Salam (Peace)
Have you ever continued to play a game long after you stopped enjoying it? Have you finished a Game looked back on it after weeks and found out you only wasted time while playing it?... And how about games that made you feel like you have to play it at least once every day to not miss the daily 'rewards' of it?
In that case you probably have fallen a victim to Skinner Box scheme, the Game system makes you feel the illusion of engagement while not giving you something engaging.
This isn't only limited to games, Skinner Box is a Psychological trick that can be used to control people habits in all fields.
I first knew about Skinner Box watching this video by Extra Credits:
Most of the points in this article are from this video but I'm stating my personal opinion too here, and put different examples so it's better to both watch it and read this post.
What's Skinner Box?
Also called "Operant Conditioning Center" is a psychological experiment done by B. F. Skinner that put a pigeon in a Box with button, every time the pigeon pushes the button it gets food/water..etc. The result of experiment Proved that
The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the behavior will occur again
- as Skinner said.
In other words: If doing the same actions again and again gives them a reward often (yes not all the time, that way it might backfire), people will continue to do that action. They'll feel the need to, even if they actually don't need it.
Giving the right reward will let you control people!!
Or in other words: If you offered a reward people can't get enough of, for doing simple actions repeatedly, people will feel the 'fake' need to do keep doing these actions.
That action must be 'initially' engaging, doing it few times should really benefit them. the problem with Skinner Box scheme is that it makes people do the same action which was engaging at first, long after losing that engagement. This is like addiction. BUT unlike addiction, the person isn't biologically they just feel the need to continue it and this can be cured easier.
So How Does That Apply To Games?
One of the discoveries of Skinner is that rewards that can reach a saturation points don't work for controlling the actions of the person after they reach saturation, But rewards that a person can't get enough of? like money? reputation? even just Points or praises. These have very high if not infinite saturation points, give someone this type of Reward and you have the perfect Skinner Box scheme.
The Games Uses many of these rewards, The thing that's common in all of them that they're based on Progression, The most common ones are:
Achivements
Most Achivements are actually good especially Skill-Based ones!! but Skinner Box achievements will try to make you do the same thing aver and over to finally get the "proof" of the 10 hours you wasted trying to collect all the loot?
some players like these achievements but that doesn't mean they're not a Skinner Box scheme.
RPG Elements
Levels and Experience points are one of the most cheap Skinner Box strategies and one of the most effective, as they can make the player play the same battles, for a very long time (for leveling)... collecting the same items hundreds of times (for inventory/book/quest..etc). anything that requires repeating the same action for progress!!
Worse if some the 'main' parts of the game can only be unlocked by doing some of those things above for more than few hours. That's a type of fake difficulty that should be called 'waste of time' instead of difficulty!!
Online/Mobile Games Elements
Many mobile/online games need players to play frequently.. but they have a little content that a player might finish all of it in one go. They invented a solution... add "time" factor to the game.
You can only do this action once every four hours.
Players will feel the need to return to the game Every 4 Hours to not lose some of time, because the timer won't restart until they do the action again. this Skinner Box Scheme ensure that the player returns to the game everyday at least once, and ensures that the player won't finish all the content of the game until the company releases the next update.
Couple that with micro-transactions to milk money of rich people who don't love waiting!! and you get both players who are returning to your game, and players who are giving you the money to make the next update.
That's the worst type of Skinner Box Elements because this type is purely 'profit' based, and it makes the player continue to play a game they hate... Maybe some companies did this in a "good way" that makes the players love the game (wish I had examples). but most companies don't!!
Skinner Box Elements Aren't Good In the Long Term
If most of the games you played just wasted your time, if you as Gamer looked back on your gaming life and found it full of hours with nothing but repeated actions. hours that weren't that fun but at the time you thought you're getting something out of it, only to figure out later that you have nothing?!
If you've played online game for long you probably got enough dose of Skinner Box Elements and Micro-Transactions (which also uses these schemes too to make you continuously buying) that you might hated that game... and even then you might still play it because these 'Tricks' are that compelling!!
Even though I said this...
Skinner Box Scheme Isn't Necessarily Bad
Each game of Disgaea series is %90 Skinner Box and I love that series I'm OK with that, it's a game that you're supposed to waste time in grinding.
But many Games has these 'elements' added in just to increase the playtime (and money spent), which is a very terrible thing to do.
The players should know about these schemes, It won't be a huge problem if the player knows they're being manipulated, But most players really think they are enjoying these Games while in fact they are living illusion of enjoyment,
If the player knows about Skinner Box, they can avoid falling victims to it when they want. If the player knows about it they will know if the Game they play is really or trying to trick them into thinking that.
Relying Only On Skinner Box Is A Bad Design
There are many ways to create engagement that doesn't Control the player actions, some of these that are mentioned in the Extra Credit Video above (see it at 04:20) are: Mystery (the need to know), Mastery (playing until becoming very skilled), Mental Challenge (the need to solve), Narrative (good stories because bad ones..are Bad), Novelty (new things), Flow (can't describe it, just watch the video if you wanna know)!!
Conclusion
So, Skinner Box is a cheap way to keep the player engaged.. and Game Companies will use them against you, But if you know these information.. at least you can stop yourself from wasting time playing something you'll regret later. If you want further reading about this topic I recommend this page, it takes it from different angle from mine
Anyway.. what do you think? do agree with what I've said? disagree? please tell me in comments... I just hope this article is useful for some.
~Have a Nice Day Everyone~
Salam (Peace)
Image source: [1]
Technically Steemit reward system is also a Skinner Box scheme since it offers a reward for making posts that. But at least here there's a system that imposes limits, like voting power for example... it's not perfect yet so it can be improved!!