[quote]Big Kahuna wrote:
[quote]cstratton2 wrote:
Whats the difference between getting addicted to an MMO and any other platform based game? It seems to me that MMOS are far more pervasive with escapism due to the vast content it has… I play PS3 and what not but always try and monitor when my behaviors turn from fun just platforming to that easy to trigger dopamine chasing carrot, teeth gritting, gotta get to x,y,z that happens chasing the next mission/objective/achievement, FYI watch yourself cause it may happen far more then you care to take notice…
Anyways other then that everything in moderation seems to be the theme in life lol [/quote]
There’s entirely too much to do in WoW and likewise MMO’s for any person to ever really get bored of it. I mean the quests and levelling to new areas, which are overwhelmingly abundant, is what one would most likely see to be the core aspect of gameplay, but even aside of that there are countless side-quests, repeat quests, faction quests etc. The expansiveness comes in that all divisions have sub-divisions, and most of the sub-divisions have sub-sub-divisions that grow outward exponentially until you’re at a point where all the bases are covered.
To me it always lost it’s flavour towards the late game, as I assume it does with everyone. Things start to slow considerably and a casual experience starts to become a ‘job’ where the focus shifts more to things like raiding non-stop for slightly better equipment and min-maxing PvP DPS. It’s there that the real threat of addiction starts to rear it’s ugly head and you end up going through the motions of just making inert tweaks over and over.
Even when you reach a level end point, you’re still tasked with taking on raids and PvP tournaments, there is no defined end and that’s the predominant reason I was so held in by it. Not to mention starting the whole cycle again with a different class once you realise you could do way more damage over time with a necromancer than you can a paladin. It’s soul-wrenching, the only way I got out of it was to sell away my account and not have any further information on it.
- Confessions of a Former Level 70 Blood Elf Paladin in The Burning Crusade expansion, back when that was a thing.[/quote]
It all comes down to “status”, or how we perceive our “rank” compared to both those around us as well as versus ourselves. Researchers have discovered that increases in status use the same brain reward circuits involved in sex or food. This is a higher-level reward than secondary needs, such as money or justice.
Having a high status in a social group means better and more frequent choices in mates as well as more food and protection. In the modern world though we perceive opportunities to increase our status all around us, and the [internal brain] rewards for increasing status versus our past self are just as significant as increasing our status as compared to others. The weird thing though is that there is no one fixed status scale. As long as people are “better” than they were before, an increase in status is perceived.
It is the same reason why working out is fun and rewarding over the long haul - our perceived status versus our past self increases each time we add another 5 lbs to the bar or add a pound of lbm on the scale. After all, getting excited about hitting a PR in the gym makes no sense under any other light. No one gives a shit that you increased your bench from 400 to 405, such an increase would not result in any noticeable physical difference, nor would it help you get laid or earn you food (except maybe a free celebratory burrito or 3 from a lifting buddy who is congratulating you on your new PR). Yet such an event makes us feel really good, despite having no real implication in the real world. It’s all about status.
MMOs are particularly addictive because there are so many ways to increase your status. They really exploit this brain mechanism to the extreme. First, you get levels which makes your character stronger. Each ding is an increase in status. Then, you upgrade your equipment which makes your character stronger. More status increases. Once you’ve maxed out your gear status, a new update comes out and there’s more status increases available. The whole thing gets amplified by the fact that each increase in status is clearly defined. Each time you gain a level, you raise your character’s strength, and you become more superior to those around you with a lower level. Each time you get a new upgrade, you clearly get stronger, and you get to subconsciously look down on those around you with crappier equipment. Ridiculous when put in this perspective, but true nonetheless.
While console game developers may not have realized that the reason for the “stickiness” of MMO games is an increase in status, they have discovered that using MMO elements significantly increases the addictive qualities of a game (as well as its replay value). People binge on CoD in a way never seen before in previous FPS games, as each time you have a good game you get more experience points, levels, new equipment, badges, prestige ranks, and so on.
WoW has also benefited from copying status-boosting elements from other games. In particular, WoW now has an elaborate “Achievements” system, which is a cheap and easy way to allow players to increase their status without actually adding any new content to the game. Players eat this up.
Good post with much more detail for anyone interested (ignore the title):
http://www.mmorpgblog.org/why-tiered-end-game-destroys-communities-in-mmorpgs/