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Comment by mildtrepidation | Hacker News Reader

I was confounded and disturbed when I started seeing mobile games advertising "addictive" as a positive trait. Most addictive game ever? Why on Earth would I want to play that? But somehow it's become a badge of honor for games, with people not even realizing they're being told that they're being manipulated.

Of course this is not at all limited to games -- the article speaks to many industries, most of which are more insidious about this -- but it's the one that comes to mind most readily, because it illustrates an appalling lack of consumer awareness.

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> I was confounded and disturbed when I started seeing mobile games advertising "addictive" as a positive trait

I wouldn't worry too much about that. Board games have been advertised that way for years. It might just show that folks who worked in advertising on board games have moved or the new folks are reading the old folks copy.

The food industry has been carefully maximizing the addictiveness of its products for decades now. The software world has its equivalent in vendor lock-in, which may not tap into the same psychology, but is nonetheless rooted in fostering habits and dependence.

It's a problem of perverse incentives inherent in capitalism (and democracy also); the fact that a consumer's rational judgment holds so much power means that providers tend to be rewarded for distorting and subverting that rational judgment, which is easier than it would seem when done on a mass scale. It's a wicked problem, to be sure.

i think you miss the point of advertising something as addictive. it can have a positive spin. addiction can be understood as something so enjoyable you would want to continue to do it as a regular activity. if that thing isn't bad for you, then it's a good thing that it's addictive.

if i told you excercise was addictive as a selling point, would you say that people shouldn't exercise because it is addictive? i think it's clear that addictive activities aren't necessarily bad just cause they are addictive.

people should focus on the positive impact an activity has. if it's strongly positive, then addiction to it isn't bad at all.

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