RaptorRodeoGod wrote: »Bushido2513 wrote: »Bushido2513 wrote: »Bushido2513 wrote: »I think that this whole "health" discussion is not about the ESO or whatever PC game being supposed to have a positive influence on a "healthy" lifestyle, and of course it is clear that there are enough things in the world we do that are unhealthy. And the higher the dosage of something, the less healthy it is. The point here is, in my opinion, that the design of the EA in its current form, without the possibility of security saves, PROMOTES and REWARDS unhealthy habits. The developers have a responsibility here and cannot completely pass it on to the user and say “it’s your decision”.
Alcohol and cigarettes have warning labels on them and perhaps it is time for certain game content to also be labeled as being addictive. And that has nothing to do with “parenting behavior” but with a safety warning.
This whole game should have a safety warning.
Why is ea different from the endless streams of things you can do in this entire game for rewards that you can just string together if you are just the type to push it.
Example of a whole day gone in a spree of time where I only stop to use the bathroom and put food in my face
Starting from morning
Writs on 18 characters
Queue battleground or dungeon I want to farm
Do surveys while in q
Go to IC while in q
Go craft while in q
Go to the crown store while in q
Work on house layout while in q
Farm bosses for gear while in q
Farm chest while in q
Get master angler while in q
And the list goes onnnnnn
So if I'm just the type to want to maximize those tasks which all come with rewards or have an addictive personality guess what, I'm pretty much already doing my own version of ea.
You can say I have a choice but I'm chasing xp/ap/telvar/gear drop dopamine hits at that point just like I would in ea.
So now the day or days in a row are already shot in terms of health.
For a person with issues the game is one giant choose your own ea
Sure, there is more than enough incentive to be active 24/7 in this game and other PC games. But we're going around in circles with the argument in this thread, because the big difference is that you don't have a disadvantage if you quickly go to the corner and get a pizza while you're doing crafting with 18 chars, but that's exactly what happens at EA - if you are out for more than 5 minutes, for whatever reason, all progress is lost.
Yeah but you just listed very unhealthy behavior as a lifestyle so how is that better?
Just tell me is it really overall better that I just ate all that sodium, fat, and carbs then sat back down for hours and that I'm doing that daily?
See I'll probably get bored/ get any gear I want and move on from archive a bit worn out.
I'm describing to you daily activities leading people to possibly put health on the back burner.
So it's not ok if I have a stroke during ea but it's ok if the pizza and sitting get me in the long run where a corner will just label it natural causes due to lifestyle?
Seems like the long term effects are worse just more subtle no?
Then imagine he didn't say "pizza" but "a healthy bowl of freshly cut salad from an organic, local and fair trade farm". Better?
Seriously, you can't have missed the point that it wasn't about eating some type of food daily, it was about being able to take a break from the game for a short time to do something else (eating, going for a walk, showering, doings sports, whatever) without being punished by the game mechanics for that.
Problem is that the people we're talking about don't care if you offer them a break. You're talking about a rational thinking person like me who wouldn't even bother with archive for an extended amount of time for the health sacrifice.
An addictive personality would just see the break you're describing as not even a thing to consider and keep going.
Slot machines are totally voluntary and you can get up at any time but an addict won't and that's the person we're talking about in these scenarios who I'm saying won't differentiate in what they do break or no break. To them the only punishment is loss of dopamine one way or the other so they will chase it with or without breaks involved.
Actually, I've been talking broadly for the most part, not just focusing on addicts. Broadly, designing a way to take an extended break from Endless Archive without punishing the player would be good for most people. I'm sure most people would appreciate not having to sacrifice other hobbies, family time, sleep, time touching grass, etc to get the experience they want, at the difficulty they want, from Endless Archive.
Addicts are going to play they game they way they want to play, regardless of how the content is designed, and regardless of their other responsibilities. In this case, I don't necessarily think it's the devs responsibility to force them to stop, because it's just not possible.
At some point, you have to take responsibility for yourself, and having a way to do that by stopping an Endless Archive run without being punished will go a long way for many of the complaints and issues people are bringing up, including my own.
Edit: I just realized you quoted somebody else there and not me, my bad lmao
However, I think my point still applies in the broad conversation in the thread.
I haven't tried it out, but if it is like this I guess I'll have more content I don't engage with much. I was under the impression a significant portion of the ESO player base was a population that can't log endless, unpaused hours a day. So it would be an interesting choice to try to force something for engagement when most aren't going to have the choice with work, family, etc.
As far as health there are lots of things researched and done for marketing that don't necessarily aim in favor of the player (gambling, FOMO). I don't like the idea of having limitations on my choices for health, but I also don't agree with unethical/predatory design meant to increase a gain for the creator at the expense of the consumer.
One thing that tends to go hand in hand with spending too much time doing something in game is the burnout that follows. Increased pushing and time doesn't always equal retention in the long term.
(I recognize this was probably in response to people who want harder content so I continue to advocate for options to let casual players be casual while hardcore players can be hardcore).
Bushido2513 wrote: »
I do find it interesting to talk about predatory design and talk about this game. I think you always have to watch what predatory really means. ESO offers an option but they aren't the only game in town for sure.
For me if the dollar/hour ratio of entertainment is good then I can't complain. Everyone should have some similar metric to judge if any time/money investment here is worth it but sometimes to figure out that ratio you have to engage in bad exchanges including predatory ones.
It would be nice if everyone was nice in business but since there not it's good to have and hopefully learn from experiences that aren't terrible but include teachable moments.
I think EA has potential to be learned from but to also evolve over time. I really do doubt they will leave it as is.
Bushido2513 wrote: »
I do find it interesting to talk about predatory design and talk about this game. I think you always have to watch what predatory really means. ESO offers an option but they aren't the only game in town for sure.
For me if the dollar/hour ratio of entertainment is good then I can't complain. Everyone should have some similar metric to judge if any time/money investment here is worth it but sometimes to figure out that ratio you have to engage in bad exchanges including predatory ones.
It would be nice if everyone was nice in business but since there not it's good to have and hopefully learn from experiences that aren't terrible but include teachable moments.
I think EA has potential to be learned from but to also evolve over time. I really do doubt they will leave it as is.
Yeah that's definitely true and the reality of how things work. At the end of the day it's a business and I'm still choosing to play and support this game despite some misgivings I have about things.
As for EA, my personal time constraints will probably work against the FOMO factor because depending on how rewards work they probably won't even look accomplishable. I can accept that, I have with several aspects of the game and enjoy the areas I am able to or want to play. A save feature or something wouldn't be disappointing to me, though. Even if it came with penalties if it's own. Might make me more interested in investing the time I do have into the feature.
Ability to save is not only for physical and mental health but for the longevity of Endless Arena as well.
As soon as novelty wears off, only diehards will play it close to 'endless'. Others will just clear few levels and go out.
There's got to be a better design to offer a save function than what we have now.
RaptorRodeoGod wrote: »Ability to save is not only for physical and mental health but for the longevity of Endless Arena as well.
As soon as novelty wears off, only diehards will play it close to 'endless'. Others will just clear few levels and go out.
There's got to be a better design to offer a save function than what we have now.
That's 100% what will happen of something isn't done. It would end up being a lot of wasted effort
Bushido2513 wrote: »This game has entertained me for many years but it never cares about my health, just doing its job to keep me entertained, engaged, and possibly paying for as long or as little as I can stand.
spartaxoxo wrote: »Bushido2513 wrote: »This game has entertained me for many years but it never cares about my health, just doing its job to keep me entertained, engaged, and possibly paying for as long or as little as I can stand.
There are different degrees of addiction, and this game absolutely has health and safety features already that are pretty standard for the industry. The 50 daily quests cap means that when someone reaches that, they have no choice but to switch toons. This forces them to take stock of their situation. There are also cool downs on getting certain types of loot, so players who grind a lot will be the first to tell you that it's not worth doing anymore once you hit a certain point unless you swap toons.
Someone who is very severely addicted won't be impacted. But others who have milder addictions and who are more functional are absolutely helped by the more extreme circumstances having limits, and people who are playing normally are basically not impaired at all because they don't even run into them.
Bushido2513 wrote: »The only care this game has about you is making sure to not push you so far in any way that makes you stop playing permanently. And that's more about caring for your attention span and tolerances than it is your health.
spartaxoxo wrote: »Bushido2513 wrote: »The only care this game has about you is making sure to not push you so far in any way that makes you stop playing permanently. And that's more about caring for your attention span and tolerances than it is your health.
It is both. They want you to come back when you're refreshed, not grind until you hate it. But, it also is a health and safety feature. Developers a long time ago figured out they could help their customers and make more money by putting those restrictions on things. That's called a win-win. And I don't see any reason not to celebrate win-wins. Things can be more than one thing.
Here's a good example of a developer speaking about this type of thing.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/03/warframe-removed-a-microtransaction-because-a-player-used-it-too-much/
Bushido2513 wrote: »Interesting thing about most players is that they will come right back if you just make a change they wanted. So for ZOS a novelty then decline then resurgence model is still a win to keep the game interest moving at a reasonable pace. Just an observation, not saying I support the model, just that it's effective.
Freilauftomate wrote: »Bushido2513 wrote: »Interesting thing about most players is that they will come right back if you just make a change they wanted. So for ZOS a novelty then decline then resurgence model is still a win to keep the game interest moving at a reasonable pace. Just an observation, not saying I support the model, just that it's effective.
For many years i had to watch friends and guildmates "came back" to ESO, just to see them walk away disappointed and angry after a few hours/days/weeks.
I always thought the responsible people in this company would eventually see what's going on, decide to finally fix their game and everyone would come back and be happy. But it never happened. Some things even got worse.
Now for a long time not one single player i know has come back. "We are working on it, but no eta" gave them hope for a while, but there is no trust left. No hope. They wanted to play a working ESO for years, but now they are done waiting. They won't come back. No matter what's going to happen. When we got the new servers on PS EU i told everyone how much better performance in Cyrodiil was, but nobody wanted to hear it. They were all playing other games, thought i was joking and just didn't care about ESO anymore. "If it works now, it's just a matter of time until they break it again. I am done with this company. Come and play game xy with me."
So no, i don't think this "model" is a win. From my point of view ESO is a tragedy. So much wasted potential, and so many customers who will never ever buy anything from this company again.
I am still playing sometimes. But 9 out of 10 times when i start the game, i close it the moment my buggy audio settings almost destroy my speakers with way too loud music, even though i disabled all music in my settings years ago...
This endless archive is a nice idea, but i am 99.9% convinced it will be buggy forever. That's just how this game works.
ComradeBiscuit wrote: »This really seems like a dangerous concept for addictive personalities. ZOS should be ashamed for catering to something so unhealthy.
MudcrabAttack wrote: »Without a pause feature in the new arena the scoreboard still favors incredibly high DPS, or having no life commitments, or players with both at the same time. This is why very few will bother with score pushing, and if scoreboard pushing doesn’t matter to the player, there’s absolutely no need to stay for longer than one round since the sets are so bland
I don’t believe OP is talking about roguelike or roguelite being harmful rather no save point, otherwise it is the most bizarre take I have heard about gaming in a while. Games like hades and other games even in different genre with infinite replayability are harmful where as this game has gambling.Dovahkiin02191973 wrote: »As a person with addictive personality disorder I fully know what obsessive gaming can do. For me it sunk me into major credit card debt. Not this game but Forge of Empires an online multiplayer city builder type game. I was able to stop the pattern by quitting the game and cutting up my cards. I didn't need a therapist or medication to tell me that. I knew I was addicted as I played all day and could not do much of anything else. I lost interest in family and friends and some of them gave up on me. Can't blame it on the games themselves and not all games are addictive to all people. You must weed out the ones that are and eliminate them from your play time and your time should be no more than a couple of hours a day. I play ESO solo so there is no need for me to do the endless dungeon or whatever it is. Addiction to anything including gaming comes out from within the person. Some might be able to stop on their own like me but others it may be too strong to overcome and then intervention is needed to get it under control. When I think about FoE and how addicted I was to it is enough to keep me from ever going back.
RaptorRodeoGod wrote: »Basically the title. There's no scenario that gaming for 10+ hours straight is healthy, let alone doing the same thing in the game over those 10 hours. Endless Archive is going to get really old really quick.
And to go with that, it's a shame that the time you have to devote to the game is the limiting factor to Endless Archive, rather than actual skill level.
StarOfElyon wrote: »RaptorRodeoGod wrote: »Basically the title. There's no scenario that gaming for 10+ hours straight is healthy, let alone doing the same thing in the game over those 10 hours. Endless Archive is going to get really old really quick.
And to go with that, it's a shame that the time you have to devote to the game is the limiting factor to Endless Archive, rather than actual skill level.
I haven't tried it yet but I'm not sure what the appeal is. If you can't win, what's the point?