|
Tamagochis, and by extension other pet games, such as Neopets, are a good example because of the emotional blackmail they exert on (mostly underage) players.
But we needn't go that far. Rents for lockers our housing, upkeep costs for clans, expiring equipment are all instruments of 'unhealthy' or 'unfair' retention.
Fedex quests are in many implementations little more than pushing the button to make the cheese drop - how much fun is it to run through the same quest for the 100th time? It can be argued players don't have to do it, but if the game is designed so that the rewards for repetitive questing are essential for building a character, they are forced to resort to this behaviour - of their own free will - and subject themselves to the gradual conditioning.
On a deeper level, grind, virtual property or equipment, any player investment can keep people in a game past their 'staying point'. To some extent, it is unavoidable in achiever games, but is more pronounced in games that reward patience and time (or money) investment, rather than player skill. Then you get players who stick around just because they have invested so much into their character already.
I'm sure there's more examples, but my quest timer is up and I still need to max 'create rose'.
|