10 Secret Ways Video Games Totally Waste Your Time
2. Artificial Progression
Much like the aforementioned loot grind, progression was once upon a time reserved largely for RPG games, but after Call of Duty introduced levelling up, unlocks, and upgrades in the original Modern Warfare, it quickly became a mainstay of, well, pretty much every single video game genre.
It's incredibly uncommon nowadays to find a major AAA game which doesn't come with some kind of skill tree or comprehensive upgrade system, regardless of whether the game really needs it or not.
Multiplayer games in particular shoehorn "artificial progression" into the central loop in order to keep giving players a dopamine rush every time they hit a new level or unlock a new mod for their weapon.
The only intent is to wring more time from players, regardless of whether fun is being had.
This has been successful enough to the extent that players may actively decry those few multiplayer games which aren't jam-packed with busy-work tasks, challenges, and so on.
Do you remember when people played competitive online games just for fun, rather than to get a bigger number next to their name?