Addictiveness...It's the key word for this entire project I'm doing. It's the key piece for all app games that are commercially successful.
I've played plenty of console games in my time but there are only few that I can class as addictive. App games on the other hand have grasped the convention and made it the staple piece of their entire genre. Every good app-game I've played, which isn't that many but it is enough, has this quality in some form; the quality that makes you want to pick it up and play it again, not because of a storyline that can be progressed, but because you can't get enough of the gameplay itself. This addictive quality is the key convention I want to nail in my game.
What is Addiction?
First off let's have a definition. The dictionary definition for Addiction is as follows:
"The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity."
Second off let's identify the types of addiction. As the definition suggests there are two main types of addiction:
Substance Dependance - Addiction to drugs or some other substance like alcohol.
Behavioural Addiction - Compulsive behaviour or addiction to a certain activity like gambling.
In our case the addiction in question is playing app games, which is an activity, not a substance. Therefore it's behavioural addiction we want to look at to learn about what it is about app games that makes people tick.
Wikipedia describes Behavioural addiction as this:
"Behavioural addiction consists of a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until it causes negative consequences to the person's physical, mental, social, and/or financial well-being. Behaviour persisting in spite of these consequences can be taken as a sign of addiction."
Obviously addiction is extremely dangerous, and commonly people are aware of this. I don't think any of us believe that playing app games to pass the time or complete a level is especially harmful, and if it is we know when and how to stop playing. Where there's an addictive quality however there will always be the chance that it will cause harm, and in rare cases sometimes it does.
I found this next bit of information on a psychology site called Psychology Today that had a short article on Addictive Behavior:
"Activities such as gambling, eating, pornography viewing, and playing video games are particularly conducive to addiction because they provide the opportunity for immediate reward."
"The fast feedback that occurs in a gambling setting can quickly turn a pastime into a compulsive pursuit of reward, where one can't voluntarily disengage from the activity and harmful consequences occur-from losing large amounts of money to disruption of relationships."
Gambling is always the clear example of addictive behaviour and how much trouble it can get people into. You hear enough stories and facts tabooing gambling as dangerous despite it's allure, but with games that isn't so much the case. You hear very few stories tabooing gaming when in truth you can just as easily give yourself the same problems through playing games as you can through gambling.
Often app games are free to start with but in-game content costs money, and with the small costs you can easily be tricked into spending a lot more money than you think. The same can happen with your social life. If you let yourself play games continually you miss out on important social interaction.
The immediate reward the quote talks about is more common in level based games like Candy Crush or Angry Birds where you can quickly complete a level and feel satisfaction for doing so, which makes you want to do more of it.
I think there's room for one more point so let's get more specific and look at addiction in terms of video games. Video Game Addiction itself is classified as a type of Behavioural Addiction in it's own right and is also coined as a possible disorder. Commonly the problems that arise from it are to do with everyday life. The traits detailed on its wikipedia page are:
"Compulsive game-playing; social isolation; mood swings; diminished imagination; and hyper-focus on in-game achievements, to the exclusion of other life events."
The article also details a few theories by a psychologist named Mark Griffiths and the opinions of various scholars about Video Game Addiction as a disorder. Two in particular stood out to me, one by Griffiths about the components of the addiction:
"Addiction has six components: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse."
And another by scholars on the effect that online gaming has on a player's social interaction:
"The social dependence that may arise from video games occurs online where players interact with others and the relationships "often become more important for gamers than real-life relationships.""
Although this is more aimed at console games than app games, I was interested in these quotes due to personally witnessing the second and to a point experiencing the first myself. I've seen my brother fall victim to the second, as he spends hours on end playing online on games with friends that he could fairly easily go out and meet personally. It's a common trait I've noticed in friends of my own as well, who meet up online on the MMO game League of Legends and talk over Skype at the same time. The only similar connection I've ever seen in app games is challenging friends high scores on leader-boards, but that's the limit of it.
The first quote I think has potential to work for app games as well as from what I can understand from the quote, the components are all each stages of mentality that you can go through whilst playing, or at the very least overplaying. Indeed there is a site called Portable Partners that has a page detailing the symptoms of addiction that Griffiths stated in the quote in relation to mobile devices, and credits Griffiths accordingly.
What are the Conventions of Addictive App Games?
What this part will contain is relevant information I found from various sources. I'll credit where the source comes from and also put links to each source above the information I've taken. Very little of this will be my own words; such is the nature of research - it is after all finding information from other people and media, but I have confidence in the relevance of the sources. I may modify the information slightly to cut out parts that aren't useful, but other than there won't be any change. Like I said, this info isn't mine. Full credit for them goes to their respective sources.
Source 1 - 10 Secrets for Creating an Addictive App
Creative Bloq - 10 secrets for creating an addictive app game
This is from a site called Creative Bloq that deals in information on graphic and web design. This information applies to apps in general and not just games. The information is taken from Computer Arts issue 191 and put as an information post on the site. Most of it is single quotes from various designers with facts mixed in.
1. Design for the device
"Design from the 'inside-out' - that is, design for the device, embracing its potential and limitations - instead of designing 'idea-first' and then trying to make it work for the device. We strive to take advantage of how the iPhone differs from traditional desktop and laptop computers; to make apps that aren't simply 'mobile', but also truly unique experiences." - Ge Wang - Co-founder of Smule
2. Draw on real life
"An application should be an intuitive, psychologically satisfying experience. First, open your mind and have a brainstorm, then define a clearly focused concept before writing a line of code or drawing a line of illustration. The best tricks for creating an addictive app completely depend upon the context - draw from comparable real-life objects and interactions. Consider what's familiar to your users and audience." - Andrew Kaz - Developer
3. No one reads instructions
"Assume that the user doesn't read instructions and ensure the application is completely intuitive as far as understanding what does what in the user interface. Handhold the user - in an engaging way - through the introduction of the various game elements. We put ourselves in the place of the end user and consider what somebody who has never looked at the app before might think about what's presented to them at every stage - that's the key." - Andrew Stein - PopCap Games
4. Stay simple
"Keep things as simple as possible and build it up from there. This will help you steer clear of designing anything that you don't need. Great apps are focused around a few key ideas. If there's a choice between complexity and simplicity, choose simplicity every single time." - Ryan Shelton - The Noble Union
5. Do one thing and do it well
"Good apps are generally single-purpose, functional things that help users out in their day-to-day lives. There are plenty of fun and quirky apps, but creating something that solves a common, daily problem is how you hook users. Start with the idea and not with the app."- Russell Quinn - Digital Media Director
6. Give incentives
"We always say that an app needs to do something more than a mobile website - something better and quicker, which enables the information to always be there in the palm of your hand. Enable people to interact with others, and provide notifications of when users do something. Rewarding users' behaviour like this can prove very addictive, and pushing those rewards to social media can help take your app viral." - Dave Brown - Apposing
7. Challenge convention
"Never re-purpose material. For our Twenty Minute Meals app there was a balance of how much content can be digested efficiently in one go on the iPhone. It's not like a cookbook where you selectively scan a double-page spread. For me, it was a real eye-opener into how a mobile platform can completely revolutionise something that's been done the same for years and years in print."- Ian Wharton - Zolmo
8. Find a hook
"The key is to find a unique angle, and market the app well. Apps like Fat Booth and Talking Carl have that viral effect where you show mates in the pub, while Angry Birds and Flick Kick Football are so goddamn addictive that you want to play them in any spare gaps you have in the day - on the bus, waiting for a meeting or on the loo." - Oli Christie - Neon Play.
9. Quality, stability, visibility
"Fast access is king, and that's why mobile apps are starting to replace websites as the first choice for information and fulfilment. Quality, stability and visibility are fundamental - if your app has all three, then you're on the right track." - Dean Johnson - Brandwidth
10. Be motivated
"There are all sorts of buttons that need pushing in app development, many of which don't even involve developing or designing: things like marketing, copyrighting, customer support, strategic planning - the list goes on. The one thing that you really need is a deep motivation to make a go of it. Without that, all the button-pushing can very easily get the better of you." - Graham Clark - Glasshouse Apps
Infrared5 Blog - 7 Key Ingredients for Designing Addictive Games
So we have points for creating addictive apps, but what about games specifically. I found these on a blog for a company called Infrared5. The company's CEO Chris Allen had made a list of points for creating addictive video games, and they used several app games for examples on their points and also referenced to their own games. The style of information is making a point and then using examples to explain them.
"Game Design is an art form unto itself, and involves the ability to know intuitively what’s going to be fun, and perhaps more important, figure out what’s addictive. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the addiction of games lately, as I find it a very interesting subject, and is at the core of making the best games possible for our customers.
So, with that, what gives a game an addictive quality? And in particular what’s different about modern video, online, mobile and social media games?" - Chris Allen - CEO of Infrared5
1. TIMING
There’s a saying that timing is everything, and nothing could be more true for games. Bejewled Blitz (1 min game) employs timing in a way that keeps me playing over and over again. The simple premise of the game is to get as high of a score as possible within one minute. The fact that it’s so short gets into my brain and goes something like this: the game ends, and I’m like “well, one more try, it’s only a minute more”.
The other game that applies this timing principal to great effect is Word Play, a Boggle style word game for the iPhone also has this type of addictive element. The fast paced game combined with competition from other players only fuels the desire to keep going.
2. SOCIAL FEEDBACK AND COMPETITION
Who doesn’t want to the best in your social group, and to get feedback from their peers? From the beginning of video games, there’s been the leader-board, and the glory of having one’s initials on that 1983 Atari Star Wars game at the local pizza place is not something to take lightly.
Flynn’s arcade in the original Tron movie where Jeff Bridge’s character is surrounded by onlookers seeing if he can beat the final level is a perfect example of the social impact in making a game worth playing over and over again.
Now a days we have facebook, twitter and other social media outlets where we can share updates on what’s going on in our lives. I’m not sure I need to go into what makes a game like Mafia Wars or Farmville addictive, but I think one of the chief appeals of these games is the interaction with your friends.
We should also talk about the success of Open Feint; a platform that many game developers for the iPhone have incorporated into their games to enable social interaction and sharing with friends. Open Feint enables developers to add leaderboards, achievements, challenges and other social features to games to create a more collaborative experience for their players. The reason that these software packages do well is that collaboration and competition from peers adds a more compelling and addictive experience to any game.
3. REPETITIon
A lot of really compelling games lure their users in with a soothing sense of repetition. Repetition is a theme that crosses all forms of addiction. There’s something in the human mind that makes people want to keep doing the same thing over and over again, and some of the most addictive games are extremely repetitive. I’m not sure it’s possible to make a game more repetitive and addictive than Tetris.
What gets people hooked on Tetris? I think it has to do with the game being repetitive, and so much so that you internalize the movements and interlocking of shapes. In fact the lining up and fitting Tetris shapes is so addictive that the term the “Tetris Effect” has been dubbed, which is essentially the continuation of seeing those shapes in ones peripheral vision and in their dreams long after playing the game.
Of course, sometimes simple is the best choice in game design, and that usually also means repetition. In Angry Birds, another highly successful game that utilizes repetition to its advantage, each level builds slowly on the next, with the same basic mechanic throughout (flicking birds at objects one after the other).
4. SKILL
There are some games, where the overarching goal is simply to master the controls. Take Harmonix’s hit game Rock Band as an example. The unique user interface, the mashing of keys in time to music and the staying in sync with the flowing visual cues on the screen all combine to make this a compelling game that keeps people wanting to play it over and over again. As a player, your skill at Rock Band increases the more you play, and because of this, the more enjoyable the game becomes. It turns into a sort of self perpetuating positive feedback loop.
Another style of game that typically is focused on the controls as the element of addiction is the fighting game. Take the classic Mortal Combat for example. Players get immediate satisfaction as they discover more and more button/gesture combination that in turn give them more devastating moves to “FINISH HIM!”.
5. REWARD
The odds of winning have to be weighted just right to keep players going.The score of a game also plays a big part in rewarding a player. How many games have you played, simply looking to see if you could beat your high score, or your friend’s high score?
But how about a game that doesn’t have real score per say? Can they be just as addictive? Absolutely! Case in point, Farmville, the number one Facebook game by Zynga. In Farmville the reward is your crops, buildings, animals and other accouterments that the game player collects over time. Zynga did an excellent job at crafting the game in a way that rewards are dribbled out over time, and that the user needs to engage in the game regularly in order to progress.
6. EXPLORATION
Certain games make great use of discovery and exploration to keep players engaged. While WoW (World of Warcraft) is also a great example of using social interaction to create the hook, it also really engages players in exploring the world. They never know what’s around the next corner, or what’s next.
7. THE NEAR MISS
Of course, having people win, or even “almost win” just the right amount is as old as games themselves, and we would be doing ourselves a disfavor if we didn’t discuss casino gaming, as they have been the masters of this for ages. With that, the one game at the casino that everyone knows has the worst odds, yet they can’t seem to get enough of is the slot machine.
So, beyond the standard desire to gamble, what makes the slot machine so addictive? It seems it’s the “near win”, or the appearance that you got so close that you want to simply try it again. The same exact scenario of these little mini rewards, and or near misses is also prevalent in the MMORPGs like WOW or in Farmville.
BRINGING IT TOGETHER
In conclusion, there are various elements to making a game addictive, and game designers should be aware of the psychological nuances and how to use these to make a game as engaging as possible. To point out the very obvious though, not a single one of the games mentioned above had only one element of addiction. It takes a careful crafting of many of the key ingredients to get a game to be a huge hit that few people can resist putting down.
One other thing that I would like to point out, is that I don’t think making a game addictive is evil, nor am I advocating getting people legitimately hooked to a point where it becomes a problem for the individual. These techniques can be used to make educational experiences more fun and engaging, and as Jane McGonigal shows in her work, video games and the skills attained by playing them can be put to really good uses.
Source 3 - Candy Crush Saga: The Science Behind Our Addiction
TIME - Candy Crush Saga: The Science Behind Our Addiction
When I was looking for good sources this one stuck out like a sore thumb. It's written by a woman called Eliana Dockterman and it highlights the different addictive qualities that Candy Crush has, identifying 9 key points through discussing the topic with Tommy Palm, one of the game's designers and a group of psychology experts and players of the game. It seems I picked the perfect game to analyse for this project before I even realised it. I was aware that Candy Crush was addictive, but when I read this article it was put into full perspective just how addictive it was.
"A survey by Ask Your Target Market polled 1,000 players and found that 32% of them ignored friends or family to play the game, 28% played during work, 10% got into arguments with significant others over how long they played, and 30% said they were 'addicted'."
Obviously this article only covers one game, however it can help to look at addictive qualities in individual games as well as on a general basis, and Candy Crush is making itself out to be the ideal game to cover in this area of research. It's also good to for me to compare what is written here to what I put in my Game Analysis of Candy Crush.
1. It Makes You Wait
Perhaps the most genius element of Candy Crush is its ability to make you long for it. You get five chances (lives) to line up the requisite number of candy icons. Once you run out of lives, you have to wait in 30-minute increments to continue play. Or, if you’re impatient, you can pay to get back in the game — which is why it’s bringing in so much revenue.
“You can’t just play all the time. You run out of lives, So the fact that they kind of constrain you — the whole mantra, ‘You always want what you can’t have.’ I can’t have more lives and I want them.” - Andy Jarc - Player
“I think it makes the game more fun long term, If you have a game that consumes a lot of mental bandwidth, you will continue playing it without noticing that you’re hungry or need to go to the bathroom. But then you binge and eventually you stop playing. It’s much better from an entertainment point of view to create a more balanced experience where you have natural breaks.” - Tommy Palm - Designer for King
2. We’re All Suckers for Sweet Talk
You flick four candies in a row, and they zap away. Candies above begin to cascade down, making even more matches. At the end words pop up on your screen, accompanied by a voice that says “Sweet” or “Delicious.” This feedback is essential for player immersion.
“Positive rewards are the main reason people become addicted to things. When you play the game, you feel better about yourself.” - Dr Kimberly Young - Expert on Internet and Gaming Addiction
3. You Can Play With One Hand
According to Palm, the icons and setup were created so players could multitask. You can play Candy Crush while carrying a drink, toting a purse or bag, clinging to a subway pole, or hiding your phone under the table. That’s a huge advantage and makes this game perfect for a train ride, a distraction while you’re waiting to see a doctor, or something to get you through boring meetings. Plus, you can play offline as well — so even if you’re stuck in a tunnel, you can be “crushing.”
4. There’s Always More
According to Palm, the Candy Crush team updates the game constantly and creates new levels every two weeks. Right now there are 544 levels.
“Just three years ago, a game with 30 levels would be astonishing, and now with this game, it has raised the bar with how much content a mobile game should and will have.” - King
Plus, on any single level, there’s no way to fail. If you run out of options on a board — and that happens once in a blue moon — the board immediately resets. You never get stuck. You can’t lose.
“I believe this is part of the reinforcing pattern which keeps you playing, The game only ends when you’ve run out of your allotted number of moves “and you can end that frustration by buying your way out.”- Dr. Dinah Miller - Psychiatrist
5. You Don’t Have to Pay – but if You Want to, It’s Easy
King reports that of all the players on its last level — 544 — more than 60% of them didn’t pay a cent to buy extra lives or chances to get there. But if you want to pay, it’s easy. Connected to Facebook or the app store? Just click to pay.
6. It Taps Into Our Inner Child
“Many people have had a very positive feeling about candy since they were kids, and it makes for a really nice visual game board with a lot of color and interesting shapes.” - Tommy Palm
In fact, when you play you feel as if you’re transported into an entire Candy Land experience. The game pieces are candy, and the homepage for the game looks like the traditional Candy Land board, with your Facebook friends’ pictures displayed as pieces on that board, sitting at whatever level they’re stuck on.
7. It’s Social
Social games — any game that allows you to connect with your friends through a social-media platform like Facebook — have taken off. Whether it’s Words With Friends, Kingdoms of Camelot or Candy Crush, the ability to play with, or compete against, friends is irresistible.
8. It’s an Escape
“When you read the research about gaming, you’re often looking at people who are distracting themselves from something in their lives.” The relaxing exercise of lining up candies to the tune of upbeat music is a perfect stress reliever.
9. It Grows on You
This isn’t your average “line up three” game. King’s high-level of attentiveness toward updating gameplay has made it better quality than most casual games that are out there. When players took to Facebook to express their frustration with level 65 — notoriously one of the hardest levels in the game — King went into the game and altered the level to make it easier (though not too easy) multiple times.I think that'll do to round off this research post. I actually did a lot more than I though I would. Information was easy to find however so this post ended up being pretty long. I hope this has been an interesting read and once more I will say that all quotes and sources belong to their respective owners and I only credit I'll take is finding them and using them for my research. Thanks for reading and stay updated. There's more work to come.
