Designing An Addictive Game Part 2/2 – Is That Ethically Wrong?
Designing Addictive Game Part 1 (Resources) gave some entry
points into addictive game design. Today I’d like to ask about
ethics.  Is designing addiction in games like “designing a new
drug”?  Since addictions can be destructive, where do we draw
the line? Is it ethically wrong to create addictive games?  Are
makers of World of Warcraft doing things ethically wrong since
their game is probably causing problems in marriages where
spouse is playing all day/night long this MMO game? Or kids who
don’t do well in schools or skip lectures because they play WoW?
What are your thoughts?  19 thoughts on “Designing An Addictive
Game Part 2/2 – Is That Ethically Wrong?    1. Tonio Barmadosa
Game companies don’t care about ethics. They only care about
profits. The more addicted the player is the better.      Now
the fact is that most people have basic emotional need that will
never be fulfilled in their lives, unless they work really hard
and sacrifi