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Should Games Recognize Addictive Behavior?

posted by mattie_p on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the games-watch-you! dept.

siliconwafer writes: "An article in The Economist raises some interesting points about addiction to video games, drawing from psychology and sociology to describe why certain people prefer certain types of games, and why they might become addicted to them. It is suggested that to discourage addiction, game designers could have their games recognize addictive behavior and respond to it by encouraging gamers to take breaks. Do game designers have any responsibility to recognize addictive behavior, or does this responsibility fall solely on the gamer (or the gamer's parents in the case of a minor)?"

 
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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by bart9h on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:45AM

    by bart9h (767) on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:45AM (#6625)

    Don't remember which, but there was a game which just displayed the time you spent playing.

    It's subtle, but has a nice effect on remembering how you could be wasting your time with it.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Interesting=3, Total=3
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Total Score:   4  

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by dotdotdot on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:51AM

    by dotdotdot (858) on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:51AM (#6633)

    I thought that was the score. I kept playing to see how high I could get it.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Koen on Tuesday February 25 2014, @11:20AM

      by Koen (427) on Tuesday February 25 2014, @11:20AM (#6654)

      My son goes about it this way: Steam shows how long he has been playing his games. When he is looking for team mates, he tries to get players who spent a lot of time on the game. It is just a measure of experience to him.

      --
      /. refugees on Usenet: comp.misc [comp.misc]

  • (Score: 1) by etherscythe on Tuesday February 25 2014, @01:53PM

    by etherscythe (937) on Tuesday February 25 2014, @01:53PM (#6776)

    Steam does this with most games as well