Do WoW's addictive elements make it a sub-par or unethical game?

There was an interesting article over on Cracked.com recently entitled 5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted. It was a very illuminating read, and though I will summarize it bellow, I recommend you read the article itself first. The general thesis of the article could be summed up by these lines from the opening: "So here's the big question: Are some games intentionally designed to keep you compulsively playing, even when you're not enjoying it? Oh, hell yes. And their methods are downright creepy." Many of the examples given by the article were from WoW, which got me thinking: the presence of these artificial devices that keep us playing WoW when we no longer enjoy it could mean that we wouldn't play WoW were they not present, that WoW can't stand on it's own merits. Does that mean that these addictive devices make WoW a sub-par game? Let's find out.

I'll summarize the article bellow. Skip the small text if you have read the article already.

The video games of yore were only designed to be fun so that we would buy them and potentially their sequel, but modern MMO's need to keep us paying in order make money. However, developers can't make enough content to forever satiate our desires, so what do they do? They changed the games so you'll keep playing, whether you enjoy it or not. So they add repetitive elements to the game that keep us playing because of our gathering instincts, even if the things we gather have nothing to do with progressing through the game itself. (Think of the long grinds people will go on for pets and mounts.) They then force you to play for a long time to get those rewards, either by making them rewarded randomly (I can't stop running The Frozen Halls now because the next run may drop the hilt. Or the next one. Or the next...) or by giving you little rewards along the way as they force you to rerun repetitive content. (Think of the satisfaction you get from getting one Emblem of Frost. That's what keeps you playing until you get the 405 you need for Tier 10 armor.)

How do they keep us doing this? One way is by easing us in with easy rewards early on, then making the rewards take longer to get as we keep playing. (Think about how long it takes to get from level 1 to 10, compared with 70 to 80) This extra time has the added effect of making each reward more satisfying, which makes us want them more. They also prevent us from stopping by eliminated stopping points (like the fact that you can't just bail on your raid), and they punish us for not playing; if you don't raid for a month, you're likely to fall behind your guild in gearing up and be unable to go with them into raids.

Why is this an issue? Because games are supposed to fulfill the function of giving us the basic satisfaction of mastering a skill, even if that skill serves no purpose in the grand scheme of things. "Fun" is our brain's way of rewarding us for playing games because playing games "help us develop our brains (especially as children) and test ourselves without serious consequences if we fail." >These addictive elements are designed to keep us playing long after we have already mastered them, taking out any semblance of fun from the game. WoW rewards us for performing the same tasks long after we have mastered them; "no new content, no element of practice, or discovery, or mastery... just a virtual treadmill." Where, exactly, does repetitively executing a skill you have already mastered fit into the definition of fun? It doesn't.

The article then goes on to discuss the larger implications of these facts, but for now, what I have summarized will serve our purposes.

Now that we are all on the same page, let's get back to the issue at hand: do these elements make WoW a sub-par game? The fact that they exist within WoW to such a large extent can only lead to one conclusion: WoW is designed to keep you playing after you no longer find it fun. After all, how many of you keep running raids even after you have beaten the final boss? You have to, because you need the gear to get to the next raid. How many of you have run random heroics dozens or maybe even hundreds of times, just to get better gear to make already boring content even easier? Why do you do it? Because the game is designed to keep you playing when you reach the point where you would have become bored with a non-addictive game.

This is a necessity, though. Content takes time to create, so Blizzard could either let us blast through the content and enjoy it all quickly, only for us to be bored until they release more, or they could stretch out that content by forcing us to run it repeatedly. The latter keeps us interested in the game, while the former makes us less likely to keep playing. That's why content is "gated" by the gear you have, and that's why gear takes time to get. That's why raids are on a weekly lock-out timer. Those elements prevent us from going through the content too quickly, while the addictive elements keep us from stopping when it gets tedious. These addictive elements exist to keep us playing the game so the game can stay alive. In that case, these elements need to exist for WoW to keep going as an MMO. If you lose player interest, you lose subscribers, and without subscribers, Blizzard has no motivation to make new content. If these addictive elements are a necessity, then they don't make WoW a sub-par game since a WoW without them is impossible.

Of course, by asking whether these addictive elements make WoW a sub-par game, we are ignoring whether it is ethical to make a game with these addictive elements. The final part of the article can probably give us some perspective of that, so I'll summarize it here.

Many people get addicted to games because those games fill a void in there lives, a void which should be filled by school or work, but isn't. In order for use to be satisfied with school or work, we need three things: the feeling of being in control, complexity in our work (to avoid boredom and repetition), and a visible connection between effort and reward. Most people don't have those elements in their daily life, but addictive video games give us all three, or at least the illusion of all three. The games give us a sense of accomplishment, and their tedium only adds to that accomplishment because it makes us feel like we worked harder to get there.

The reason addictive games draw us in so easily is because we find the real world's system of rewards to be so much slower and crueler than we expected it to be, so gaming is a form of mental escape from that horrible reality. Thing is, whereas other forms of escapism, like substance abuse and fandom, only provide an escape from that slow and painful system of rewards or the real world, addictive games replace it. "The danger lies in the fact that these games have become so incredibly efficient at delivering the sense of accomplishment that people used to get from their education or career. We're not saying gaming will ruin the world, or that gaming addiction will be a scourge on youth the way crack ruined the inner cities in the 90s. But we may wind up with a generation of dudes working at Starbucks when they had the brains and talent for so much more. They're dissatisfied with their lives because they wasted their 20s playing video games, and will escape their dissatisfaction by playing more video games. Rinse, repeat.

And let's face it; if you think WoW is addictive, wait until you see the games they're making 10 years from now. They're only getting better at what they do."

So, are these addictive elements ethical? Well, they keep people who are dissatisfied with the reward system of life playing the game, keeping them locked in their unreasonable expectations, making them unwilling to pursue anything difficult in life like a rewarding career or helping a worthy cause. After all, why should they do those things when they can get that satisfaction from a game much more easily? By providing that instant gratification, addictive games dissuade their addicts from bettering themselves in meaningful ways, since people usually do that for the satisfaction it provides, and if they can get that satisfaction from a game... you get the idea. Addictive games hinder self-improvement and prevent players from reaching their full potential to benefit the human race. That's pretty shady, at the very least, if you ask me.

It really wouldn't be that big of a logical leap to call WoW's addictive elements unethical; many people would say that a dealer selling drugs to an addict that is ruining his life through his substance abuse is acting unethically, and Blizzard is really just the dealer, while WoW itself is the drug. Granted, WoW probably isn't as addictive as something like heroin or vodka (I haven't experienced either personally, so I can't say for a fact that they are more addictive than WoW), but as someone who had dealt with WoW addiction in the past, I can tell you that it is certainly addictive, so these charges are not without merit.

Some of you may be saying, "But wait a minute; I play WoW, and yet I'm going for my masters/in a well-paying, satisfying job/a contributer to my community/not a failure at life." Well, you probably aren't as addicted to WoW as you could be, and if you were as addicted as you could be, you probably wouldn't be going for your masters/etc. Like alcohol, it is possible to partake in WoW moderately and not let it ruin one's life. However, the potential for addiction is still there by the design of the game.

I suppose whether or not you consider WoW to be unethical would be influenced by the same factors as whether you consider the sale of alcohol unethical. Both provide enjoyment to people who partake in them, both are not too dangerous when enjoyed in moderation, and both have the potential to create a crippling addiction in those who overindulge. Thing is, alcohol vendors didn't design alcohol to be addictive; it just happened to be that way, a fact which helps their business, and they just take advantage of that fact. Blizzard designed WoW to be addictive, as we have already seen; rather than simply taken an addicting product and selling it, they designed their product to be addictive. It's the approximate difference between a drug dealer who sells regular drugs and a dealer who manufactures his drugs to be more addictive than usual, keeping his costumers coming back for more. It's that active element that makes WoW potentially more unethical than something like alcohol.

Some may say that I can't condemn something that brings enjoyment to the many who partake in it moderately at the expense of the few whose lives are destroyed by it. Thing is, WoW is designed to try to get all of its players addicted; that is its purpose. Those who aren't addicted are simply those who have managed to resist WoW's "charms," if you will. The purpose of WoW is to get us addicted, to get us to forgo the satisfaction we would otherwise get from a career or our education in favor of the satisfaction we get from WoW. Considering its malevolent purpose, I am left with no other conclusion than that WoW's design as an addictive game is unethical.