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Online Game Addiction and the mechanics behind it. By Chrisenrico Sese. Introduction. Worldwide revenue made at 2008 -approximately 54 Billion US dollars. In the US industry, the revenue made at the same year was around 22 billion dollars. Addiction.
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Online Game Addictionand the mechanics behind it By ChrisenricoSese
Introduction • Worldwide revenue made at 2008 -approximately 54 Billion US dollars • In the US industry, the revenue made at the same year was around 22 billion dollars
Addiction • MMORPG-massive multiplayer online role playing game -A screenshot of Everquest
Addiction • John Hopson- a game researcher from Microsoft who presented five strategic methods on how to attract the player to keep on playing
Method #1 Putting you in a skinner in a skinner box BurrhusFrederic Skinner • An American behaviorist, author, inventor, social philosopher and a poet The Skinner Box
Method #2 Creating Virtual Food Pellets for you to Eat • Any item has value if it takes effort for an individual to get it
Method #3 Making you Press the Lever • Variable ratio rewards example- slot machines • Shaping- like links in a chain
Method #4 Keeping you Pressing it… Forever • Easing them in- the idea of making everything easy/fast to acquire at first but soon starts to slow down over time. • Play it or Lose it- a system in the game that punishes the players for inactivity.
Method #5 Getting You to Call the Skinner Box Home • Autonomy • Complexity • Connection between effort and reward
Conclusion • Yes. Excessive gaming could potentially be fatal from exhaustion but then again, almost anything excessive (e.g. excessive water=drowning) is. • Yes. I believe addiction in video games is easily a fact. I myself could testify to this. • But no, I think video games in general should not be to blame for this side effect especially when a simple practice of moderation and discipline could prevent it.