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Comment by ivm | Hacker News Reader

The best games are also the most addictive. At least many single player titles end sooner or later but online ones are endless.

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> The best games are also the most addictive

Pft says who? Few of my favorite games can be described as addictive. You can't simultaneously make the argument that "addictiveness" in the sense you're using it is bad, and then quickly switch word senses to claim its a requirement for very good games.

I was developing and designing them, so by "good" I mean a good game design – it achieves its goal of generating endless fun.

By "bad" I mean the impact of this game design on players' lives – the game is "too fun" for some of them.

I don't know if this is necessarily a consensus, but I think expecting a game to be endlessly fun to be good isn't really the sort of standard we should be holding games to. Other media such as writing or film doesn't promise to be endlessly entertaining, and ones that might are more like engaging in sport, which I would say isn't necessarily entertainment in the same way.

I think there are a lot of players that see the Skinner Box-like mechanics popping up in mainstream works, and are increasingly turned off by it too.

Replayability and long playing times are praised in reviews by both press and gamers. So Minecraft isn't considered an addictive game but it is.

I've found that for me, games without an end are discouraging, and most multiplayer games are just draining, like going to a party where I don't know anyone.

Would it also follow that the "best" drugs are the most addictive?

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