I’m going to research the relationship between online gaming and internet addiction. In the research, I’m going to be analyzing elements in game design both from personal computers (PC) and mobile devices. These specific design elements when examined under psychological concepts from in and outside of class hopefully will help me understand why people spend so much time and attention on games.

The concepts being used must include most of these concepts:

– Challenge and “hardship” is an ingredient in many addictive experiences, including addictive video
games;

– Repetitiveness, and inducing habbits.

– Mastery (being good at a game) as personal motivation – The Endowment Effect;

– The Illusion of Progress in Behavioral Addiction (
The sense of creating something that requires labor, effort,
and expertise maintains behaviors that might otherwise lose
their allure over time
• While substance addictions are overtly destructive, many
behavioral addictions might present as creative or positive,
such as excessive exercise or excessive video gaming
• The illusion of progress sustains people as they achieve
higher scores, acquire more followers, and get more likes.
People gradually acquire a sense of ownership over their
online achievements)

– The Flow State (The zone of proximal development is deeply motivating— not only do you
learn efficiently, you also enjoy the process)

– The Ludic Loop (In the context of gaming, flow can arise as a sensation called the ludic loop
You enter a ludic loop each time you enjoy the
brief thrill of solving one element of a puzzle, and
when a new and incomplete piece presents itself.
Can be found in challenging video games, difficult
crosswords, repetitive but stimulating work tasks, slot
machines that grant you low wins among many
losses, and countless other immersive experiences
Like all flow experiences, ludic loops are very powerful)

– The Power of Near-Wins (Candy Crush uses this feature where you loses with only a few steps away from winning, thus
incentivizing people to buy more moves, and keep them going back for more after each near-wins)

I’m also including examples of how certain games (Candy Crush, Fornite, World of Warcraft) implement these concepts to make their games more addictive, and thus inducing even more addiction. The dicussion must discuss several design elements that promotes addiction through integration with the concepts above and more.

Further, I’m going to be looking at how these behaviors influence social interactions. I’ll be collecting and analyzing data from online sources, as well as doing observational research on the behaviors of people who spend an excessive amount of time on these online spaces. Finally, I’d be compiling all the resources I’ve gathered to draw my conclusions.