f13.net

5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted (http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html)

#5. Putting You in a Skinner Box

#4. Creating Virtual Food Pellets For You To Eat

#3. Making You Press the Lever

#2. Keeping You Pressing It... Forever

#1. Getting You To Call the Skinner Box Home


Every single point has a long winded explanation in the article, and while not saying much we didn't know it's worth reading. I would like to say a lot, not even about videogames, but I don't know where to start. What if I shut up for once?

I think one interesting thing they say in this article (assuming it is the article I am thinking of, if not, well you can think about it anyway), is that new games are trying to get you to play them for long periods of time and get money out of you by DLC and/or subscriptions, they need to keep you playing.   The old method was that the game just had to be good enough to get you to buy the next game at $50 or whatever.  In other words, "fun" used to be good enough, and now it isn't.

More like 'One way Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted spread across multiple pages'.

Heh. From that same article:

Three HORRIFYINGLY SICKENING ways McDonalds is TRICKING you into buying it's INEDIBLE EXCREMENT:

1: Advertisements which portray the food as UNREALISTICALLY APPETIZING.  This causes an unconscious, subliminal reaction making you want their burgers!  Normal humans and non-psychic mutants are unable to resist!
2: Special discounts for buying larger amounts of food as part of a "Combo."  Insidiously, this is supposed to coerce people to buy more food, on the theory that even though they are paying more, they are somehow "saving money!"
3: Marketing special meals aimed at children.  By indoctrinating young children into eating their food, McDonalds hopes to ENSLAVE an entire GENERATION of consumers - YOUR PRECIOUS CHILDREN!

Seriously, the only shocking implication with the whole "MMOG Developers are skillfully manipulating you with PSYCHOLOGY" statement is the idea that MMOG developers would be 'skillfully' doing anything.

(http://www.casinoreviewbank.com/dictionary_images/Slot_Machines.jpg)

The local casino books in some great music acts, so we go there a couple times a year. The smaller room is beyond one of the video slots rooms, I'm always amazed at the zombies there. Nobody is ever smiling, nobody appears to be having any fun, few appear able to flush away their money.

Its hours of boredom followed by a moment pure glory if you get lucky...wait, thats exactly like the MMO genre!

JACKPOT!  :why_so_serious:

It's really why you have to ignore what raiders say about mmo :)

Unless you're the casino :(

I think this used to be true more than it is now.  At least in terms of WoW, which I guess is the best measure we have for a mainstream MMO anyway.  Raiders probably have the most consistent loot acquisition of anyone these days, very predictable time:reward ratio.  Excluding the "glass chewing" of learning new bosses, which seems to be ever decreasing, incidentally.

Oh noes! Humour website that relies on ads to pay it's contributors/make money splits article in two in order to get slightly more hits!!!1!!one!