Five Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted

March 12th, 2010

Via: Cracked:

Are some games intentionally designed to keep you compulsively playing, even when you’re not enjoying it?

Oh, hell yes. And their methods are downright creepy.

Related: The Future Where Soda Cans Have Screens

Research Credit: ltcolonelnemo

Posted in Economy, Social Engineering, Technology | Top Of Page

One Response to “Five Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted”

  1. apethought says:
    March 13, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    This article is pretty thoroughly researched,well written and level headed. Other than calling Malcolm Gladwell an “everything expert” I totally agree with it.

    I think the key paragraph is, “In that, gaming is no different from other forms of mental escape, from sports fandom to moonshine. The danger lies in the fact that these games have become so incredibly efficient at delivering the sense of accomplishment that people used to get from their education or career. We’re not saying gaming will ruin the world, or that gaming addiction will be a scourge on youth the way crack ruined the inner cities in the 90s. But we may wind up with a generation of dudes working at Starbucks when they had the brains and talent for so much more.”

    And, as the article makes clear, there are game designers who find addiction-oriented games completely abhorant. You can’t blame the medium though, the problems come from how people use them.

    There’s an interesting short film up on the Future State website that was co-written by a game designer. It looks at a (what I see as dystopian) future where reality is just nested within games. Definitely worth a watch.

    http://www.futurestates.tv/episodes/play

    Unrelated to gaming, check out “Tent City”, it’s also great.

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