• helenslunch@feddit.nl
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    7 months ago

    I mean, it’s a legitimate question:

    What is addiction, and how does it differ from just “really entertaining”?

    I’ve got several thousand hours in Rocket League but I wouldn’t say that I’m addicted to it.

    • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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      7 months ago

      Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behaviour that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences.

      If you employ psychologists and other specialists to design something for maximum retention, you‘re not making something „entertaining“, you‘re tricking the brain into a loop.

      We could discuss this endlessly but suffice it to say that there are techniques for retention that dont make an experience necessarily better but more captivating. Infinite scrolling is a very simple example. i bet some game designers could shine a pretty bright light on this if they stumble across this thread.

      I could abstract this to the real world like so: two people can speak exactly the same text but one cares if their audience is getting tired and stops, the other one speaks a little louder and turns on some more lights. I‘m pretty sure you will get a significantly longer retention despite the quality being the exact same.

      And this is why methods for retention need to be carefully screened and regulated.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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        7 months ago

        Infinite scrolling is a very simple example

        Have to strongly disagree. Having to constantly reload entire pages of content is incredibly annoying. The only reason it makes people want to quit is because it’s annoying.

          • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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            7 months ago

            I didn’t say or imply that it was invalid.

            The fact that you chose that specific example, one that I think is plainly wrong, just goes to show that the discussion is not as simple as you or other people make it out to be, and that any regulation around this will most certainly ensure that future games are shittier.

            • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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              7 months ago

              I dont like you stating things as if they were an objective truth. It is your opinion that infinite scrolling is “good” or whatever you wanted to say. But it is a retention method and not just a QoL feature. There are articles explaining this and some websites have expressly disabled it because it leads to problems for people who are vulnerable.

              • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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                7 months ago

                I dont like you stating things as if they were an objective truth.

                You’re the only one doing that.

                But it is a retention method and not just a QoL feature

                So you agree that it’s both?

                • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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                  7 months ago

                  You can see from the downvotes that you‘re being trolly but not fun.

                  I guess we just agree to disagree and go our seperate ways now.

                  Have a good one.

          • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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            7 months ago

            Raskin claims his intention was to create the most seamless experience possible for users

            And it worked 🤷

            You’re making my point for me.