10 Clever Ways Developers Make You Addicted To Video Games

8. Instantaneous Replay Options ("Just One More Try")

The "Do you want to continue?" screen has been a part of basic video game design since the industry's arcade origins. Developers understood early on that implementing a screen with a countdown timer and the word "Continue?" on it would encourage gamers to pump in quarters as fast as possible in order to ensure it didn't reach zero.

Over the years, this concept has only been tweaked and perfected by subsequent generations of developers. The current state of the continue screen either offers players the chance to start again in under a second or, even better, just throws them into a new session immediately. While both examples are most prominent in mobile games, one of the most successful uses of the later technique can be found in Super Meat Boy, which allowed players to enter an infinite loop of barrier-free continues that perfectly meshed with the "almost got it, just one for try" style of gameplay.

When you no longer have the chance to even consider if you're going to keep playing, the odds are that you are going to keep playing.