As a researcher in Cognitive Science, I provide my viewpoint in the game industry, along with my experience of game users in my work at Ubisoft, Lucas Arts, Epic Games, my present experience as an independent Gaming UX consultant. I also offer you expertise in in-gaming ethics. Below I’ll talk about addiction, treasure boxes, dark patterns, and violence. For each of these subjects, I will determine what science has to say about the primary public worry and provide some recommendations of what game creators may do to solve associated issues.
Videogame Addiction:
The key to identifying this is that some video game addiction requires some therapy and that games may create this addiction? First, let us look at addiction before dealing with these difficulties since it is not enough to be merely interested in fun and play a few hours a day. Suffering is a disordered comportement. There is a drug dependency such as alcohol, opioids, or cigarettes.
In these addictions, the substance usually creates physical dependence. For example, heroin binds to opium receptors in the brain and generates a pleasurable thrill. The effects of the hormonal and neurological systems are highly addictive because they disturb the balance and cannot rapidly be restored. Thus, they detect deep tolerance and physical dependence. Other medicines do not create severe physical dependency or develop a mental dependency that does not matter any less or more.
Gambling:
We need to differentiate between the legal concept of gambling and the psychological process behind it. The legal description of gambling in the US is to enter a wager for value (for example, buy a lottery ticket) or play a chance game to expect something to be of worth (such as money).
By definition, a random selection of virtual loot boxes (e.g., a rare weapon or skin) that may be redeemed using in-game money (for example, gems or coins) might be classified as gambling, even though legal disputes continue globally.
One may allege that the actual money required to purchase loot boxes is missing in the currency (for example, when gamers earn that money – or get loot boxes directly – through gaming) (gain real money from an item received).
Although most loot boxes may be gained with complex monetary expenses, they can be purchased with actual cash in turn. And there are secondary marketplaces that allow gamers to exchange stuff for money. In both situations, the essential concept in the legal definition is “some value.” Though the players so choose, I would argue that a rare object is valued in the game system even if it is virtual.
Gaming Industry is Earning The Most
Dark Patterns:
A dark pattern defines a pattern with a deliberately misleading feature that is not in the best interest of users in gaming. But let’s play a small game before we go into the subject of dark patterns: Imagine a bat and ball in a store for a total of 11 dollars. Were they aware that the bat cost 10 more dollars than the ball? Try to think of a reply quickly. If you said that the ball is a dollar cost, it indicates you have fallen into a common pit.
This puzzle was included in Shane Frederick’s ‘Cognitive Reflection Test’ (CRT) in 2005. Frederick discovered that at least one question was answered incorrectly by 83% of MIT students (the correct answer is 50 cents by the way). At the same time, we assume ourselves to be logically reasonable humans. We are deceived in our daily judgments and addressing issues by the numerous limits of our mentals and unconscious partiality.
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