This is a good breakdown, but I think it's looking at the problem from the wrong direction. I prefer "the dog that didn't bark" approach.
Lots of people play these, a few get addicted. It's using seratonin, something that exists in literally every single person who has ever lived, and cliffhangers, which were pioneered centuries ago if no…
This is a good breakdown, but I think it's looking at the problem from the wrong direction. I prefer "the dog that didn't bark" approach.
Lots of people play these, a few get addicted. It's using seratonin, something that exists in literally every single person who has ever lived, and cliffhangers, which were pioneered centuries ago if not millennia. Might the difference be something that is missing in the people who become addicted, rather than something present in the game itself?
Two ways healthy people regulate their seratonin that I can think up: First, they are reasonably healthy, have avoided chronic stress, and have good things in their lives, so they have the nutrition to produce sufficient seratonin, and have associated it with good things. Diet tweaking and supplements can give you a bit of a boost there. Second, they have the virtue of mortification, and can do things they don't like, and sacrifice things they do. Regular fasting increases the size of the part of the brain that deals in that particular survival skill.
This is a good breakdown, but I think it's looking at the problem from the wrong direction. I prefer "the dog that didn't bark" approach.
Lots of people play these, a few get addicted. It's using seratonin, something that exists in literally every single person who has ever lived, and cliffhangers, which were pioneered centuries ago if not millennia. Might the difference be something that is missing in the people who become addicted, rather than something present in the game itself?
Two ways healthy people regulate their seratonin that I can think up: First, they are reasonably healthy, have avoided chronic stress, and have good things in their lives, so they have the nutrition to produce sufficient seratonin, and have associated it with good things. Diet tweaking and supplements can give you a bit of a boost there. Second, they have the virtue of mortification, and can do things they don't like, and sacrifice things they do. Regular fasting increases the size of the part of the brain that deals in that particular survival skill.