10 Clever Ways Developers Make You Addicted To Video Games

1. Randomizing Rewards

Do you remember that episode of The Twilight Zone where the gambler believes that he has gone to heaven because it is impossible for him to lose any game he plays in the afterlife? Soon, however, he quickly discovers that the joy of gambling goes away when victory can be achieved on command.

In that moment, he realizes that he is truly in hell.

It's the same thing with video games. While spacing out a series of rewards as designated points was once the prevailing method of game design, now developers realize that it is far more lucrative to ensure that those rewards are not doled out equally for completing the same actions.

Going back to Diablo, you might kill a skeleton one time and get a legendary weapon as a reward. The next time, however, he drops nothing. Convinced that this action will eventually reward you again, you play for hours and hours to achieve it - such a method was employed in Destiny, and resulted in that game's userbase having an average play-time of 500 hours. Yes, really.

This same design makes slot machines one of the most popular destinations in every Las Vegas casino, and now it's making the random reward system in titles like Hearthstone and Overwatch one of the most surefire sources of addiction in all of gaming.

Have you ever had the encroaching feeling that you're being played, just as much as the game itself? Let us know in the comments!