How MMORPG's Turn You Into a Lab Rat.

[Mai72]

https://www.mediavsreality.com/medi...addiction-how-mmorpgs-turn-you-into-a-lab-rat

I remember reading that Blizzard has hired psychologist in the past to help work on World of Warcraft. Their goal was to make their game (WoW) even more addictive. Now, if this is the case when does it become unethical?

MMORPG's put players inside a Skinners Box and condition them to pull the lever again and again using the variable ratio.

Sure, it's a far more complex Skinner's box with state of the art graphics, but a Skinner's box nonetheless.

Instead of a food pellet it's an in-game reward like a high value item or a critical hit. Instead of pulling a lever they're pushing a complex series of buttons on the keyboard and mouse that the game has taught them to do. And instead of a physical box, it's a virtual box for their online character and their mind.

Because Operant Conditioning isn't just effective on rats and pigeons, but also on HUMANS.

So players will sit in front of their screens pulling that digital lever in the hope of that digital food pellet for hours upon hours.

And gave developers know that using a variable ratio system in their game will dramatically increase playtime and keep players paying that monthly subscription fee.

These in-game rewards give players a hit of the brain chemical dopamine. This is the same brain chemical released when GAMBLING and also highly addictive.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, this is pretty obvious if you play them for only a brief amount of time. Farm farm farm farm farm farm farm.

And now Lootboxes, direct pay per reward event. Now that's an economic game that seems to have backfired, but it really just means that EA hit the maximum limit (possibly well beyond that) for what game-addicted humans are willing to pay for each random dopamine event:

--$15/month for the 0.13% chance you will get the epic loot at the end of the 3 hour RAID, time-gated once per week? YES!
--$5 for 5? chances of a 0.023% each of getting the epic loot? MUTINY!

 

[Thebobo]

Yeah I got addicted to EQ when it first came out especially when I started raiding. Thats 5 to 6 nights a week yikes for a couple years. I did have a blast though and still to this day have I friends on the outside that I made inside of EQ.

 

[Rebel_L]

I think with the subscription model they use I dont have any moral problems with that since they dont charge extra for playing more. I dont see much difference in consulting psychologists to make your game trigger more pleasure receptors in the brain than a restaurant using food tasters to ensure their food does the same thing. Advertising also uses many insights from psychology to do a good job in appealing to the masses.

While destructive addiction are a terrible thing, they are usually only a terrible thing for a very small portion of the population. I think that we as a society need to take these issues more seriously as many people still dismiss addictions to non-traditional sources such as drugs. Free rehab is a good thing in my opinion too, but ultimately responsible use of a product falls on the user and their own support systems.

 

[bystander36]

When it comes to MMORPG's, the game may need to be fun and addictive enough to get people to play, but it's the social interaction which really makes them addictive. Most are pretty boring games on their own. It's the human interaction which sucks people in. Sadly, MMORPG's today have moved away from social interaction and they aren't nearly as addictive as they used to be.

 

[shortylickens]

Havent we been seeing these articles for about 10 years now?
Is there any new information to be had?

 

[clok1966]

What in life is not repetitive and pay as you go? Bars are the same old thing, and you pay to go in (sometimes) and then to drink. TV is almost all paid subscription to watch, are you have to "farm" commercials to get to the part you want. Tell us what doesn't do every trick in the (legal) book to make us buy more? Why would game be any different?

LOOT BOXES i pay for are a disgrace (opinion) expansions you pay for.. fine.. but i could rant on loot boxes for hours.

 

[gamerguy2]

"Bars are the same old thing, and you pay to go in (sometimes) and then to drink."

Thankfully with online porno you can drink from home and have better sex. No need to get behind the wheel. If the girls want the real thing they can pick you up online. Playing an mmorpgs with meal breaks is a good lifestyle. The problem is the end game requires a full time commitment from other genres.

Games have experimented with quests without grinding. There is no suitable replacement so far. Task based adventures included.The game turns into a lousy version of a single player adventure game. Task based replacement would be the way to go. It is implementing it that is the problem. Choice of either to gain experience in my opinion.

As far as being a lab rat. I would say definitely yes.

Remember when you were a kid. The cool kids everyone liked were confided in. The people that spied on everyone to get the same information unwillingly were hated. It doesn't seem to bother these people any.

Its probably so bad. You say a word like Tim Hortons when in game. Your computer will start to lag until they upload your entire conversation for advertising.

 

[FreshBross]

Black Desert Online seems to go down a different road than WoW. Warcraft goes down a route looking to create addictions to their game in order to make money. Black Desert due to the fact there are no recurring payments they aren't looking to keep you playing for the long term they just want your money for in-game purchases such as faster horses to move around the large map quicker or for a costume to look nicer. Black Desert is a very cheap game for only 12.99 but the cheapest in-game purchase is 13$. Their aim seems to be more to keeping users wanting more while WoW seems to me as though they keep users wanting a continued version of what they're already experiencing. They are not interested in change.