Dev.SN

Should Games Recognize Addictive Behavior?

posted by mattie_p on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:11AM   
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)?"

• They already do. It's called it "Achievements". They already do. It's called it "Achievements". (Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday February 25 2014, @02:25PM

  by RamiK (1813) on Tuesday February 25 2014, @02:25PM (#6802)

  With high scores you can at least claim to be promoting competitiveness and self-confidence like in sports. But with generic collectibles and achievements you're really just milking the OCD cow...

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+2
  Interesting=2, Total=2
  Extra 'Interesting' Modifier		0
  Total Score:		3

• Re:They already do. It's called it "Achievements". (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2014, @05:25PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2014, @05:25PM (#6954)

  and the sad part is that it works so well

  Parent