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Addiction Based Game Design - RPG Vault Talks to Jeff Vogel

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by chevalier, Jun 3, 2009.

  1. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    [​IMG]RPG Vault is sharing reflections from Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software on the evil - or lack thereof - of addiction-based game design. Among some interesting points raised is the one that, after all, tower defence games use it too:

    The nice thing about actually defining this particular element of a design is that now, we can look for it in all sorts of games, not just MMORPGs. Lego Star Wars and other titles in that series are based almost entirely on heavy use of addiction-based design. Tower defense games use it too, rewarding you with stronger defenses in return for destroying nearly identical waves of attackers. They compress many iterations of the grind/reward cycle into one short play session.

    The essence of it is the right (or wrong) use of a constant stream of tiny rewards, it seems:

    And, in return, players get little rewards. Statistics go up. Experience bars fill. You push a lever and a reward pellet comes out. There is the feeling that something has been accomplished, a sensation that is amazingly addictive. In EverQuest, when I gained a level or got a really good item, the feeling of achievement was palpable. For me, it was an actual, physical sensation. I kept playing because it gave me the satisfaction of achieving something, even when, of course, I wasn't. And this is what I mean by addiction-based game design.

    Truth be said, we do see a bit of the everywhere. What, however, when it's more than a bit? I'm sure many of us have "wasted" countless hours playing some games that we probably shouldn't have been playing at that exact time, possibly with some harm to our real life duties. That's our fault, obviously, but just how much does addictive design have to do it? Is it wrong to want to keep your audience - and to succeed in it? Or maybe it's not, but say, certain things don't go, such us making teenagers dragged off from books and school a vital part of the market strategy for a game?

    Discuss. And here is the original article. Thanks to RPG Codex for the lead.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 19, 2015
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