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Comment by ninefoxgambit | Hacker News Reader

Oh those UX designers, aren't they just gods. So gifted, with their ability to shape the minds of the pesants and turn every product into gold.

Games have been great for decades. There have been huge hits and misses.

Games have been addictive since the beginning.

Long before UX came along to claim the credit.

I'd love to see a UX team make StarCraft. You wouldn't even get functional software.

Free to play and loot boxes are a new evolution but they are far from the only type of game.

In fact many people play fortnight and dota2 and never spend a dime.

Fortnight is popular and addictive because it's a good fun game that gets everything right for teens. The game designers and the game team did this, not UX.

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> Games have been addictive since the beginning.

Ignoring your assertions about UX, I strongly disagree with this statement.

Fortnite, like many modern games and some old ones, has design elements that encourage compulsive play. Elements like random loot drops and leveling are often detrimental to the core game mechanics—why would you want to artificially advantage the more experienced player in a competitive multiplayer game, for instance—and yet an increasing number of games include them.

Not all games do this. Super Mario World contains compulsive elements. Nor does Journey, Monument Valley, Wii Sports, Hellblade, Mario Kart, Sim City, Threes, etc etc etc.

Yeah, your game might be fun, but I'll get bored of it.

They have the network effect, where friends are playing it.

When friends stop playing and its no longer interesting, people will stop playing.

Updates can be good, but even my favorite games have gotten old.

I'm just glad I got most of my gaming out when I was young. Now, nothing seems to hook me.

> Yeah, your game might be fun, but I'll get bored of it.

This is healthy. You should get board of particular creations, at which point you'll move on and discover new experiences. There will be exceptions—some people become very engaged with Chess and go on to play in international tournaments and such—but a majority will find other pursuits.

This of course runs counter to the business of "Games as a Service" products—which is why those products are inherently "evil" in a sense.

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