The social side of games
I didn't have time to dive into this but it's a part that it's been essential for me during this sememster and always in my mind while producing the content for the special issue.
history
is game a collective experience?
There are regulations around the box that doesn't allow the user to go on with the opening unless they obey to the rule [(of the main box but also of the others inside) needed to open that precise box)= the idea is to create a safe space for the user and criticise some of the characteristic of the lootbox ( for example, avoid fast thinking and take time to open/(or even to buy the lootbox), avoid loneliness in the play by sharing it with other people, avoid staying at home and go out to experience the real world --> the user will find a description, options, to enjoy the inside of the box they're opening at a maximum level. don't want the user to receive everything from the loot box super fast (it takes time to create gifts, why dont we take time to enjoy them?) ] (2)when you buy it you can just buy a copy for someone else you don't know, [we create a waiting list to get it, and when someone leaves the money for a copy, someone else will receive it (at the end 1. everyone who paid will receive a copy? 2. people can decide if they want to receive one, or pay for more than one also for someone else (maybe people who can't afford it?, maybe we get)
addiction and loneliness
Gaming disorder
But the idea that someone can be addicted to a behavior, as opposed to a substance, remains contentious.
Excessive game play is not a true addiction but rather a symptom of a larger underlying problem, like depression or anxiety
fishing, baking, running — and yet we don’t typically pathologize those.
indicating that compulsive game play and addictive drugs alter the brain’s reward circuits in similar ways;
Addiction, they say, is compulsive engagement in a rewarding experience despite serious repercussions.
The fact that video games are designed to be addictive is an open secret in the gaming industry. With the help of hired scientists, game developers have employed many psychological techniquesto make their products as unquittable as possible
Perhaps the most explicit manifestation of manipulative game design is the rising popularity of loot boxes, which are essentially lotteries for coveted items: a player pays real money to buy a virtual treasure box, hoping it contains something valuable within the world of the game.
guarantee rewards in exchange for effort.
Why suffer in a world that has no place for you when you can slip so easily into one that is designed to keep you happy, and is more than happy to keep you? Maybe because at some point you’ll have to go back to the real world; which is your life? Are you alive?
The economic and cultural ascendancy of video games has collided with a social crisis that we are only beginning to understand: the isolation, emotional stagnation and profound loneliness of American men
Why do I game?’ ” Adair told me. “For me, it was so obvious that it wasn’t just that games were fun. They allowed me to escape. They allowed me to socially connect. They allowed me to see measurable progress. And they allowed me to feel a sense of certainty.”
I’ve tried to branch myself out into a lot of hobbies that I take shallower dives into, rather than having one that occupies everything,” he told me.
the game
bibliography
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/behavioral-game-design
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/magazine/can-you-really-be-addicted-to-video-games.html