[MUD-Dev] Retention without Addiction?

[Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com]

Matt Mihaly wrote :

> Yes, I agree, people shouldn't drink and drive, or build cars that
> explode when rear-ended. I disagree that game developers shouldn't
> make games that encourage habitual play, just as I would disagree
> that food makers shouldn't make tasty food that encourages us to
> eat more, or that ski slope operators should somehow make skiing
> less fun, so that people will not do it habitually.

The difference between these games versus food, skiing and etc is
that they all have external constraints that discourage/limit people
from compulsive and destructive behaviour. There is a finite limit
to how much food I can eat. There's a finite limit to how much
skiing I can do in a day (fatigue, lifts closing and darkness on the
short term - cost on the broader term).  However, there doesn't seem
to be much appart from discipline stopping people playing online
games obsessively. Its remarkably easy not get out of a chair for 12
hours.

Given that people apparently need these limits to maintain sensible
balance, I feel there is a strong case for engineering them into the
game. I don't even think people need to be exceptionally flawed to
become overly consumed by these games. The article posted on another
thread by the lady becoming addicted to AO (of all things!) seems to
illustrate this. Humans just seems to be engineered for compulsive
behaviour, naively exploiting this is liable to get the industry
bitten on the arse.

> In my worldview, that makes the player entirely morally
> responsible for the effects he or she experiences while playing
> the game. I feel the same about cigarettes, drugs of any sort,
> etc.

Whilst I'm inclined to disagree with you, its largely irrelevant
what our viewpoints are. The majority of the Western World doesn't
agree. Its alarmingly easy to make comparisons between online games
and drugs. People already do and you aren't going to change their
minds.

> The difference between driving and a game is that the roads, etc,
> are owned by the public. We all have a right to be on them, and to
> some extent, to be safe on them. I have a -right- to drive, from
> my point of view, because my money is paying for the
> infrastructure. I don't have a right to play games.

I can't see your point here. People pay to play games, just as you
pay to use the roads. You could argue that there isn't a viable
alternative to driving (at least in the States), but people claim
the same of online game x which they enjoy, but find overly
compulsive, whilst hating games y & z.  i.e. They want to play an
online game, and game x is the only viable option (in their
opinion).

>> I'm not saying that developers should be held accountable for the
>> actions or choices of addicted players, only that they should be
>> held accountable for their own choices in deciding to create an
>> addictive game, because I believe such choices can *contribute*
>> to the harmful results that addictive behavior can bring.
 
> Yes, they can contribute. That doesn't equal moral blame to me.

Moral blame isn't this concrete, black and white, 1-to-1
relationship. If something contributes to a problem, then surely it
shares blame?

Just looking at the time I spent playing Everquest, I think online
game addiction is probably a wider problem than currently
acknowledged. The number of people I knew who regularly played >7
hours a day was incredible.  They haven't all lost their jobs etc,
but I can't see a case for it being healthy.

In the end I hope its somewhat academic as to whether developers buy
in to making games less compulsive. Lots of people quit these games
because they no longer wish to make the commitments they feel these
games require, and they won't buy another until they find one that
doesn't make similar demands. If one isn't available, then the
industry just lost a customer.  Market forces should do the rest.

Dan

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