Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
kernelmag.dailydot.com
Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#2Reminded me of this long but worth it piece:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8544303/casino-slot-machine...
"I can’t tell you how often I’ve been approached since the publication of my book by Silicon Valley types who say things like, ‘Wow, the gambling industry really seems to have a handle on this attention retention problem that we’re all facing,'" Schüll told me. "'Will you come tell our designers how to do a better job?’"
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#3Finally managed to kick my Clash of Clans habit the other day. I realized I had been logging in 1-2x/day for multiple years with maybe a couple weeks of breaks after buying shields around the holidays.
My life has become increasingly cluttered with feeds, needing to login to games I like to get bonuses and such, and it has started to pile up so I decided I needed to make some changes, starting with CoC.
At first I had a lot of anxiety because the mechanics of the game would penalize me pretty harshly if I was away for a few days/weeks and wanted to come back. The lizard part of my brain started urging me to play it in a way that was so urgent it felt like I could almost reach out and touch it.
But I had deleted the app from my device, and I sat myself down and told myself that those urges had no weight because the consequences would never be felt since I wasn't going to play the game again.
Now I'm past the hump, and while I still have many more things on my list to extricate from my life in my path towards simplifying things, I definitely feel a bit better. One less responsibility.
Don't get me wrong--I'm still a gamer, and likely will always be to some degree. But I'm so jaded by games with super transparent mechanics like this that they are starting to lose their hold over me. Started playing Pillars of Eternity last night and it was refreshing to get into something story-driven that didn't devote a significant chunk of the initial gameplay to introducing me to various IAP mechanics.
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#4"Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover is a really interesting read on this subject. For me it was eye-opening to think about app development from a behavioral and psychological perspective, albeit manipulative.
http://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Product...
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#5Reminded me of this long but worth it piece: http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8544303/casino-slot-machine... "I can’t tell you how often I’ve been approached since the publication of my book by Silicon Valley types who say things like, ‘Wow, the gambling industry really seems to have a handle on this attention retention problem that we’re all facing,'" Schüll told me. "'Will you come tell our designers how to do a be…
A friend of mine was doing a business internship; someone mentioned hiring "a Chinese sweatshop" to make their product. He laughed, but they weren't joking.
They're jolting, those moments when you realize you've been talking to someone who acts just like a normal human being but is totally disconnected from basic human empathy.
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#6Reminded me of this long but worth it piece: http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8544303/casino-slot-machine... "I can’t tell you how often I’ve been approached since the publication of my book by Silicon Valley types who say things like, ‘Wow, the gambling industry really seems to have a handle on this attention retention problem that we’re all facing,'" Schüll told me. "'Will you come tell our designers how to do a be…
A friend of mine was doing a business internship; someone mentioned hiring "a Chinese sweatshop" to make their product. He laughed, but they weren't joking. They're jolting, those moments when you realize you've been talking to someone who acts just like a normal human being but is totally disconnected from basic human empathy.
They exist, they don't offer good working conditions, but chances are that the majority of the items in your home and almost all the clothes you wear were made under similar conditions. I don't see any empathy being expressed by someone who's complicit in a (mostly) bad thing but then denounces and dehumanizes anyone who openly acknowledges it.
I think you're confusing 'empathy' with 'virtue signaling.'
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#7Every time I try out one of these damned stupid mobile ganes, I reach a point where I'm like "okay, fuck this" and that's the point where it starts getting grindy without spending cash. It's very subtle, like the moment a stripper stops being friendly and starts silently expecting generous tips in order to keep being friendly. But it's there, I hate it, and it makes games profoundly unfun.
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#8Every time I try out one of these damned stupid mobile ganes, I reach a point where I'm like "okay, fuck this" and that's the point where it starts getting grindy without spending cash. It's very subtle, like the moment a stripper stops being friendly and starts silently expecting generous tips in order to keep being friendly. But it's there, I hate it, and it makes games profoundly unfun.
What worries me is that kids growing up today will think that this is normal, just part of "how video games are". I miss the days when you paid once and got full access to the entire game, limited only by your own skill. When the game designer's chief concern was fun and playability, not artificial roadblocks to spur paid "upgrades". It's a sad trend.
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#9Every time I try out one of these damned stupid mobile ganes, I reach a point where I'm like "okay, fuck this" and that's the point where it starts getting grindy without spending cash. It's very subtle, like the moment a stripper stops being friendly and starts silently expecting generous tips in order to keep being friendly. But it's there, I hate it, and it makes games profoundly unfun.
What worries me is that kids growing up today will think that this is normal, just part of "how video games are". I miss the days when you paid once and got full access to the entire game, limited only by your own skill. When the game designer's chief concern was fun and playability, not artificial roadblocks to spur paid "upgrades". It's a sad trend.
On the flip-side, we've moved away from "fixed in the cartridge" games which were Nintendo Hard.
[0]: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NintendoHard
Re: Why your favorite apps are designed to addict you
#10Finally managed to kick my Clash of Clans habit the other day. I realized I had been logging in 1-2x/day for multiple years with maybe a couple weeks of breaks after buying shields around the holidays. My life has become increasingly cluttered with feeds, needing to login to games I like to get bonuses and such, and it has started to pile up so I decided I needed to make some changes, starting with CoC. At first I ha…
At first I had a lot of anxiety because the mechanics of the game would penalize me pretty harshly if I was away for a few days/weeks and wanted to come back. The lizard part of my brain started urging me to play it in a way that was so urgent it felt like I could almost reach out and touch it.
But I had deleted the app from my device, and when I sat myself down and told myself that those urges had no weight because the consequences would never be felt since I wasn't going to play the game again.
The second sentence is the most important here - good work on getting rid.