Videogame Developers Are Making It Harder To Stop Playing (wsj.com) 167
Videogames have gotten harder to turn off, mental-health experts and parents say, raising concerns about the impact of seemingly endless gaming sessions on players' lives. From a report: Game developers for years have tweaked the dials not only on how games look and sound but how they operate under the hood, and such changes have made videogames more pervasive and enthralling, industry observers say. The World Health Organization in June added "gaming disorder" to an updated version of its International Classification of Diseases, warning about a condition in which people give up interests and activities to overly indulge in gaming despite negative consequences. It is expected to be formally classified in January 2022.
Many games today are free, available on multiple devices, and double as social networks. Where once games were played and put away for a while, now game companies are routinely delivering new content aimed at keeping players constantly engaged. Some new content is available only for a limited time, a maneuver that tugs at people's fears of missing out, psychologists say. "Videogames are engineered specifically to keep people playing," said Douglas A. Gentile, a research scientist focused on the impact of media on children and adults. "They're designed to hit the pleasure centers of the brain in some of the same ways that gambling can."
Many games today are free, available on multiple devices, and double as social networks. Where once games were played and put away for a while, now game companies are routinely delivering new content aimed at keeping players constantly engaged. Some new content is available only for a limited time, a maneuver that tugs at people's fears of missing out, psychologists say. "Videogames are engineered specifically to keep people playing," said Douglas A. Gentile, a research scientist focused on the impact of media on children and adults. "They're designed to hit the pleasure centers of the brain in some of the same ways that gambling can."
Simple (Score:1)
I don't play free crap. I only get manipulated into buying dlc for the expensive stuff.
Re: Simple (Score:1)
It could be worse.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Can't talk now...playing Fortnite (Score:3)
I'll get back to you later tonight after I harvest my crop in No Man's Sky.
Re: tv show prediction (Score:2)
Yup, the one where a sentiant computer pulled them into the future to help two socially awkward gamers learn how to interact IRL after most of humanity had died off.
Weird episode but very memorable.
Hmmm (Score:2)
It is in the interest of every business model to get more customers, and to get current customers to use the company's products more frequently.
It is in the interest of society to regulate business, through government interference, when it is determined the business promotion is to the detriment of the current societal belief set; but damn, everything's not a disease.
Gaming Disorder.?.? Just, wow. It's not your fault, you poor addict.
Re:Hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
It is in the interest of every business model to get more customers, and to get current customers to use the company's products more frequently.
It is in the interest of society to regulate business, through government interference, when it is determined the business promotion is to the detriment of the current societal belief set; but damn, everything's not a disease.
Gaming Disorder.?.? Just, wow. It's not your fault, you poor addict.
There are certain groups that are really angry that young men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, and participate in society in the way they demand.
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There are certain groups that are really angry that young men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, and participate in society in the way they demand.
Perhaps then, they have a bigger axe to grind with pronhub.
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There are certain groups that are really angry that young men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, and participate in society in the way they demand.
Perhaps then, they have a bigger axe to grind with pronhub.
Porn is a symptom, not a cause.
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Perhaps then, they have a bigger axe to grind with pronhub.
There are many times I've ground my axe with pornhub. Sure I like to think it's bigger but no such claim would be credible on the internet.
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There are certain groups that are really angry that young men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, and participate in society in the way they demand.
I just prefer to think about it as a really pleasant and asymptotically accurate method for improving the race, and I am saying as that as someone who will likely not have children.
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There are certain groups that are really angry that young men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, and participate in society in the way they demand.
I just prefer to think about it as a really pleasant and asymptotically accurate method for improving the race, and I am saying as that as someone who will likely not have children.
I've never been able to understand exactly why some of these folks are up in arms about gamers and their lifestyle. These men are doing no harm, and the people who hate on them would never mate with them. The only possible disadvantage these groups would have is that these gamma males don't lust after them or show interest. But they are leaving those people alone and not bothering or harassing them. So rather than go on about video game addiction, they should consider themselves as having largely solved one
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However, I've also seen a lot of outrage about that gaming disorder definition and had to ask myself if these people even tried to read and understand what the definition of gaming disorder is about instead of just reading the headlines and chose to get deeply offended or 'triggered'?
Let me quote the criteria:
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For fucks sake. These are pretty common criteria for any kind of addiction, be it substance abuse, gambling, extreme sports, and whatever. Why should activities like playing video games get a free pass?
Well, here's the issue. These things start out using extreme examples. Examples that almost no one is an example of. But there is alawys the "Expansion card deck" in there. to wit:
For gaming disorder to be diagnosed, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months.
So tell me about the family and social part. I
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Although I certainly have to agree that armchair psychology is widespread, especially on the internet. I see it regularly happen here in the slashdot comment section where some very smart people diagnose people with some random disorders or effects to use it as an a
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These are pretty common criteria for any kind of addiction...
No they aren't. Those are symptoms of psychological dependence.
Addiction requires a *physical* dependence which causes *physical* withdrawal symptoms. Without those, it's just psychological dependence, which can be for anything.
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But no, addiction does not necessarily require physical withdrawal symptoms according to the most current definitions that are used in psychology.
For example we have phenomenons like 'problem gambling'/'gambling disorder'/'gambling addiction' where there are no physical withdrawal symptoms whatsoever to my knowledge. According to the DSM V:
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I'd agree, these are symptoms of psychological dependence. But no, addiction does not necessarily require physical withdrawal symptoms according to the most current definitions that are used in psychology.
Your misunderstanding of the terms involved only serves to prove my point, let me clarify for you:
"behavioural addiction" == psychological dependence
"addictive disorder" == psychological dependence
"substance use disorder" == addiction
Changing the names doesn't alter the underlying concepts. What used to be called "addiction" is now called "substance use disorder" and what used to be called "psychological dependence" are now called "addictive disorders"/"behavioural addiction".
Just because the new lab
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However I'd like to clarify something. Would you disagree that those criteria are pretty common for "disorders"? Or just pointing out that mistake I made?
Re:Hmmm (Score:4, Interesting)
> men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, ...
Jordan Peterson calls (*) this behavior MGTOW [youtube.com] Men Go Their Own Way.
It is not just him saying that.
There are certain men who refuse to work with women because anytime a woman claims she was harassed the man is automatically presumed guilty until proven innocent.
In Tim Pool's video [youtube.com] he discusses a famous Fortnite YouTuber, known as Ninja, Tyler Blevins. Specifically, Tyler Blevins' decision where Tyler says would not stream with women because people would then harass his family and accuse him of having an affair.
Quoting the interview [variety.com] from Variety:
If you redd the the comments in Tim Pool's video you will find tons of horror stories where a man was falsely accused and had to defend his integrity -- at great cost.
Can you blame them that some men just go "Fuck it. I don't need this drama."
(*) For the record Jordan admits [youtube.com] he was dismissive of calling MGOTW as "pathetic weasels." It takes a man with integrityto admit he was wrong. Good that he owned up to that epithet.
--
Stupid Juvenile Whiners tactics Rule #3
3. Ad hominem fallacy -- start screaming insults at everyone who disagrees (Whine). i.e. "Haters going to hate"
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> men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, ...
Jordan Peterson calls (*) this behavior MGTOW [youtube.com] Men Go Their Own Way.
It is not just him saying that.
There are certain men who refuse to work with women because anytime a woman claims she was harassed the man is automatically presumed guilty until proven innocent.
As I was told in no uncertain terms by the college sexual harassment counselor, "Anything a woman says is sexual harassment is by definition sexual harassment." This didn't keep me from working with women - oddly enough, the lady scientists and engineers I worked with were almost all friends. But I knew to keep my mouth shut until I knew I could trust them. side note: some of the worst victims of sexual based harassment are these professional ladies - it just comes from other women, so they tend to make w
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"If I have one conversation with one female streamer where we're playing with one another, and even if there's a hint of flirting, that is going to be taken and going to be put on every single video and be clickbait forever," Blevins said.
And this is the source of the Pence Rule - never be alone with a woman other than your wife. A wise rule, that. I've seen minor versions of that. Had a woman accuse me of physically threatening her while I was twenty feet away (and that was about as far away as I could be and still be in the same room). My wife and mother-in-law were there, though, and so she backed down when I called her on her bullshit right then and there.
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Angry is not the right word. Rather they are saying it's harmful for the society and harmful for them. Per CG Jung, if you would take his word, "Deviation from the truth of the blood begets neurotic restlessness ⦠Restlessness begets meaninglessness, and the lack of meaning in life is a soul sickness whose full extent and full import our age has not yet begun to comprehend."
I've experienced period of that in my life, and from my perspective there is truth to that.
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Angry is not the right word.
Your experiences are rather different than mine. Unless of course, I misinterpret loving caring concern as anger. 8^)
Rather they are saying it's harmful for the society and harmful for them.
Of couse it is harmful for them. A lot of women who followed the mantra of go to college, get a career, have a lot of sex with a lot of guys, then at 40 marry that 6 foot 4 hunk millionaire and immediately start having those menopausal babies.
That's the bizzare myth that so many women have been sold - that they can have it all, including the "best" men at a relatively ripe age.
As oppose
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Misunderstanding on my part -- and my bad. I thought you were speaking of people like JB Peterson (though he is not the only one with that message).
As for the rest, I agree with you. FWIW I refuse to take part in the neurosis of everything being labeled as offensive. A couple of years ago I would write things like if the user wants to close the app they need to blah blah, now I say he.
All that said I'm optimistic that we as humanity are slowly pulling back from that neurosis and into more sanity. For a coup
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All that said I'm optimistic that we as humanity are slowly pulling back from that neurosis and into more sanity.
It is a self correcting problem. As the women who are strong and independent and don't need a man in their life and the men who just gave up age out of the population with almost no or no reproduction, people with a different mindset will slowly restore sanity. The trick is going to be avoiding true idiocracy or some sort of return to a time where women lose a lot of the rights they've worked to get before they became the supposedly strong, yet fragile, nurturing, yet angry, delicate flowers that passes for
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There are certain groups that are really angry that young men are choosing to enjoy video games rather than go out in the world, get married, have children, and participate in society in the way they demand.
Blehhhhh.
Firstly, it's not just men who game, mmmkay?
Seocndly, certain companies, e.g. King do in fact employ people who's job it t ofigure out psychological tricks to maximise the literal addictiveness.
Third, no one ever gets all defensive about hipsters, just gamers. Wearing a massive beard, donning sk
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That'd be anyone that is hoping to retire. It's time to give back.
Perhaps they need a reason to want to participate in society then.
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Not me. Stay at home and play video games all you want. No need to worry, mates. I'll take care of all the women out there who want to complicate your lives and take away your video games reproducing and making babies.
A legend in your own mind aren't ya?
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Re: Hmmm (Score:1)
Waste of time (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Waste of time (Score:5, Interesting)
Good for you. But I can give you a whole list of people that the world would be better off if they stayed home and played video games.
Not everyone is exceptional. Not everyone is good. Think of what the world would be like if a certain politician was addicted to video games rather than publicity.
More importantly, people refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. If you don't do anything, it's your fault, not the game. If you can't quit a game because it is very very fun, that is not the fault of the game.
These aren't drugs. They offer real enjoyment, rather than chemical simulation. Moreover, a well designed games (granted this is rare), can also teach people important life skills (ahref=https://www.army.mil/article/7065/army_games_medic_training_helps_save_two_livesrel=url2html-18155 [slashdot.org]https://www.army.mil/article/7...
>)
The games are not wastes of time. But some people do outgrow what they have to offer.
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not all fun games are drugs and not all addictive games are fun. Slot machines pre-date all of this.
Lots of people think playing slot machines is fun. In fact, this belief is so prevalent that you can actually download slot machine games you play at home. There's no chance at getting money out of them, and there's zero skill involved, but some people will still sit there and hit the spin button for hours. I happen to think that those people's brains are broken, but a) I could be wrong and b) they're still entitled to try to have fun.
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Lots of people think playing slot machines is fun. In fact, this belief is so prevalent that you can actually download slot machine games you play at home. There's no chance at getting money out of them, and there's zero skill involved, but some people will still sit there and hit the spin button for hours.
I too, have marveled at this behavior. "Marvel" might not be the right word, lol, but they must be getting something from it. I have no idea what that is, maybe it's a kind of self-calming or self-hypnosis, or maybe they're reliving memories of being lab rat in a past life. .
Then again I have a friend who, when he's bored, will go drive a cab around in GTA for a couple hours. He doesn't play the game, he just drives around picking people up and dropping them off.
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Spank the monkey, and win $50!
(Yes, I know it was punch the monkey, but I couldn't resist the obvious that I bet was repeated in many homes in those wildass early days of the commercially driven Internet.) :D
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Which is not completely different to trivially slaying mobs in order to see an XP bar increase tiny bit by tiny bit, or any other kind of senseless grinding.
No, the only real difference is that with a slot machine it's the same kind of grinding over and over again, whereas in an RPG sometimes you get a different kind of grinding. And even that difference has more or less gone away with video slots.
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Which is not completely different to trivially slaying mobs in order to see an XP bar increase tiny bit by tiny bit, or any other kind of senseless grinding.
No, it's not the same. The people playing the slot machine simulators aren't getting any increase in anything, nor are they gaining any skill, experience, nothing.
Re:Waste of time (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also seemingly somewhat generational. Some folks deride games but feel nothing is wrong with vegetating for hours in the evening watching television, playing cards, or some other equivalent waste of time.
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You can take solace in the knowledge that based on the many worlds multiverse theory, there is a universe where such a scenario went down just as you described.
Come to think of it, that means that there is a universe where I am an intergalactic emperor for life, and I successfully managed to mandate and implement a requirement that my empire go with a 1980s motif (we have ultramodern tech, but it has to have an 80s style).
So bow before me, mortals, and party on!!!
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I would play for hours and feel empty afterwards. (...) Instead I started to work on development side projects (when not spending time with my family)
So you essentially created a side job to have more money to invest in your family time. It's a fair choice, but I think most of us think we do enough to make money in our day job. What I spend the remaining hours on will almost certainly be a "waste" of time and money if my life goal was to die with the biggest possible bank account. Like if I go to a fine restaurant, what I get is probably not objectively "better" food that will improve my health it's just a temporary sensory experience. I have fun gaming,
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Yes, sometimes it needs a little push to quit. Although (some of) it can come from the game itself, if the publisher gets overly greedy.
Until a few weeks ago, I was spending a lot of time in Skyforge. But the developers made it increasingly difficult not only to proceed in the game, but to keep up with the ever-increasing levels for the same content. Yes, they recycled the invasions, only buffing the enemies more and more. On top of that, they racked up the need to buy from the cash shop, if you wanted to p
Not necessarily (Score:3)
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For me as a video gamer since the early 80s, it was work and WoW. Both drained my life. I rarely play computer games even when unemployed. I think I got burned out. :/
EA Has Been More Ethical in This Regard (Score:2)
Patrick Soderlund Calls Battlefield 5 Critics Uneducated, Doesn't Want Them To Buy Game [oneangrygamer.net]
Battlefield V Pre-Orders Are Reportedly Very "Weak", According To Analysts [oneangrygamer.net]
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There's nothing wrong with making an alternate reality action game where the ladies are physically as strong as the men and fighting on the front lines. Just don't claim it is historically accurate.
Perhaps EA should have been a bit more straightforward with that and called it a "WW2 inspired alternative reality game".
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Or they could have simply included real life instances of women on the battlefield, instead of making the black-crippled-camo woman. Nah, gotta try hitting all those "diversity" points, because virtue signaling is all the rage. Just look at the state of Star Wars, and Ghostbusters.
Same industrialization of art being cancer thing. (Score:3, Interesting)
Games are actually the superset of all education, art, entertainment and sports.
The purpose of playing is actually, to have a safe, and a bit simplified on its essence, testing rig, for training for something in real life. So it is the ideal education.
And just like art, it is supposed to communicate deep insights
Aaand what the "games industry" produces, has absolutely nothing to do with that.
Just like with any other industry that grew, like a cancer, on top of forms of art or sports, it tries to form things into a "product", trying to "maximize profit"... thereby ruining the entire damn point of art or sports beyond all recognition.
That is the difference between an art industry, and the artist "industry" (which isn't really interested in being an industry). They are direct enemies.
IMHO the former is just a bunch of coke-headed leeches, trying to suck as much money out of artists and their fans as physically possible, wile doing as little value-adding work as physically possible! And IMHO, prison is the correct reaction, that should follow something like that in a sane world.
But no surprise that they'd try to turn into drug dealers too. They probably haven't seen a day without cocaine in the last 100 years. And maybe LSD.
Very Incorrect Title (Score:5, Interesting)
It is society that is making it hard for game players to stop playing. As a long time player let me explain why.
I hate games that use RNG as a difficulty crutch (some rouge likes), gambler logic (loot boxes), and Feed and Starve (candy crush/pay for lives/continues) to hook me. Why ? because it makes me angry when playing their games because I know what gambling is and how it works on the mind, but more importantly, because I am looking for MORE from my game than simple risk/reward gimmicks.
It would be interesting in a study to see if people with more developed intellectual capacity fall for these game types than people who have not cared to develop their intellectual capacities. I admit that I believe that some people are hooked on these games because they either do not care or are shallow enough to allow their time to be used in this way.
That said, I think the distinction in such a study needs to be on people that actually have some form of addiction. It does not need to be major, but enough of one where it is clear that their gaming habits are at least noticeably affecting their work/friend/love/life balances.
People who play these games just to pass the time as they move from moment to moment in life should not be considered, regardless of the types of games they play. They are clearly immune or are able to see these gimmicks for what they are.
As a gamer myself, I hate most MMO's as a never ending grindfest, mobs stand around like cattle, bosses never really die, the environments are not really changeable by the players actions, though so mmo's try to emulate this with updates. I mean nothing says it more than... go kill 10 slimes and return here. Or running the same stage over and over and over ad nauseum where one mistake can lead to disaster and angry people because game balance in MMO's always mean as a single unit you are never strong or capable. Sure teamwork is nice but if those monsters are really that strong how can the popoulations the players represent live in those worlds? O right, I forgot, bosses are immortal, over sized and never have to leave their lairs and just happen to have mobs of defender acolytes for what reason again?
I liked terraria for the exploration, world modification, and creative boss fights, though I do not think the boss fights are really balanced.
I liked factorio for its complex crafting and logic gameplay, but mobs on even the hardest configurations are pie cake to deal with and at best annoyance.
I very much appreciate games that provide at least semi plausible reasons for things going on, not just being used as plot devices or macguffins.
it is my opinion that because society is more about giving people knowledge without actually attempting to teach them "why" that knowledge if valuable, they waste it or misunderstand it leading them to become easily suckered by so many things... least of which is a game with mechanics so simple that only a simple mind can enjoy them! Or in short, shallow risk reward mechanics! People who require "deeper" and "more meaningful" experiences are busy doing something else because these games are just too shallow to hold their attention.
So can you really blame game developers for figuring out how the simple minded tick? Nope! Just give them their money, they earned it! Or rather, they earned tricking it out of their pockets!
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Personally, I like games with some degree of difficulty.
-Against "simple" MMOs where you and the enemy just beat on each other until the health bar is empty, I am pretty immune addiction wise.
-With a more modern MMO that rewards some skill at tactics and maneuvering, I can spend a lot more time.
-When things get more simulation-like, with weapons that have actual ballistics and taking cover is meaningful, you may get me seriously hooked. Imagine a cross of Counterstrike and MMO.
For a
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Just stopped by to say: You're not the only missing Firefall.
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There is now a "spiritual successor" in the works, it is called Em8er (https://em8er.com/ [em8er.com]).
Financing is through crowdfunding and presumably later on sale of the game.
Now I guess it depends on how much you trust Mark Kern to use that money effectively. He is the game designer (again),
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I'm not a kickstarter/crowd funding inclined type of person, but I will keep the game in mind, thanks.
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Here's an easy to understand youtube piece about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Personally I think that RNG works great for roguelikes. But an important part of a roguelike, at least in my opinion, is that those games have a well defined start and ending. You play them in sessions. And those sessions last until you experience virtual death or beat the challenges the game threw at you this time.
Modern roguelikes like Binding of Isaac for example take you between half an hour
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The Skinner Box, yes, that is a great analogy for this. But I don't think skinner was the first to think of the concept, just the first to study it and record his findings in this way. Society itself is largely a skinner box construct itself, if you think about it, and if you apply that logic to things all over life there are all sorts of skinner boxes everywhere you look.
Regarding my comment on RNG in roguelikes, I did not say it did not work great, I like RNG, I said I dislike those that use it as a dif
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I'm curious - did you mean "red likes", "makeup likes", or "rogue likes"?
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I think you are forgetting in your first example that people can play games in different ways. I play Candy Crush and Farm Heroes, but not at all in the same way I play WoW or Fallout. Candy Crush and Farm Heroes run on a tablet that gets taken along to the bathroom or to bed to unwind - and in those cases, having a limited amount of lives is actually beneficial because there's a very distinct cutoff that says to put the game away.
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I thought I covered your scenario with this line here in my original post...
"People who play these games just to pass the time as they move from moment to moment in life should not be considered, regardless of the types of games they play. They are clearly immune or are able to see these gimmicks for what they are."
The interest is in people that allow games with these mechanics to impact their lives to a noticeable degree, especially if that impact is clearly negative.
Coin-operated games (Score:2)
I hate games that use [...] Feed and Starve (candy crush/pay for lives/continues) to hook me.
Then you'd hate a jukebox, as it uses pay for songs. You'd hate arcade games, as all of them use pay for lives, with a few exceptions that use pay for time (such as PlayChoice and Mega Tech).
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I did not say that RNG are a "difficulty crutch", I said I hate when they are used as "difficulty crutches". Yes they are used to add some variability, however a net same effect can be achieved with sufficiently advanced mechanics for example.
With RNG, you can just Roll 1 Die for the amount of damage a person can do according to a specific stat and then roll 1 die for the amount of defense a person is capable of to see if they can cancel out some or all of the incoming damage.
RNG in this case is being used
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Wasn't RNG as a difficulty crutch addressed early on back when Space War on the PDP-Whatever was popular at nerdy campuses?
I though I remembered reading that they added a random chance of missing no matter the conditions to make it more real. However, it was deemed to be a bullshit feature to put into a video game; and was removed. Can't recall the details exactly though. Need to find my copy of Hackers to find out for sure; as I think that was where I had read it years ago.
Priorities (Score:2)
Sorry no time to comment, I have some daily quests to do.
Re: Final Fantasy XI (Score:1)
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Final Fantasy XIV is a more forgiving in regard to traveling, playing solo is much easier and going through quests and dungeons is a lot easier with automatic party matching. You can even continue playing somewhere else while the party is being matched and you get teleported to the dungeon when the party is completed, and then get teleported back to where you were playing when the dungeon started.
Right but... (Score:1)
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Yup. That was much preferred over the gambling casino model they use now.
Playing less games, so? (Score:2)
Where once games were played and put away for a while, now game companies are routinely delivering new content aimed at keeping players constantly engaged.
Games were played and put away for a while, while players played some other games. Now players are playing the same game for longer. But is there any evidence that they're spending more time playing games, and if so, does it actually have anything to do with games trying to be more addictive or does it have to do with some other factor, like lack of other opportunities?
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a way for those in power to gain more money
I don't understand. Where's the money in you going outside and getting some exercise?
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Where's the money in you going outside and getting some exercise?
Ask any Planet Fitness or CrossFit franchisee or the manager of a Dick's Sporting Goods store.
Obligatory Penny Arcade (Score:2)
https://www.penny-arcade.com/c... [penny-arcade.com]
Games are much easier to quit nowadays. (Score:4, Informative)
For me anyways. Games today are like superhero, action, and even drama movies-it's the same concept rehashed over and over again. I've little enthusiasm to start playing something I've seen 30 times already, let alone finish it.
Boring, poorly directed cut-scenes with mediocre CGI and bad voice acting over and over again.
Ooooh, let's also make the longer cutscenes unskippable.
Games that almost play themselves because your character can fight by themselves without any interaction from the gamer.
Now they are changing history in games to appease the insane SJW crowd, most who aren't gamers, by adding gender fluid male lesbian shiny-blue-haired Generals to 'historically accurate' games.
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For me anyways. Games today are like superhero, action, and even drama movies-it's the same concept rehashed over and over again. I've little enthusiasm to start playing something I've seen 30 times already, let alone finish it.
This is just a natural consequence of having observed an artform for quite a while. If you see enough of aything you realise that 90% of it is crap, and a huge amount of that is just rehashed minor variations on a theme. Lots of people think its because stuff was better then but is
Gaming is a reflection of the rottenness... (Score:3)
... and stupidity of society. I don't mean it to say gaming is bad, gaming is just the latest scapegoat.
Many men checked out because well, men have been mistreated and abandoned. When men are seen as tools and to be used as cheap labour for the rest of society. Why wouldn't they check out? Videogames is the latest scapegoat for a society so up its ass in predatory business practices and corporate lawlessness. Our entire society is just one giant highschool of stupid human predatory bullshit. I don't blame the poor and downtrodden for checking out. Especially after the big bank bailouts of 2008, and our corporate masters trying to scrub the internet of their plutonomy memo's...
https://politicalgates.blogspo... [blogspot.com]
Evolutionary bottleneck coming up... (Score:2)
Given the rate at which businesses are able to capitalize on even the slightest human weakness to maximize short-term gains for them, it will be interesting to see what percentage of mankind survives to reproduce? 1%? 0.1%?
- Have even a hint of gambling addicition? Our latest game will keep you glued to your phone until you starve!
- Partial to salt and sugar? One bite of our new product, and you'll never eat anything else again!
- Want interaction, but real people keep having ideas of their own? Our rob
Re: (Score:2)
Not surprising. (Score:2)
Since casino and slot machine developers have been doing this for decades it's obvious it would happen to regular games too.
Not only is it expected; once pay to play entered the arena it was completely unavoidable that someone with complete knowledge of all relevant gaming metrics would not figure this out.
Re: (Score:2)
I do enjoy playing video games but... (Score:1)
That's why I mostly get games from gog.com. Games which I can enjoy on my own accord. Games which I know won't change and which I can master. Lastly, games which I can complete
Hobbyists (Score:2)
wargames (Score:2)
"the only way to win is not to play the game.." - WOPR
Increasing the addiction! (Score:1)
Minecraft, the game with an End but no end (Score:2)
Never put Minecraft pocket edition on a kidâ(TM)s tablet and let them play unsupervised. Theyâ(TM)ll play until it makes them sick. Itâ(TM)s a sandbox game that has some achievements and bosses to appeal to casual users. But the hardcore users will continue building on multiplayer servers for years and years. I love the game. But as an adult with a job and family, I have to strictly limit my time.