me into these time sinks Your personal problem is that you're a higher animal. Out of the reinforcement schedule patterns that maximise conditioning, the "Variable Interval Reinforcement Ratio" or VIRR is the most powerful. That is: systems with random payoff schedules are the most addictive to higher animals. Pigeons, rats, humans: if good stuff happens at random we quickly become shackled to whatever it was we were doing. Gambling: random payoffs. Addictive. Buying MtG booster packs: random payoffs. Addictive. Many, many computer games: random payoffs. Addictive.