oh my gosh it's really late
what is he doing I keep telling us to
stop working so late hey what are you up
to wait a minute wait a minute are you
playing mobile games no no are you aware
you're playing the bagasse wait are you
doing would you stop playing them
slowness right oh my god you're a dick
you're addicted
[Music]
hello Internet welcome to game theory
the show where once you pop the fun
don't stop as loyal theorists may
remember a few months ago I dipped my
toe into the mobile gaming waters with a
strategy game named total conquest since
then things have changed little did I
expect that those cartoonish Roman
soldiers were peddling me a gateway drug
that would send me into the crack den
known as the Google Playstore action
strategy puzzle adventure arcade you
name it it's there my most recent
discoveries been dungeon gems a game
that has you fighting through waves of
enemies in a rock-paper-scissor styled
game with a team of elementally charged
heroes that you find trained and evolved
into like Pokemon actually as you quest
you find different stronger heroes to
add to your collection and fill out your
roster again just like Pokemon and
battles have you matching tiles to
something stronger and stronger attacks
just like okay mom I guess the games are
slightly different but here's the crazy
thing and stuff and it's just matching
tiles seriously as Dark Souls 2 and
Assassin's Creed 4 sit on my shelf just
gathering dust waiting to be played I'm
turning more and more to swiping at
tiles in an effort to take down a hoard
of water orcs with my wood elf which
begs the question of why why are people
everywhere if we're going at bequests
like skyrim to crush some candy why is
mario moldering on the sidelines while
I'm running temples clashing clans and
conquering totally earlier I use the
metaphor of a gateway drug but it's true
these games are literally addictive and
the developers know it's their
programming them in a way that hacks
your brain taking advantage of
psychological quirks that you probably
aren't aware exist and yet have huge
consequences on how you behave and what
you play so it's high time that you
learn the secrets mobile developers
already know and are exploiting inside
that head of yours to understand that we
need the straight dope on the dopamine
pathway
the dopamine pathway is one that always
seems to come up in those pesky high
school biology classes somewhere between
the frog dissections and that damn krebs
cycle
alpha Aikido gluta whatever I heat that
damn thing anyway
dopamine is a specialized little
molecule that's basically your body's
happy hormone if you happen to feel a
sudden burst of happiness after beating
a major boss a wave of excitement when
discovering a secret area or even a
little wide-eyed wonder at the new
jiggle physics 2.0 all that is basically
caused by your brain being tickled by
thousands of tiny molecules of dopamine
scientifically speaking dopamine is
known as a neurotransmitter which means
it travels between neurons in your brain
when you finally beat that speeder bike
level and battletoads your brain jumps
up to celebrate your victory and neurons
get flooded with ions creating a tiny
electric current when that electrical
potential hits the end of your neuron
the ions pour in and the dopamine gets
shot out into the gap between your brain
cells like a zillion little Angry Birds
except they're happy because it's
dopamine so they get launched across the
synapse but luckily they land in the
loving arms of your brains dopamine
receptors which just so happened to be
conveniently located on the end of the
brain cell next door like a good
neighbor dopaminergic receptors are
there so the dopamine bumps up against
the new neuron and as a result you get a
shot of happiness excitement or
satisfaction
it's your brain giving you the
equivalent of a big old pat on the back
for being successful at life
so if dopamine makes us feel happy why
do we sometimes get bored with our
favorite games well one reason we lose
that love and feeling about the games we
play is desensitization it's actually
the dopamine signaling turning itself
off in any kind of addiction whether
it's drugs alcohol or my addiction of
choice diet coke the addict ends up
having more and more as time goes by the
first few times you perform the
addictive behavior like drink a diet
you feel awesome it's so crisp and cold
and clean and has that nice burn in the
back of your throat and it's sweet and
acidic all at the same time oh so good
so instead of waiting a week to have
another Diet Coke
you remember how great it was and get
one the next day you order a large and
you order it without ice because you
know that their managers told them to
fill that cup with as much ice as
possible so they save money on the soda
syrup you cheapskate
windi's man you have so much ice in your
cups anyway your brain still releases a
bunch of dopamine the first few times
you do that but over time it starts to
go hey they're matpat aren't you
drinking a lot of diet coke there buddy
maybe ought to order a nice iced tea or
something try a great Fanta
diet dr. pepper and it tells you this by
removing or down-regulating some of your
dopamine receptors literally closing
them down for business so with fewer
dopamine receptors waiting to catch all
your little dopamine molecules making
that leap of faith' across the synapse
the happiness signal gets weaker sure
eventually you'll get as much dopamine
intake as before but it takes a lot
longer and you have to drink a lot more
diet coke to do it and the time after
that there are even fewer receptors so
the cycle gets worse and worse over time
until basically you have to be drinking
diet coke around the clock in order to
keep up the level of signaling you used
to get from a couple of sips man I'm
thirsty
unlike diet coke though which I can get
whenever I want mobile games have the
ability to regulate how much you consume
thus preventing you from getting
desensitized and they do this in
multiple ways first they get you to fly
through the introductory levels right
off the bat you're receiving roll
achievements unlockables in my first
hour with dungeon gems i powered my way
through at least ten dungeons nabbed no
less than twelve new heroes and leveled
up my main a whole bunch I was
unstoppable and it was amazing
I was swimming in dopamine this got me
invested in the game early but as it got
harder in upper levels those bursts
became more sporadic and unexpected but
rather than feeling discouraging it may
be more excited because each victory
felt earned and the reward was even more
satisfying this is known as a variable
ratio schedule of reinforcement and is
the same method that's used in a slot
machine you never know for sure when
you're going to win but when you do it's
incredible and the designers make sure
that you win just often enough to keep
you coming back for more
secondly and more importantly dungeon
gems candy crush total conquest and more
all have mechanics built into the game
that limit the length of any one play
session you play a few too many matches
or lose a few too many lives and the
game forces you to wait a few hours
before jumping in again this means
they're cutting you off at times when
you're most invested in other words
you're always left wanting more by not
letting you play the game actually
becomes more rewarding when you're
allowed to return this is all related to
what's known as the hedonic treadmill
basically that as a person situation
changes their expectations for happiness
change with it let me illustrate through
an example studies have shown that
people who have won the lottery don't
tend to be any happier than before they
had all that money their desires tend to
rise in tandem resulting in no permanent
gain and happiness the same results come
from people who've been paralysed they
report a similar level of happiness both
before and after the accident that
paralyzed them this is because they've
gone back to their happiness equilibrium
their situations have changed and are
sustained at that changed level and so
their happiness has adjusted accordingly
but with mobile games and built-in
brakes you'd never stay in that elevated
happiness state long enough to grow
accustomed to it you know the phrase
absence makes the heart grow fonder if
you're in a long-distance relationship
that's the thing you hear all
but I'm but it's true in this case
dungeon gems is my long-distance
girlfriend
we hang out for a few days have a great
time probably catch a movie some dinner
but then she goes away for a while I
remember the good times we had call her
up on the phone and eagerly look forward
to the next time she's in town
so you're taking games that are
perfectly programmed to capitalize on
some course psychological triggers and
adding to that unbelievably sticky
formula by also making them free to play
putting them on a console that exists in
your pocket making them super quick and
easy to get into and learn and gosh darn
it giving them an incredibly fun and
rewarding sound and graphical design
there's a reason people can't resist
these things and that's not including
elements of the gamblers fallacy and
Rosie retrospection but those subjects
are for another day
in short mobile games are the perfect
storm of addictive gameplay but there's
one final angle to this whole dopamine's
story sure these games are programmed in
ways that keep the dopamine flowing at
max volume by spacing out your rewards
but they're not the only ones to blame
you our studies have shown that about 10
to 15 percent of the population have
addictive personalities meaning they're
more prone to get hooked on something
videogames or otherwise within that 10
to 15 percent though there's a higher
than average portion of gamers take for
instance one study that had researchers
use giant magnets to study the brains of
fourteen-year-old gamers half of the
test group played video games for more
than nine hours per week the other group
played significantly less the long hour
gamers had more gray matter in the
ventral striatum a part of the brain
essential for dopamine rewards and
addiction seeming to suggest a higher
likelihood of getting addicted but it's
also in our personalities tell me if any
of the following phrases sound familiar
I only need to kill 10 more kak tars
before I max out my W summon materia
thank goodness I finished getting all
2057 Wow achievements for the warlords
sorry Jenny I can't make out with you
tonight I already got a date with goat
simulator grinding completionists ting
and social isolation or put in a broader
context engaging in repetitive tasks
going to ridiculous extremes and while
still social isolation three telltale
signs that you may have an addictive
personality and to gamers that's par for
the course that's what we do for puns oh
yes
mobile games may be programmed to be
even more addictive than World of
Warcraft or heroine of the storm but
gamers are also much more likely to get
addicted to these things in the first
place but don't worry it's not all bad
people prone to addiction also tend to
be highly driven motivated risk takers
with higher IQ and strong leadership
potential
so sip that sweet sweet diet coke dear
theorists because you may be an addict
but hey there are a lot worse things out
there to be addicted to then
tile-matching but hey that's just a
theory
hug game theory thanks for watching
candy crush that subscribe button it
won't even cost you a microtransaction I
swear no okay welcome back to the super
amazing end card tournaments where we
haven't had one in a while so let's make
this one good by tackling one of the
biggest battles and geekdom your choice
Star Wars or Star Trek is the force with
you or are you planning on living long
and prospering click on one to choose so
that we can finally settle this Internet
old debate or maybe you're just a
Whovian who doesn't care anything about
this intergalactic debate bring that
option up to Ronnie you feel awesome so
sweet and so cold like the plum
or in my spots that you were probably
saving for dinner
thank you William Carlos Williams here's
a reference that no one will ever get
you