Have you (or your company) created a product, such as a toy or software, that led to unintended user consequences? How do you feel about its impact, and have you taken steps, like focus groups or educational initiatives, to address the issue?
Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
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Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#2Not so much addiction but worrying misuse. My heads-up on the whole
smart-tech and human behaviour crisis happened very early. About 2014
we were at RJDJ pioneering reactive music and audio games. Two
products, gave me serious worry. One was a zombie hunting game,
possibly one of the first ever geo-location mobile games way before
Pokemon etc. It used audio only and put the player into an immersive
horror survival landscape. Invisible zombies out there in the world
would converge on you to do battle. The accelerometer controlled
virtual weapons with swishing and flesh impact sound effect, and also
the music got super intense. People would be flailing wildly in the
street, frightening passers by and sometimes letting go and smashing
their phone (same problem Wii controllers had). Another one was a
reactive music game for in car use that created generative drum and
bass according to how you drive. That basically ended up with people
taking stupid risks to get the music fired up.
Both of those were an early wake-up call for me that the shit we were playing with where digital meets reality and human behaviour, was way more than just "entertainment".
Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#3The developer of FlappyBird shared his thoughts on this problem:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/the-flight-of...
> By early February, the weight of everything – the scrutiny, the relentless criticism and accusations – felt crushing. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t focus, didn’t want to go outdoors. His parents, he says, “worried about my well-being.” His tweets became darker and more cryptic. “I can call ‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine,” read one. “But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.” He realized there was one thing to do: Pull the game. After tweeting that he was taking it down, 10 million people downloaded it in 22 hours. Then he hit a button, and Flappy Bird disappeared. When I ask him why he did it, he answers with the same conviction that led him to create the game. “I’m master of my own fate,” he says. “Independent thinker.”
Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#4The developer of FlappyBird shared his thoughts on this problem: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/the-flight-of... > By early February, the weight of everything – the scrutiny, the relentless criticism and accusations – felt crushing. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t focus, didn’t want to go outdoors. His parents, he says, “worried about my well-being.” His tweets became darker and more cryptic. “I can call…
Interesting. It reminds me of Leif's reflections on his journey, but with an even darker tone.: https://www.omegle.com
Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#5In 2004 my boss - I was a one man team technical business development at the Austria Press Agency - came to me and told me "our press release clients want to get better found in that Google".
At that time I saw it as a nice, fun project.
too my knowledge I was one of the first in my market on corporate state who took on this topic. which later came to be called search engine optimization.
I was definitely one of the first who gave corporate lectures, workshop, whitepapers, books about it.
20 years later we screwed up the internet. well at least the part of the internet that shows up in Google.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#6I'd love to hear pgraham give his current thoughts on this aspect of HN, 15 years after this: https://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html
Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#7Back in high school, we had a pascal programming class. The teacher had a rule, no video games on the computers unless you write them yourself. I think he was being tongue in cheek, but I wrote a few simple arcade games, and he was true to his word. But students started playing my games instead of working on the assignments. So he said no games until you turn in your assignment for the day.
Not a very dramatic example, but it made me so proud that I decided then and there on the career path I'm still on today.
Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#8The developer of FlappyBird shared his thoughts on this problem: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/the-flight-of... > By early February, the weight of everything – the scrutiny, the relentless criticism and accusations – felt crushing. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t focus, didn’t want to go outdoors. His parents, he says, “worried about my well-being.” His tweets became darker and more cryptic. “I can call…
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Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#9Halfbrick studios made Tank Tactis, a game prototype that they had to ban from their own office. GDC talk from 2013[0] covers it, which is summarized here[1], and also publicized by a 15 minute People Make Games video[2].
[0]: https://www.engadget.com/2013-04-01-tank-tactics-the-prototy...
[1]: https://www.engadget.com/2013-04-01-tank-tactics-the-prototy...
Re: Ask HN: Have you built something that users have become addicted to or overused?
#10Yes, I created a leaderboard for programmers and recently found some people using it as motivation to sleep less, spending 18 hour energy drink fueled days coding for up to a month at a time. [0]
> How do you feel about its impact
Even though it's not healthy, I let it happen to a point. I reach out by email about the health impacts. Some people say, "I plan to stop at the end of the month".
> have you taken steps, like focus groups or educational initiatives, to address the issue?
I set limits to how long they can be on the leaderboard, and I reach out personally to those who overdo it.
My next project is wonderful.dev [1], where I promise to never email any dev users (we don't even store your email) and have a focus on usability even if it means slower growth. This is in contrast to most apps these days trying to hook users with addictive patterns, always competing for your attention.