Hacker News Reader

Comment by hx8 | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to see some numbers about how many people struggling with gambling addictions compared to how many people struggle with in-game-purchase addictions. Both share the negative reinforcement of spending money. In exchange one gives you the positive reinforcement of playing a game. Another gives you the positive reinforcement of money. I have the feeling money is a 10x more potent reward.

This is to say, the gaming industry makes games that are a problem for some people but I'd like to see some hard numbers comparing it to gambling before I would say the product is as dangerous as gambling on a population level.

View on HN

It's not just the winning that is addicting to gamblers. More often, it's the losing. Losing recapitulates the feelings of deep shame that they feel, but don't feel are necessarily justified. So in order to re-justify those feelings, they gamble away money and "act shamefully" so to speak.

This same pattern is behind a lot (if not all) addictions. It's not just a physical addiction or a dopamine rush, and it's not generally the upside that addicts are addicted to.

Shame has nothing to do with it. It’s the variable ratio reinforcement schedule that such games employ.

You should read more about addiction. You're right about the mechanism employed, but that mechanism does not addict most people. There are genetic and social profiles that make one more vulnerable to addiction, and trauma from the past that results in deep, internalized shame increases those odds dramatically.

> one gives you the positive reinforcement of playing a game. Another gives you the positive reinforcement of money.

I'll assert that dopamine is the actual reinforcement in both cases.

Sure. What I'm really saying is that I bet cash payment triggers more dopamine than whatever gotcha/powerup/etc mechanic a mobile game can use. That cash payment is so much more of a potent reward that it makes sense to regulate gambling much more strictly. Of course, I'm speaking on aggregate and across the entire population, it's clear some individuals overspend on mobile games.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com