Originally Posted by magerette
He's got a very valid point here, and though I've not played Pikman, I think it describes the essence of how games become addictive:



Life, parents, spouses and jobs often neglect to tell us how smart we are(sometimes, it's true, with good reason ), or reward us in a meaningful way for our skills. A good game can and does.

A kind of entertainment makes us adict with the combination of game-play and ego-stroaking reward? His co-worker, Avellon also mentioned the importance of ego-stroaking. And somehow, I think he meant not only power-gamers.

I think critical thinking is more of common sence and feel bit patronized but I guess a part of his intention is to point out too many gamers mix up their tastes with game mechanics. He made a good point by mentioning ego-stroaking factor. Some gamers feel smarter only because they play games of their liking. Watch out how your favourite games play with your mind! But as a game-designer, isn't he responsible for it?