By that logic everything is addictive and people indulging in it should be considered addicts. And I mean everything, for example: playing sports, singing, painting minis, fantasizing about muscular men, and even cleaning your house.
But that would be kind of meaningless, and would add nothing to the discussion. Luckily the discussion is not about that, it is around games with elements specifically designed to be much more addictive.
Good example would be Bloons TD 6. Is the game itself addictive? I wouldn’t say so, it’s just and ordinary (though well made) game. Again, you can still get addicted to just the play loop of it, but that’s not the point. Are the daily rewards and daily challenges in this game addictive? Yes, their purpose is literally to get you to think you have something do in that game and log in every day to do them. Think about how much less addictive that game would be if those mechanics would be removed. Would people still log in every day to play? Some people yes (third time now, everything can be an addiction), but a lot of people would play much less, and possibly in much more focused sessions (as in not half an hour everyday, but two hours every weekend).
Everything can be addictive. That doesn’t mean everything is designed that way. The key words here are intentionally designed. And nearly all modern games have intentionally addictive design elements, from how the UI is presented, down to how the game feels. Most major game studios literally have psychologists on staff for this very purpose, while smaller studios copy a lot of the same ideas and elements into their games without even necessarily knowing the things they are copying to be like The Current Big Hit were originally designed to be addiction machines (aka Skinner boxes).
By that logic everything is addictive and people indulging in it should be considered addicts. And I mean everything, for example: playing sports, singing, painting minis, fantasizing about muscular men, and even cleaning your house.
But that would be kind of meaningless, and would add nothing to the discussion. Luckily the discussion is not about that, it is around games with elements specifically designed to be much more addictive.
Good example would be Bloons TD 6. Is the game itself addictive? I wouldn’t say so, it’s just and ordinary (though well made) game. Again, you can still get addicted to just the play loop of it, but that’s not the point. Are the daily rewards and daily challenges in this game addictive? Yes, their purpose is literally to get you to think you have something do in that game and log in every day to do them. Think about how much less addictive that game would be if those mechanics would be removed. Would people still log in every day to play? Some people yes (third time now, everything can be an addiction), but a lot of people would play much less, and possibly in much more focused sessions (as in not half an hour everyday, but two hours every weekend).
Everything can be addictive. That doesn’t mean everything is designed that way. The key words here are intentionally designed. And nearly all modern games have intentionally addictive design elements, from how the UI is presented, down to how the game feels. Most major game studios literally have psychologists on staff for this very purpose, while smaller studios copy a lot of the same ideas and elements into their games without even necessarily knowing the things they are copying to be like The Current Big Hit were originally designed to be addiction machines (aka Skinner boxes).