psychology
Massively Overthinking: The FOMO in our MMOs
World of Warcraft has become a very dump-on-able game lately, and Blizzard isn't making it any harder, as a tweet the company sent out...
Riot Games sponsors design challenge centered on making online spaces safer
Riot Games is not a gaming company most folks in our industry would consider a paragon of community in or off the court. The...
The Daily Grind: Are you playing a ‘morally disengaged murder hobo’ in MMOs?
The Psychology of Video Games podcast recently did a bit on "murder hobos," and yes, Dr Jamie Madigan does point out that the term...
Playable Worlds’ Raph Koster explains how feedback loops can create unexpected results in MMO design
What's a feedback loop? And, more importantly, why should MMO players care about them? According to Playable Worlds' Raph Koster, this part of game...
MMO Business Roundup: Improbable’s defense contracting, Amazon Games’ internal support
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news!
Improbable: Back in January, CNBC did a big story on Improbable, the massive Herman...
Vague Patch Notes: You are and are not who you are in MMOs
If you've never been hit in the face, you're not really prepared for when someone does it, much less when it's a fist instead...
PAX Online 2020: Destiny’s Sword lets players roll characters in free-to-play demo
When last we checked in on Destiny's Sword, it was back in June, when 2Dogs Games admitted that COVID-19 had slowed the game's progress...
Massively Overthinking: MMOs, challenge, and flow
A couple of weeks ago, MMO developer Mark Kern tweeted a controversial claim about how challenge and interactivity is the point of games (and...
Gaming psychologist Jamie Madigan explains what ‘surprise mechanics’ actually are
We're all familiar with the "surprise mechanics" incident, the absurdist argument in defense of lootboxes from EA's VP of legal and government affairs Kerry...
For Science: A deeper look at the Proteus effect and Toronto’s game dev mental health summit
We once more have a couple of science and gaming news pieces to share, so let's bundle them up like last time and get...
‘Gaming disorder’ has been officially added to the World Health Organization’s ICD-11
The World Health Organization has officially adopted a revision to its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) to include "Gaming...
For Science: The psychology of online gaming toxicity, fanpersonism, and gamer identity
Over the holidays, I bumped into some great video material from author and YouTuber Caleb Ross that seems useful for online gamers in particular....
What made Fortnite so ridiculously popular? Anticipation is baked into both the loot and the gameplay, says one psychologist
Over the weekend, I was chatting with the mom of my son's friend and let slip that I'm a video game blogger. Her reaction?...
The Daily Grind: How much MMO game info should be hidden from the players?
A blog post on The Psychology of Video Games blog a few weeks ago seems relevant to our interests: It explores the "pleasure paradox," which...
Noted statistician blasts 2013 paper that links aggression and video games
Last month, as part of our ongoing dialogue about video games and violence, we covered a brand-new paper that found that playing video games...
GDC 2018: Depictions of violence and war in video games and Destiny’s Sword
I love stories. Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I love stories not just for their raw entertainment value, but for their ability...
Game Theory explores the psychological exploitation at work in lockboxes
"It's as easy as one, two, insert your credit card number here!" So begins the parody at the beginning of the first of two...
How video game lockboxes use psychology to manipulate you
We here at Massively OP can't get rid of lockboxes, but by gum, we're not going to roll over and give up on fighting...
Academics weigh in on ‘gaming addiction’ claims
We've previously discussed that according to the Manual of Mental Disorders and the industry standard Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, gaming addiction isn't a...
Exploring the psychology behind losses, gains, and grouping results in video games
Getting five batches of 100 gold feels better than one batch of 500 gold, and being forced to spend three separate 100 gold fees...
