Thread: "5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted"

That was an interesting read, if not telling us much we didn't already know. A lot of the free-to-play MMOs are adopting outright gambling as a business model, both to keep you coming back and to entice you to drop real cash for more "chips."

It seems to me that MMOs would be better off striking a balance where players are spending the minimal amount of time in-world (using the fewest developer resources) while maintaining the desire to return and fork over the monthly fee. Of course, the flipside is that the most obsessive players are essentially free hospitality/entertainment labor, keeping the game world active and interesting for everyone else.

I found that incredibly entertaining to read. I don't play any games that require subscription and I know my addictive personality enough to never lay hands on something like WoW...but the article really did make me question why I play some of these stupid games on my iphone everyday. Oh, and it also made me wonder if maybe I'm addicted to the internet. I'm going to go play outside now. (Really)

The stuff going on in Korea btw is pretty insane.

I used to press that level a jillion times a day. I was hooked on WOW from the day it came out all the way till the beginning of the second expansion. He only scratched the surface of how addicting that game can be.

If you want the best items you're going to need friends who are as addicted as you. If you don't show up every day when they raid, you get kicked out. It's the same thing with PvP. You're fighting people every day in various battle grounds just so you can get basic gear that lets you get your ass handed to you by people who already have geared up, and upgraded.

Close to a year ago me and my RL friend finally quit, and now I found myself getting addicted to all those silly app games in face book for no reason. I had to delete my account because I thought I was heading down that familiar path.

I think its pretty silly. Games have always been like that, far before a person wrote an article about it. All sports have a way to keep score, and games follow after that. Instead of a score you have levels and more powerful equipment.

Its all about compitition. You see a challenge and you want to overcome it. You see a person and you want to do better than them.

You have to take it with a grain of salt, since they are not trying to manipulate you, they are trying to find the best way to make you happy. If they see that doing A increases enjoyment of the game, and B causes frustration in players. Its kind of silly to not use A and get rid of B. In no way is it some kind of sinister attempt to control you.

I think its interesting that the article he keeps referencing was written by a game researcher, who worked on Halo and Age of Empires. Neither of which are tedious, boring or anything remotely like the WoW type games he gives examples for. Both are classic games, and very fun.

Originally Posted by Akono

I used to press that level a jillion times a day. I was hooked on WOW from the day it came out all the way till the beginning of the second expansion. He only scratched the surface of how addicting that game can be.

If you want the best items you're going to need friends who are as addicted as you. If you don't show up every day when they raid, you get kicked out. It's the same thing with PvP. You're fighting people every day in various battle grounds just so you can get basic gear that lets you get your ass handed to you by people who already have geared up, and upgraded.

Close to a year ago me and my RL friend finally quit, and now I found myself getting addicted to all those silly app games in face book for no reason. I had to delete my account because I thought I was heading down that familiar path.

The cracked article links here, also great: http://kotaku.com/5384643/i-kept-pla...ming-addiction

As you said, you pretty much have to be playing these games obsessively to stay involved at all. I've put in unhealthy stints on a number of online games, and still can't reach a degree of obsessiveness or quantity of free time to be competitive, or even maintain ties to a group/guild. The developers like to say it's up to players to practice moderation, but the dynamic of these games makes it all but impossible to play casually.

Originally Posted by Alric

I think its interesting that the article he keeps referencing was written by a game researcher, who worked on Halo and Age of Empires. Neither of which are tedious, boring or anything remotely like the WoW type games he gives examples for. Both are classic games, and very fun.

Do you think he did that to sway people away from less addicting games? Either way he made some good points about it.


Taosaur, that story reminds me of me a lot. I'm glad i read it, I'm hoping it'll give me motivation for my own happy ending.

While I was reading this article, my girlfriend showed me This Video of some kid's reaction to his mom cancelling his WoW account.

The video is nothing short of hilarious, but it is also a bit disturbing how emotionally invested the kid is in a video game. His brother (the one who shot the video) put up a bunch of other videos of him freaking out over WoW and other things. Part of me feels bad for him but another part of me thinks that it serves him right for behaving the way he does.

P.S. The part with the remote? That gets a big WTF from me
22 million views.

Xaqaria...I saw that...heard it was fake though. Apparently he does this a lot.

Also...Angry German Kid was fake too :http://www.cracked.com/article_15849...did-it_p3.html

I don't know about it being faked. There are several other videos of him freaking out and the other ones would require their parents and their grandmother to be in on the joke.

The video with him arguing with their grandmother is funny. She swears at him a bunch and in the end she is looking for the phone to call his parents, and says "Where is the phone is it up your butt too?"

I'm actually still a Warcraft player. I did get really addicted for a while. Perhaps I still am.

Back in what we call "Vanilla WoW" (the original game), I was in a top tier raiding guild, one of the best healers. I always had that sense of "they need me to be there to succeed." I later found out that this idea is complete BS. There will always be another healer ready and able to take my place.

I worked a night shift job at the gas station about 1 block from my house, so I thought I had the life. I could wake up and play. I ate my dinner at my computer, I would raid for 4.5 hours, 6 days a week and then go to work all night.

I wouldn't see my friends and barely saw my parents (who lived in the same house).

That guild exploded from drama and I realised I'm burnt out. I hated my job, and I missed seeing people.

What really turned on the lightbulb was when I got hacked. It was literally a month before the second expansion was set to release. I contracted a keylogger and found my tier 2 and 3 - geared priest naked, dead, and somewhere in the middle of Dun Morogh.

All of those months of working a crap job, eating dinner at the computer, just so I can raid... gone. Everything I worked for had been stolen, sharded and turned into gold to re-sell for real life money to a customer. It actually happened 3 times (I couldn't get the stupid computer cleaned. I had to do a complete wipe / factory reset kinda deal).

After that, I never got into a raiding guild again. My boyfriend and I still play in our downtime, but we also go out and do other things. My friendships never really recovered (they still like me, but I have to do the fishing around for going out to dinners and movies).

As it is, I have always been a bit of a recluse. Whether playing the guitar when I was a teen, or the FF series or now Warcraft, it's always been in my nature. But, I don't let the game run my life.

I can't get into raiding hardcore at all, I can't bring myself to do daily grinding quests. I log on when I know my guild is doing something. I might bring up a new character for no purpose other than to socialize with said guildies. Most of my guildies are on my facebook page now Or on MSN.

Once Warcraft dies, that may well be the end of MMO's for me. I've been planning on playing FF14, but... I kinda want to learn the guitar again

That article is so stupid it hurt. If you're so into video games that you're literally, physically addicted, that's your problem.

Great article, many good points!

I have been aware of the tricks and exploits of the human mind Blizzard are using for a long time now. They are quite obvious, and the article does a good job of explaining some of them.

All-night gaming binges are harmless in moderation, but this week one married Korean couple discovered the awful consequences of letting virtual life overtake real responsibilities.

The pair -- who were hooked on an online game called "Prius," where they were raising a virtual daughter -- were arrested by Korean police this week and charged with failing to care for their three-month-old baby daughter, who died of malnutrition last September.

They admitted to feeding their child rotten powdered milk, frequently spanking her, and leaving her at home during marathon sessions at the "PC bang" gaming clubs that are a staple of Korean gamer culture.

"They called in last September to report that they found their daughter dead after coming back home in the morning," a Seoul police detective told ABC. "They had spent 12 hours, all night, at a PC bang."

It's not the first Korean death linked to gaming addiction, either: in 2005 a man collapsed and died after playing 50 straight hours Starcraft at a PC bang. Roughly one-half of Korea's population play online games, and almost all of them have access to high-speed internet connections. Korean lawmakers are considering legislation to curb excessive gaming.

What!?

Originally Posted by Aquanina

What!?

There was also that Baby Grace case a few years ago, the Ohio couple that moved to Texas. That was straight-up child abuse, but it was also a case of parents who saw their kid as an inconvenient incursion on their WoW time. That couple met in WoW.

I'll tell you my sorry ass sappy story that actually almost tore my friendships a part. Me and my dear online friend started playing Ragnarok online (we have met in real life). It's a cutesy anime doll like game. And wickedly addictive.

But we joined in the early days, when it was simple, and in comparison to what it is today "pure". Together me and my friend created a guild! I was the guild leader (she didn't want the responsibility). Soon enough we were a guild of friends!

In those early days it was awesome! We hanged out, we had fun. We explored maps together, and did all sorts of silly things together.
Soon after that the RagnarokOnline gets a major face lift. Guilds can go to WAR!! The winners are prized with a castle that will last a week, and riches and rare items found no where else in the entire game, except within the castles.

At first it sounded so exciting! The mood of our innocent guild changed. We stopped playing just to have fun. Now, we were preparing for WAR! We needed everyone to level up. Me and the other higher levels in our guild decided to help everyone else. And we happily invited lowly levels and noobies. We offered them help and leveling buddies. And in return, we all asked was that they fight our war! The noobies we invited seemed excited.

And everyone seemed to be happy and motivated on the reward of a castle!!

Well reality hit hard. The moment those noobies reached a higher level.....they left our guild!! They left for tougher guilds that were already fighting. Losing guild members just as we ripened them was a low blow to me and my REAL friends. Especially since we worked so hard, months even, leveling those noobies. It also meant we were back to square one. Not enough members to fight.

We decided to go back to our roots. And we made it clear our guild was primarily about friendship. You were in our guild because you like to raid dungeons and level up with other people! We gained a lot of like minded members who stayed. And a lot of our new members even complained that the guild wars tore apart their guild. But I wouldn't know just what they meant until a year later.



Why the Guild Wars Were Evil
As time went on the Guild Wars reveals its hideous head to us again. Even though there are hundreds of guilds, and even though castles reset on a weekly basis, for the past few months the same guilds would hold the same castles!!!! And some guilds were so mighty, they didn't just own a castle. They owned an entire map!

How is this even possible when all guilds have the same member limits?

It was because of the prizes the castles give you. These castle Owning Guilds mirrored the real American economy. They were Walmart. They were McDonalds. They had so much in game money the rumor was they LITERALLY buy other players to fight their wars!

I was disgusted! These guilds weren't about friendship at all. They were all about in game money, stats, and equipment. They were shallow. And there were so many disturbing and disgusting rumors about all the drama happening within these MegaGuilds. They seemed to mirror real life celebrities!

I was growing tired of seeing the same flags over the castles day in and day out. And I thought, were an honest guild and one of the oldest guilds in this server. I thought, we deserved a castle more then these cheating lying manipulative jerks.

My tell my guild prepare for war! They think I am crazy. But I have a strategy. You see during the last war there was an UNCLAIMED castle. I thought, how can no one claim this castle. Then it hits me. Everyone is afraid of these MegaGuilds! The idiots forgot to reclaim their castle. And no one even tried to fight them. These MegaGuilds are so pompous, they must have weak defenses.

I was right. I managed to solo a castle. No defenses. None. I tell my guild to hurry over into this castle and claim it! We claimed the castle! The war will be over in only five minutes! My heart is racing!

The game announces our victory publicly to the entire server! Every castle on this map owned by a MegaGuild demolished us. And rather than fighting over the crystal with our name on it, they stood by and allowed the previous guild to reclaim their crystal.

They have a monolopy! These MegaGuilds have made a pact to defend each others castles. So that a little guild like mine doesn't just go up against one MegaGuild, but a leauge of MegaGuilds!. It was impossible, IMPOSSIBLE to defeat them. Our victory even attracted OTHER MegaGuilds from OTHER maps. Displaying that this pact was much bigger than a single map. Which explains why over the past few months there was no change over the Castle ownership.

Our warring days were over, and idiots in our guild blamed my leadership instead. Really, they were just so frustrated that after working hard for months for this war we could "never" win. As the leader, I was the easy target to blame. How could I have known the MegaGuilds monopolized? I was just a teenager, lol.

After we lost the castle, a member exploded with this frustration and anger. And I'm serious, the anger was real. He insulted everyone. Calling us loser because we can't claim a castle. He said how much he hated this guild, where we never win. So I kicked him out. He came crawling back anyways because he was so lonely.
This was getting bad though. My guild members felt 'weak' 'insignificant'. They felt like losers, and nobodies all because they weren't a part of a castle. I tried to get the guild to focus on friendship and hanging out instead. But as the game kept upgrading, it kept creating rewards that needed a powerful mega rich guild to even reach these rewards. This literally created hundreds of in game rewards beyond our reach.

Then my closest friend, and my CO-CREATOR of the guild, who was there with me three years ago when we created this guild together, left. You see, she was a very strong knight. And a MegaGuild needed a knight like her to defend their castle. They didn't know her. They only needed a knight character like her. They bought her. They offered her dazzling equipment, in game gold, rewards and even easier leveling, that my little guild never could as hard as we tried.

The guild was shattered. Why would our dedicated co-leader leave us? I thought we were friends. I thought we created this guild so we could hang out because we were friends. And some of the members in the guild were just as heart broken, they saw her as a traitor.

She told us we were over reacting. That she only wanted to know what it was like to be a part of the MegaGuilds, were you can obtain all of those amazing things, actually reach level 99 and all. As a sign of her friendship, she said she would keep her LOWLY LEVELS in the guild so she could still hang out with us.

For what? So when they reach a higher level after I helped you level them you buy them out to a MegaGuild for perks? It was just one low blow after the other. To make it even lower, the guild she joined said that while they liked us, and thought we were friendly, they would NOT support us in WAR because it would go against the PACT they have with OTHER MEGAGUILDS.

I got tired of the drama. I got tired of people whining and complaining that even though we worked so hard, the MegaGuilds would always be ahead of us. MegaGuild this MegaGuild that. "Why can't we have what they have whine angst whine?". I just got fed up with it.

And I got tired of a video game stressing me, since as the leader I have to figure out how to make everyone happy again. I got tired of 'working' so hard over meaningless in game rewards. When the only reward for me, was to play WITH my friends. And now, that's over.

So I ended my guild. Told everyone to leave. And I left the game. To save my sanity, and my friendships.

My most damn grown up decision I ever made in highschool.

Years Later
The MegaMonopolizingGuilds deteriated from rumors, lies and in game scandals. The envy, and the desire to reep those in game rewards tore many guilds a part. Several guilds years later would be anti and adament against the Guild Wars. Recruiting people because of the burns and bruises the Guild Wars left them. Pretty pathetic huh?

But it's entirely true. The burns and bruises I'm talking about are real relationships between real living human beings. What an amazing thing that a video game can do this. But thats what happens when the player base is mostly teenagers

PS. I still feel I lost something precious in that game

I know your story pretty well, Juroara!

Same kind of thing happened in Warcraft. There were these two guys who'd known each other for 10-12 years. Went through police training together and served together. Went to each others' weddings. Were in the same guild as me.

Well, our guild was struggling. You needed to get 25 people together to do raids at the time, and we had too many members across different time zones that had real lives and families to care for. So 25 man raids were hard to schedule for.

We had an easy time of the one 10-man instance, but... that only takes you so far (not very) in the game, and it gets really boring only raiding that one place when new ones come out every few months.

So, the one dude got "bought out" by a higher raiding guild. Poaching is so common now, that no one even bats an eye to its existence. They promised him higher content and better gear and he took it. Right when the rest of us were struggling.

His buddy (the guild leader) was ready to call their friendship off, but some persuading from the rest of us convinced him not to put a game before their long friendship.

Still... it is amazing just what these games do to people.

There's always going to be MegaGuilds. There's always going to be competition between the top guilds. In Warcraft, they even put a thing in for the final boss of this expansion... whoever kills him first gets their name on a fountain in the middle of the capital city for all to see.

Gear and items are like the in-game iPhones we have IRL. People like toys. They like to show off. The addictiveness plays to that mindset of "Keeping Up With the Joneses." You're either a Jones, or you're trying to be. Or you just don't give a flying f**k what the Joneses have, and you're content with what you've earned.

That was a really neat article, actually! I don't play MMOs... I know the time commitment, and just plain don't have the time... and to me, there are really two kinds of games worth playing:

1) Big, immersive games that are based on story, more than lever-pushing (hell, that's why I love most Final Fantasy games, and why I couldn't stand what they did with FFXII).

2) Small, SIMPLE, addictive, lever-pushing games (like that worm game - awesome!)

I think lever-pushing has its place. Sometimes, it's nice to just put everything aside for a bit. But it's totally true that part of the addictiveness is that you just don't enjoy the stuff you have to get done otherwise, like working out, etc. I think we should strive to enjoy the other areas of life. You don't have to be addicted to feel exhileration. I think it's important to develop the ability to do two things:

1) REALLY get pumped and enjoy things you have to do every day (exercise, work, etc.)
2) Be able to put those things aside, and enjoy the anticipation of getting back to it later. After all, the "always leave them wanting more" factor is something that's important for your own personal passions as well. In other words, loving your work does not mean becoming a workaholic. But if you can get that balance, you'll get far.

Ha ha ha! Lol! Sorry, video games are stupid. It is so ironic that a video game can destroy friendships. What kind of friendship is this that it can be destroyed by a video game? As if real life doesn't have enough challenges!

I guess I just have missed the whole video game thing, and I'm glad. Don't take life too seriously, let alone video games. Those 'friends' who you lost because of the guild wars aren't good friends. Imagine how your friendships will stand up to real life if they can't even stand up to a video game! Your co-leader who left because she got bought, so what? It is just a video game. She can still be a friend in real life.

But I am an outsider to this subculture. So maybe I just don't understand. You see, I like to do other things. Like go hiking and camping and making music with friends. And a musician is always free to play music with whomever, and even if he gets bought that is OK. Well, I guess if your band gets a loyal following but the charismatic singer gets offered his own record deal if he leaves the band behind, that can be frustrating. My friend palyed bass for Jack Johnson before he became famous. He always hated it. He would come home and tell me "Man, I have to play this guy's stupid songs but he never will play any of my songs." I told him to leave and he did. Then Jack Johnson becomes rich and famous. (Off topic)

A lot of studies have shown that people generally have the same attitude regardless of if they are rich or not. So even if he had stayed, and made a lot more money, he probably would of still been miserable from playing music he hates all the time.

The one thing you should always keep in mind, is that enemies in games are often really friends. There are of course a lot of jerks online. However, most people who kill you in games and stuff are just playing the game.

To have a fights and wars, you need two sides. The person on the other side is your enemy and compitition in the game, but without them there is no game.

I have noticed in a lot of games I played, people are more active in playing when they are being attacked and stuff. Getting totally wiped out everyday sucks and that isn't good. But even if you fight better and larger groups, if you manage to score a victory here or there, people are always more active and have more fun.

Yeah, I must say I did recognize many of the points in the article. It's kinda scary that it's made that way, but he doesn't cover all the aspects. Cause the social part of the game is just as important as the more mechanical parts he talks about. Unfortiunatly I just can't seem to put the game behind me. I'm still thinking about it frequently, and I've "relapsed" twice already.

Woo, a cracked.com reader .

Anyways, as I was first reading this I could easily relate all of this to Runescape (something that I used to play), which kind of freaked me out. I guess all games kind of do this.

the article speaks the truth, but as khh said they forgot to mention the community aspect. I recognized the mechanics clearly in the mmos Ive played, but I did stay with one mmo over a year because of the other people in the guild. I didnt care about getting the best gear because I knew the time commitment, but the people were so funny and so energetic (many were also obsessed with gear, but they didnt make the rest of us be) it just felt natural talking to them all.

Of course. This isn't just with video games, its business. Any good profitable business uses its consumers to their advantage. Its simply the way the world works. I don't play WoW because I would definately be one of those rats/mice. Fortunately, my wallet couldn't handle the MMO world. I stick to console RPGs. I still waste the time, but just not the money. I have 496 hours of gameplay on FFXII (ps2) and I still haven't 100%'d (not the same as beating it, btw) the game yet. I guess I'm in the "hardcore" class of gamers. If I don't get addicted to, or obsess over a game at some point...its not going to end up being one of my favorites. I'm cool with that though. It doesn't bother/effect me or the people around me (to the extent of a serious problem). If its causing a serious problem, financially or otherwise, the people playing have no one to blame but themselves.

Oh and Juroara...welcome to competitive online gaming. I've saw the same stuff day in and day out on Socom (online shooter). Clans, clan wars, gamebattles, fights, arguements, alliegances, monopolies, death threats, etc, lol. Online games follow the same patterns as life (and nearly everything else in life), betrayel, power hunger, and prejudice are always going to be there, along with the good things as well: friendships, bonds, hours of fun. All good things must come to an end eventually, unfortunately its just how the world works.

I used to be addicted to WOW. I can tell you, it is not fun. The first few months it was fun, like REAL fun but then it gets to be boring (as pressing the same number sequence on a keyboard, waiting a few minuets and doing it again sounds like it would be). you keep playing though because "raiding is so fun". Then i got to 70 (tbc at the time) and then WoTLK came out. I was pissed but decided to play a DK to make it fresh. And it was for all of a week. Then I got to 80 and could not find groups because the server was over run with DPS. so i struggled up with my friends and got to where i could do 25mans. then I lvled my original character to 80 and did TotC. I was playing every moment of my spare time. I wasted 2 summers leveling alts so that I could pay to have a chance at getting gear. I no longer play mmos. Just xbl and I still play in moderation.