How the Gaming Industry Hooks You // Digital Minimalism Series
On Saturday night, I sat across a dinner table from a data scientist who works for a mobile gaming company. I won’t say which gaming company. Games have intrigued me since the days of Sonic the Hedgehog, and they’re taking a bigger place in culture every day. So, I asked the data scientist to show me her game.
It was bright, colorful, challenging, and full of explosions and chimes to signal progress. I was reluctant to let it go to another interested person at our table. I felt an urge to master the game.
When I did let go, I asked the data scientist what she did to provide value at her company. My guess was that she studied user data to ensure that attractive advertisements are fed to users. I was completely. Her company is an early stage with no interest in getting money from users or advertisers. Right now, they only optimize for one thing: getting users time.
She went on to explain that her main job is to be on a constant search for trends in users data that can be exploited to monopolize users time. The path to user attention is a far cry from the Mario Brothers of my childhood. It used to be that different people could play a video game and experience the same challenge. If you made it to level 6 and your friend only made it to level 5, you were better at that game. No question. This is not the case in 2019. Now, the game difficulty can be altered at any moment keep the user coming back. If I get stuck on level 6 and quit, the game can change to make it easier for me to pass level 6, thereby keeping my attention on the game for a longer period of time. The reverse is possible too, the challenge can be increased to keep a player who is bored. Friends who claim to be more skilled may be playing an easier version of the game. There is no way to know, because the concepts of levels and scores are arbitrary. They are just variables to be manipulated in a quest to hold your attention.
I’ve been aware that casino gambling, also called the “gaming” industry, uses tactics like this to keep players addicted. But I had no idea that videogames were creating the same illusions to keep users using.
In his thought-provoking book The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew Crawford exposes the manipulations used in slot machines to keep users playing “to extinction.” Playing to extinction is a gaming term for playing until every possible source of funds is exhausted. Here are a few (of the many) ways that slot machines get you to play to extinction.
1. The Near Miss. It’s a fallacy that gambler’s are prone to. They see the symbols start to line up for a jackpot, then the last symbol misses. Almost got it! And they believe that next time the jackpot will hit. In digital slot machines, the screen can be programmed to give a disproportionate number of near misses, keeping users coming back.
2. Autoplay and Autopay. All friction has been removed. In Australia, you don’t even need to push a button or (Heaven forbid) pull a lever, because the game will automatically keep your turns playing. Payment is smooth too. Every layer between you and the machine is lubricated for playing to extinction.
3. Setting the Odds. A machine can appear to have good odds of winning. For example, it may look like you only need 3 symbols to line up to hit a jackpot. In fact, the probability of achieving a jackpot can be set as high as the house wants. What appears to be a game of lining up 3 symbols could have the odds of a game to line up 50 symbols. You have no contact with the real probability.
What does playing to extinction actually look like? Those interviewed in The World Beyond Your Head admitted to optimizing their lives for more casino time by moving to Las Vegas and working in a casino. Some wear black pants so they can urinate while playing without being notice. Crawford cited cases of medical emergencies where medical personnel were impeded by gambling addicts who refused to move out of the way during play.
Is your smartphone gaming susceptible to the same manipulation as a slot machine? Yes. I wouldn’t have believed it until my conversation last Saturday, but now I’m convinced.
For more on the uphill battle against new technologies that are designed to absorb your attention, check out Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.