Have you ever been in this position? A game has been released and you immediately find yourself infatuated with it. This may be a massive gaming franchise, a simple mobile time sink or a brand new and creative IP. As the game opens up to you, your interest never wavers, you are constantly jumping into this game over days and weeks. You begin to plan small parts of your life around this game. This may be for a time critical event or an in game action that finishes at an unsociable hour so you set an alarm. Then before you know it, the game begins to dominate your thought process and almost supersedes reality’s most pressing issues. You begin to reach levels much higher than that of your peers on online leaderboards, the in game rewards become more and more sporadic and in this moment of self-awareness, you realize that you are in fact, not having fun. You begin to wonder how long you haven’t been having fun. Then just like that, this game that dominated your life, exits it without a second thought.

Many gamers will be familiar with this trend and may have succumbed to it’s charms more than once before. So it begs the question, after that moment of self awareness, why would the player subject themselves to this again and again? There are many factors at play of course but the particular factor of focus here is ‘operant conditioning’, a theory made famous by esteemed psychologist B.F Skinner. He believed that subjects could be conditioned to complete or not complete an action through positive or negative reinforcement, respectively. Skinner tested this through ‘Skinner boxes.’ This would involve a lab rat being taught that by pulling a lever an arbitrary amount of times, that the rat would be rewarded with food. Alternatively, it would receive an electric shock to negate this activity. One may find this similar to that of Pavlov’s dogs being conditioned to associate a bell with food. The difference to remember is that Skinner’s test requires a proactive response from the subject rather than a subconscious reaction.

B.F Skinner at Harvard University

Although some may think that it is rather sinister to think that this method would be used consciously by developers to promote use of their game, it has became clear that it is a popular medium to produce results within game design. Companies have invested millions into research on ways to implement this practice in game development. Mobile game giant Zynga perhaps being the most notable to invest in the phenomenon. So with this rise to prominence, let’s explore this concept and find out just why we grind beyond the point of fun.

It is important to note that through implementing this theory in gaming development, the developers aim is to increase player attraction and retention. The motivations of gaming developers for using this method may vary but it will ultimately boil down to getting the players in the door and then keeping them there on a long term basis.

Firstly, let’s address attraction. Developers ultimately need to get the player in front of the screen before the psychology can take effect. This is where clever marketing, advertising, aesthetic and USP are very important. So if the game does this adequately, they will have a player base to work with. Then the task is getting the player invested and constantly returning to the game. Developers do this through rewarding and gratifying the players actions repeatedly from the start of gameplay. Games will make opening tasks easy, give players all the tools to do these tasks and then reward the player with items, in game currency or experience points and level ups for completing said tasks. This will come in different variations, however, the result remains that the player feels a dopamine rush for their actions. A massive return for minimal effort. Then through this, the player learns to associate completing these tasks with a gratifying feeling of accomplishment.

There are many examples of games that have used this method in different formats such as EA sports Fifa series that offers in game packs for completing routine tasks initially such as play one game, or score one goal. Farmville, a game that offers the players the opportunity to complete tasks in rapid fashion through in game items that speed up the natural time of production, whilst giving the player a surplus of items, in game currency and experience points. Or Call of Duty, a game that uses matchmaking to allow players to initially fight against lower quality opposition, achieve consistently good scores and rank up fast.

As these games progress, players are gradually weened off the initial highs that the game presented, the rewards become harder to come by as gameplay either increases in difficulty or the investment of time to achieve rewards increases. So why is it that when this occurs, that we continue to play?

For many, the reasons are rather innocent. It may be for a general love of the game. For these players, the fun never really wavers, or at least not to the same extent of players without an adoration for the content. Others may enjoy the social aspect of the game. They get to play with their friends and despite the slower progression, these players get their enjoyment through the social and community aspects. Then there are those that appreciate the challenge that this new found difficulty can provide. However, many players do not share these views and in these circumstances would become frustrated and tired of playing the game. This is where retention tactics are implemented.

These are usually implemented from the offset and become more relevant as the game progresses. Developers who have initially conditioned the player to associate certain aspects of the game with a rush of dopamine aim to keep players chasing these moments and often use these triggers to control their behavior. The best way to represent this is through examples.

The most popular and perhaps notorious method of retention is through in game currency shortcuts. This often is seen in Zynga archetype mobile games or multiplayer PvP games. As these games begin to offer less rewards and increase time required to gain said rewards, the option that has been available from the start of the game becomes a viable and desirable option, micro-transactions. The player is offered a way to get an instant method of gratification in return for real life currency. The legitimate, cost free method is never taken away and the player is always given the choice in the matter but as the game takes away what made the player enjoy it in the first place, for many it means either grind out long hours, simply walk away, or the company achieves it’s goal and the player invests money in the game. This is often seen in free-to-play games such as Farmville, Mafia wars or Candy crush and is their method of making profit besides perhaps advertising.

Another method that is used to retain players is through social aspects of the game. Many games that are of a competitive nature thrive on the ability to pin you against your friends and global opposition. Menus, HUD’s and live in game scoring will often be littered with statistics comparing the player to their counterparts and telling them their progress or skill compared to rival players. As players at the beginning of the game are treated to a more lenient starting segment , they will have been conditioned to seek the top spot in games as they feel gratification through success. Therefore, when the game becomes more competitive and more skilled players are fighting for that same gratification, the constant reminders of performance serve as a way to keep the player motivated and invested. Games that offer these facilities include Call of duty, Overwatch, rocket league or Apex legends. This was also an area that companies tried to monetize but due to the competitive nature of these games, pay to win features were seen to heavily affect the credibility of said games and their viability for E sports competitions.

A tactic that is worth mentioning is the rate at which the rewards and progression are slowed. The aim of these developers will be to inundate the player with a surplus of goodies then set out to gradually place these goodies behind certain hurdles. The rate at which they increase the height of these hurdles is key to the success of this factor taking place. That being, when the player has invested so much time and effort and potentially money into the game, understandably, they feel an obligation to proceed onward despite their disposition. The developers through this tie they have created between the game and the player, allow a pressure to manifest in the players psyche and urges them to play on until their inevitable burnout.

Then we have the most harmful and sinister tactic of all developers. Of course this is in reference to casino based games and gambling. Although they very loosely fit into the genre of conventional gaming, developers are still hired to provide their expertise and create appealing games of this variety. These are often games found on betting apps and websites such as bingo, cards, slots or simulated sports betting. These games use a method called a ‘false contingency’ or ‘gambler’s fallacy’, which is essentially a randomized win system in which you can always win provided you are lucky enough to be the one that does.

These games create an environment of uncertainty through this and hide the true nature of the win rates and probability from the player. The player then plays the game which will usually be themed or have some sort of gimmick that makes the gameplay enjoyable and will give the player free turns or games in return for a small real currency deposit. They do this in favor of having the player win more as legally they cannot adjust the probability of these games. Then when the player invests, usually, they feel obligated to at the very least break even on their investment. Then as is often the case with gambling, the player loses all their funds, they invest to try and get their money back and thus, a toxic cycle begins.

Despite these borderline nefarious methods of using operant conditioning, there are positive examples of it’s use to encourage players to keep playing or play a certain way. The Souls borne games made by From Software do this is a very unconventional way but a way that players have taken to none the less. These games are notoriously difficult and pride themselves on their demanding and relentless nature. Due to this, players through their mistakes and in game deaths are conditioned to play games with more focus and caution and this is not through reward initially, but instead punishment. Granted the player eventually gets gratification through succeeding through hard areas or defeating gargantuan bosses but they must ‘git gud’ to do so. This method is also present in most games that have a pattern based enemy attack pattern such as Kingdom hearts or Cup head for example.

Negative reinforcement has been used before in games before with some MMORPG’s aiming to prompt players to rest and take breaks by reducing XP a player can gain due to playtime without logging out. However, when this was presented to the player it was met with criticism and backlash, so the games in this genre were forced to adapt. The developers then tweaked the system to reward returning players with an XP boost for returning after a rest. This was mathematically identical to the other system but tweaked to a positive reinforcement and perhaps goes to show why there is a scarcity of functional examples of negative conditioning systems.

Operant conditioning with positive reinforcers are used in pretty much any game you can find in some regard but what makes them useful inclusions for the game in the long term is how they grow. The more notorious examples use cheap tricks to trap the player but a game that wants to succeed through merit will create a conditioning system that stimulates the player. This will be through making tangible emotional connections or having the system adapt and grow over time. A good example of the system adapting is borderland’s loot system. This system doesn’t vary or change in it’s overall presentation but puts certain parameters in place so the player never feels tired of the mechanic. Firstly there is the rewards themselves that are frequent, the rewards are scaled based on the area they are encountered in, then as well as that, the unique thing Borderlands done with their loot was that all guns encountered are unique and therefore you are not encountering the same rewards for your efforts. This means every encounter for the player that leads to a reward is new and exciting and therefore burnout is less likely.

The platform in which you play the game may also get involved in conditioning the player and in general, do this rather positively. With reference to the Play stations trophy system which rewards the player for playing certain aspects of the game, with a goal to push the player to play the whole game to completion and see all aspects it has to offer. It provides a reward with no investment other than what the player would have invested to play the game already. Then this conditions players to seek more achievements through more games. A clever inclusion that ultimately generates sales for their platform without any harm to the consumer other than creating demand for their product.

The takeaway from all of this is that operant conditioning is a tool that is used in almost every game. Developers take the role of this phenomenon very seriously and consider its affects when creating content. It can be a method used to trap and ensnare players to extort them financially among other things but on the flip side, it can be used to create meaningful and motivational reasons to play games repeatedly, with enjoyment never wavering. It’s important not to condemn this method as a nuisance or evil but rather as a force to be wary of. So next time you are mindlessly playing, chasing rewards and grinding out levels. Consider if you are in control or if you are a lab rat pulling a lever?

Are their any games that you feel use conditioning to affect the player positive or negatively? How do you feel about micro transactions in gaming? Leave a comment and as always, thanks for reading.