Why mmos are so addictive

And so players online exhibit many of same social behaviours as people do in real life. Higher level players have higher status. Just like in the real world, where rich people have higher status, so do rich players online.

The lower levels will look up to them as a role model of what they might one day become. They admire them. And they're jealous of them. Because the high levels have digital pixels that they don't. So they're driven to play more and more to compete with other players. And so for the majority of the game each player is inside their own box pulling the levers as fast as they can, while comparing themselves with other players to see how many times they've pulled their own levers.

Even after finally maxing out your account, an expansion will arrive. Providing more content to go through. And more food pellets to chew on.

For all animals, including humans, all behaviour is molded by rewards and punishments. You get a promotion at work: Boom. Dopamine shoots up. You feel good. You lose your job : Boom. Cortisol spike. You feel bad. Cortisol is the brain chemical released when you feel stress or discomfort. Rewards and punishments occur naturally in the real world.

They're what guide your behaviour. They set the route for your path through life. Does that mean that MMO's are no different from the real world? There are two important differences between MMO's and the real world:. In MMO's, progression happens in an unnaturally fast and extreme way. Rewards come every few seconds with XP drops. Monsters drop a new set of loot every few minutes. New damage hits appear every second.

This can make in-game progression more enticing and addictive than real-world progression. People don't live inside MMO's. They live in the real world. Progression inside the game essentially amounts to nothing in the player's real life. MMO's developers hijack your healthy craving for self improvement and turn it into money for themselves. I learnt teamwork skills in my clan.

I learnt problem solving skills during quests. Anything you learn inside an MMO can be learned far more effectively in the real world. You can learn something by doing anything. And which group is it that craves self-improvement the most?

Teenagers have a strong natural drive to improve themselves - a drive that is exploited by MMO's with hyper-improvement in the virtual world. They encourage long gameplay time and addictive behaviour because they profit massively from it. That's a lot of monthly subscription fees. Yes there is good gameplay in these games. Yes people play them because they're fun. But that doesn't change the fact that game developers still use techniques that are KNOWN to be addictive, especially when the game is aimed at teenagers who's brains are vulnerable to these techniques.

I call myself an addict, because I share the same symptoms as someone who's addicted to smoking, or alcohol, or some other substance. I think about EQ while I'm not playing, I get stressed when I have to go 24 hrs without logging on for a fix, and I wasn't able to quit when I tried. If that's not an addiction, I don't know what is. Many of the most addicted gamers cannot keep a job, because they play the game the majority of any given day. This makes the trend of spending money they do not have a fairly common sign of MMO addiction.

They may use credit cards or money from family to fund their addiction, which is an issue that tends not to go away until the problem is recognized and treated. Autumn Rivers. Please enter the following code:. Everything, from how you pay for your subscription, to the implementation of multiplayer content, is designed to sink its hooks into you as deep as they can possibly go. They want you to keep playing, because as long as you keep playing, you keep paying.

Addictions always start small and appear innocent. It is so important to remain in control of your own feelings and impulses when playing MMOs — it is laughably easy to let videogame addiction creep up on you and start doing damage without you ever realising there is a problem.

This is why I recommend implementing checks and balances to identify bad habits before they metamorphosize into full-blown compulsions. I hope someone somewhere has found these tips and observations useful. Playing MMOs has been my best and also my worst gaming experience. I hope this article will help new players, or returning players, or lapsed players wondering if they should return, to play MMOs responsibly — so you can enjoy the best of what these games have to offer, whilst deftly side-stepping the worst.

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Notify me of new posts via email. Powered by WordPress. This could so easily be you. This is how playing an MMO for less than 30 hours a week can end up feeling. Paying month by month helps you appreciate the price of your participation in the game.

An example of a close-knit guild in World of Warcraft. Competitive PvP is taken very seriously by the World of Warcraft community. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:.

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