hire literal psychologists to make their games more addictive.
I don't know if that's actually true of B-A or not, but in most cases, where I've seen psychologists hired in games it's either been in design, because they specialize in decision-making in high-complexity systems (so, 'what choices can I give a player at this juncture that they will recognize as choices in the amount of time they have, and what would mislead them about their options?'), because they specialize in group-behavior ('how do I make these online psychopaths behave themselves?' - this never works), or to run research labs (big studios do this, little ones don't) or to do BI work. I've never actually met a psychologist who did work on making games explicitly addictive.
it made the rounds in the news a few years back. it absolutely happens. They're involved in everything including making sure the animation that plays when you open a loot box is maximally pleasing to get you to keep playing / purchasing.
Wouldn't shock me if Activision had those folks. I can say, however, that at most companies, it's actually just an artist or UX person who is doing research on things like "how do I make this ceremony maximally impactful", not an actual psychologist, and the only people who actually see the overall system for what it is are at a production level. "I want opening a loot box to feel good" doesn't seem like the kind of exploitation it actually is from the ground level, because the individual implementer just sees it as a variation on, "This should look good!" Banality of evil, etc, etc.
There are games that have mechanisms like that which directly punish bad behavior with bad outcomes, but the problem is that the problem of online abuse is worst in team games and punishing one member of a team punishes the whole team. What's worse, it becomes a tool with which to troll your teammates, either by sicing it on them or provoking it on yourself.
Unless you're suggesting that game developers start engaging in warlockry, in which case, I am onboard. We haven't tried summoning a devil to solve this problem.
I don't know if that's actually true of B-A or not, but in most cases, where I've seen psychologists hired in games it's either been in design, because they specialize in decision-making in high-complexity systems (so, 'what choices can I give a player at this juncture that they will recognize as choices in the amount of time they have, and what would mislead them about their options?'), because they specialize in group-behavior ('how do I make these online psychopaths behave themselves?' - this never works), or to run research labs (big studios do this, little ones don't) or to do BI work. I've never actually met a psychologist who did work on making games explicitly addictive.
it made the rounds in the news a few years back. it absolutely happens. They're involved in everything including making sure the animation that plays when you open a loot box is maximally pleasing to get you to keep playing / purchasing.
Wouldn't shock me if Activision had those folks. I can say, however, that at most companies, it's actually just an artist or UX person who is doing research on things like "how do I make this ceremony maximally impactful", not an actual psychologist, and the only people who actually see the overall system for what it is are at a production level. "I want opening a loot box to feel good" doesn't seem like the kind of exploitation it actually is from the ground level, because the individual implementer just sees it as a variation on, "This should look good!" Banality of evil, etc, etc.
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There are games that have mechanisms like that which directly punish bad behavior with bad outcomes, but the problem is that the problem of online abuse is worst in team games and punishing one member of a team punishes the whole team. What's worse, it becomes a tool with which to troll your teammates, either by sicing it on them or provoking it on yourself.
Unless you're suggesting that game developers start engaging in warlockry, in which case, I am onboard. We haven't tried summoning a devil to solve this problem.