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Default Does "Addictive" mean good?

December 5th, 2015, 23:01
Now I just played Thea: The Awaking and I do believe I said it was a good little addictive game.

By this I meant it was fun and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. I would set a time say an hour more of game play but extend it because I was having fun with it.

Now if I wasn't able to stop playing it and neglected sleep, work my family then I would most likely have other issues and could blame it on the game saying it was to addictive. Though I am sure I would have a deeper issue with my own life then game just being to put down a good game.

Just like anyone that abusing anything I am sure they're deep issue's at work. Not to dismiss that drugs, gambling etc can be addictive but what drives someone to get to that point where they can't stop something or try drugs.
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Last edited by CelticFrost; December 5th, 2015 at 23:24.
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December 6th, 2015, 01:05
Originally Posted by CelticFrost View Post
and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.
To me, that's an important part of "addictive" games.
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December 6th, 2015, 20:13
I've compiled a random test from googling various games and simply applying the word "addictive" to the title in the search bar.

I started with something that I simply wouldn't describe as addictive, The Longest Journey, it was the most narratively engrossing game I could think of at the time, and the google results were rare to say the least, just one from a forum post in 2002:

Even when I was just a very short period into my first play of the game, I was completely addicted. And it was not a bad addiction, like to cigarettes, where you want to quit, but a good addiction, where you were always blissful when playing.
Again with the smoking comparison *sighs*, like a visual novel with puzzles can be compared to one of the most addictive narcotics on the planet! Lol. However, move on to 2006 when Dreamfall came out and the word addictive becomes more numerous, though still not from professional reviews, just random joe reviews like you or me.

I then searched for Icewind Dale, the game that immediately came into my head as a game with a good story, but mainly about character progression and atmosphere. This time I managed to find one professional review that mentioned it's addictive elements, though he was reviewing the expansion in 2001:

Without a doubt Icewind Dale was one of my favorite gaming experiences of 2000. With it's epic storyline, addicting gameplay, and awe-inspiring musical score, I would easily place it right up there with Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate II as one of the best RPGs of last year.
Notice how this reviewer still compartmentalises the term addictive with solely the gameplay and describes the story, music separately. Again, with IWD the google search was quite light on the results and most uses seemed to be about the Enhanced Edition which was only released recently.

Then I moved onto Dragon Age: Inquisition, the first game that came into my head for a game which has equal measure of story and combat, and is very recent (though I had to search with -lyrium as well, for obvious reasons). Wow, I now get pages and pages of results and it's difficult to know how to filter them, including many professional reviews such as this:

Inquisition offers a great narrative to compel you to lose hours of your life within its world, but it really is the world itself and all of the activities available for you to experience that make this particular Dragon Age so much damn fun, and super addicting.
And you'll notice they're wrapping everything into a hold-all of addictive, not just the gamey aspects. And it's this loosening of the use of language that's confusing to me, firstly because it's not actually descriptive, it doesn't tell you anything about the gameplay, it's just a bland descriptor, a hype tool rather than a useful tool, and, secondly, because it's putting out the wrong signals. You're just triggering all the do-gooders to read the word "addictive" and so almost encouraging them to get on their high horse.
Last edited by lackblogger; December 7th, 2015 at 08:26. Reason: One typo "into to" becomes "into a"
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March 17th, 2016, 14:53
Originally Posted by lackblogger View Post
And you'll notice they're wrapping everything into a hold-all of addictive, not just the gamey aspects. And it's this loosening of the use of language that's confusing to me, firstly because it's not actually descriptive, it doesn't tell you anything about the gameplay, it's just a bland descriptor, a hype tool rather than a useful tool, and, secondly, because it's putting out the wrong signals. You're just triggering all the do-gooders to read the word "addictive" and so almost encouraging them to get on their high horse.
First. I had to look up the word 'engrossing' in the dictionary.

Second. Language is not static, it changes, the meaning of words and the context in which they are used change - whether you like it or not.

Third. I found Gothic 2 addictive. To me a book can be addictive, like Lords of the Rings. Not a movie, because it is too short.
An 'addictive' activity requires a time span of at least several days in a row: when I am playing/reading that particular game/book, I forget to eat, and when I finally do I do it in a hurry, I go to bed late and rise too early, I care less about all sorts of chores and obligations; people talking to me, a phone ringing, the door bell: a distraction, keeping me from my game/book!
It is unhealthy.

People have died from WoW…
So yes, I think the word 'addictive' certainly applies to some activities, and is a very good descriptor. It is a drug, you get a kick, the thrill, the excitement, the tension, until it ends, after which you start living again.
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March 17th, 2016, 17:12
Games used as obsessive escapism are "addictive" in the negative connotation. When the desire to play games takes away from the desire for normal human interaction, and creates an avenue for complete social withdrawl, then yes, then the addiction has become detrimental to the person's overall well being.

As far as advertising or reviews, people used to use the word "addicting" for the shock value. Generally the term was used for indulgences which were not good for you, but you wanted anyway, like chocolates or chips. Now it is just another "naughty" adjective we use to sell things like the way we overuse the word "sexy." It has just been used so long we sometimes forget that the word once had shock value.
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March 18th, 2016, 23:52
Originally Posted by Eye View Post
First. I had to look up the word 'engrossing' in the dictionary.

Second. Language is not static, it changes, the meaning of words and the context in which they are used change - whether you like it or not.

Third. I found Gothic 2 addictive. To me a book can be addictive, like Lords of the Rings. Not a movie, because it is too short.
An 'addictive' activity requires a time span of at least several days in a row: when I am playing/reading that particular game/book, I forget to eat, and when I finally do I do it in a hurry, I go to bed late and rise too early, I care less about all sorts of chores and obligations; people talking to me, a phone ringing, the door bell: a distraction, keeping me from my game/book!
It is unhealthy.

People have died from WoW…
So yes, I think the word 'addictive' certainly applies to some activities, and is a very good descriptor. It is a drug, you get a kick, the thrill, the excitement, the tension, until it ends, after which you start living again.
There's some excellent points here. I'm not sure if you've read the entire thread, but if I repeat things said in my previous points, I apologise, but I'll try and address all your points nevertheless:

I had no idea the word engrossing was not a universal word. A bit like when Joxer didn't know what atmospheric meant, because his language has no such word, I'm at a bit of a loss to describe it, lol. It's like when you're watching a movie and the people behind you are throwing popcorn at you, it annoys you because you are engrossed in the movie and aren't in the mood for food fights. The people behind you are not engrossed in the movie, they are engrossed in irritating you.

Yeah, I know language moves on and all that, heck, you wont catch me saying I'm feeling a bit queer after a gay ol' night as part of my post party recollections to my friends, but someone in the 30s would have used exactly those words regardless of their sexual orientation. However, what I'm referring to is game descriptors, and how the use of the word is applied in reference to describing the game. Saying "I found myself quite addicted to XYZ" is different to saying "XYZ is good because its addictive":

With the former the word addicted is used as positive conclusion to likely previously mentioned features of the game, as if the person was not expecting to get addicted but got addicted because of the quality of the features. With the latter there's the assumption that the game is good because it's addictive, you should play this game because it is addictive, you're instructing the potential player to get addicted, not suggesting that it's so good that they may find themselves addicted:

So when you recommend poker to someone you'll likely start off by saying "it's a wonderfully addictive passtime" and that makes sense in that context. But if you are recommending, say, Wither 3 to someone then the word addictive likely wouldn't come near the front of your explanation as to why you're recommending it, it would be a case of explaining lots of nuts and bolts and then using a personal and subjective "I found myself very addicted" at the end. You wouldn't be promoting Witcher 3 just on the basis that it was addictive.

The reason for this is that addictive gameplay is something that is actively generated by design decisions. When they make fruit machines they deliberately make them have addictive hooks. Every feature of the game is designed to make you more addicted. When they made Witcher 3 they would have intended for there to be addictive hooks by design, but those hooks would just be designed to get you through the game, to which the game itself is not designed with addiction in mind, it's primary design is to make you interested in the narrative and atmosphere, both of which inspire a desire to be engrossed but not addicted. If the narrative was designed to be addictive then you wouldn't kill the end-boss at the end, you'd be left on a 'cliff-hanger' with many loose-ends, things that might have happened during the game, but always with the knowledge that the game comes to a close at some point.

This subtlety of difference is likely where there's probably some lost in translation going on because the difference probably does seem quite semantic when taken at face value. There's addiction by design and then there's addiction by subjective choice brought on by appreciation of a subject matter.

When you mention WoW and that people have died from being addicted to it, well that's an accurate understanding of a game that's primary design is to be addictive, made by a company that has a history of making addiction based games. To describe most Blizzard products as good because they are addictive is likely very accurate. To describe a game like Dragon Age Inquisition as "super addicting" in all of it's design facets is just bollox, at least without an "I found myself" or some such subjective qualification. To say DA:I is good because it's addictive is a highly incorrect use of descriptor.
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March 19th, 2016, 02:03
To me as growing to become professional in work and father in home, I learned that the only way to keep touch of my gaming hobby was to respect quality high over the time spent over playing. To strip gaming to its basics.

After many years I went from playing fallout on pc to playing new 3ds bravely default with 3d mode on. I just bought the sequel, and i have more games waiting on new 3ds and vita also. For some reason whole japan is also the same, but not so here in the west. On times I come back to traditional pc games also (second coming of ultima underworld and ssshock series for sure) but things are never going to be the same.
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March 19th, 2016, 12:51
Thanks for your excellent explanation. Intresting read.

Originally Posted by lackblogger View Post
This subtlety of difference is likely where there's probably some lost in translation going on because the difference probably does seem quite semantic when taken at face value. There's addiction by design and then there's addiction by subjective choice brought on by appreciation of a subject matter.
I understand where you're coming from, lackblogger, and yes, translation has indeed something to do with it:

Originally Posted by lackblogger View Post
Saying "I found myself quite addicted to XYZ" is different to saying "XYZ is good because its addictive"
You say only the latter in my language, the first is weird in Dutch.
Instead of "I found myself addicted to XYZ" one could say "I was addicted to XYZ" but that means you may have needed serious treatment to become clean again.
"Addictive" in my language can be used for innocent pastime and doesn't necessarily need doctor's involvement.

So using the expression "I was addicted to the Witcher 2" is less common than "I found Witcher 2 highly addictive". The first puts the emphasis on the addiction, the second on the game, so the first means you acted like a real junky, the second means you were "engrossed" but able to focus on other things if needed (though probably with less enthusiasm than before).

Since English is not my mother tongue I am not capable to see whether the issue you brought up is having difficulty to accept a word naturally evolving and getting another, extra meaning or whether it is linguistic purism. Being a purist myself when it comes to Dutch I certainly don't reject the latter btw.

Originally Posted by lackblogger View Post
When they make fruit machines they deliberately make them have addictive hooks. Every feature of the game is designed to make you more addicted.
Yes!, the sole intention to make you addicted: those games are soooo boring - o oh… I tend to find myself quite bored by these games after a while. They are far from what I'd call addictive!
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Last edited by Eye; March 19th, 2016 at 17:16. Reason: Changed wrong word 'unwillingness' in 'having difficulty'
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