Minecraft and Red Dead Redemption have been identified as the two most addictive games, at least according to one large-scale study performed by Clutch recently.
This study revealed some other really interesting results, including the apparent trend of female gamers being more prone to video game addiction than men. There were also some correlations identified between video game addiction and employment status, with people who were “Looking for work” scoring relatively higher addiction scores.
The Clutch research team sifted out a list of 17 games that, according to their sample of 1,570 participants from the Clutch community, were the most-played. “Most-played” was then equated to “most addictive”- a reasonable deduction. The crowning champions are Minecraft and Red Dead Redemption, with addiction scores of 37.9 and 36 respectively.
How is this addiction score obtained, you ask? Each participant received an addiction score according to their results of a modified version of the Greenfield Video Game Addiction Test. A score of 41.2 or higher is deemed indicative of a possible gaming addiction.
Then, the most addictive games were identified according to “the average addiction score for those who selected that game as their most-played.” So, most participants appear to play Minecraft and Red Dead Redemption most often.
Following closely behind these two are For Honor and Overwatch. Fortnite Battle Royale is also there, but further down the list than one might have expected, with an average addiction score of 33.9. Somewhat surprising, considering the longstanding hullabaloo over it as being so addictive its comparable to certain drugs, to the extent that there have been calls to ban it in some countries (we’re talking about you, Prince Harry).
So what makes these games so dang addictive? There’s an increasing amount of attention being directed towards this question, with a handful of possible answers whirring around. One of the most convincing ones relates to the reward system employed in the game. Put simply, humans love being rewarded, so the more efficiently they get rewarded in a game, the more likely it is they’ll be sticking around for more.
This doesn’t necessarily mean getting rewarded every time something favorable is done - there are different patterns of rewarding that can have different positive effects on players. Obviously, something about these games fulfills these - and similar - criteria.
Just remember, these results are not to be taken as definitive. More formal and scientifically rigorous research must be undertaken to further understand what makes games such as these so addictive.
Source: Clutch
