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posted by mattie_p on Tuesday February 25 2014, @02:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the games-watch-you! dept.

siliconwafer writes: "An article in The Economist raises some interesting points about addiction to video games, drawing from psychology and sociology to describe why certain people prefer certain types of games, and why they might become addicted to them. It is suggested that to discourage addiction, game designers could have their games recognize addictive behavior and respond to it by encouraging gamers to take breaks. Do game designers have any responsibility to recognize addictive behavior, or does this responsibility fall solely on the gamer (or the gamer's parents in the case of a minor)?"

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by akinliat on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:54PM

    by akinliat (1898) <{akinliat} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday February 25 2014, @10:54PM (#6987)

    Depends on the "pestering" I guess.

    Exactly. It's a game. If they're going to try to get you to take a break, then it ought to be in a fun way. For instance, they might suggest that you go do something else utterly strange. Pull a string from fortune, and incorporate it the way that Slashcode does. Try to be witty, or clever, or just silly.

    What you don't want is a message that sounds like your mother/wife/partner/judgemental-pet-of-choice. That's the sort of thing that games are supposed to help you get away from. You could even go so far as incorporate external activities into the game somehow (achievements?).

    Bottom line, I know that I'm increasingly aware of just how bad it is for me to sit almost perfectly still and stare at a screen for hours on end. Like many, though, I can easily lose myself in a game, especially the complex sorts that I prefer. It'd be nice to have a periodic reminder to get up and move around, and if it's also amusing, it would add something to the game as well.

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