[stegosaurus]

>> rather than just kill time

Yeah, that's something I find really odd about most mobile games. They seem designed as a way to basically put the brain into a low energy state or something, rather than actually being interesting.

My personal experience of games like Candy Crush is that people play them on the subway or whatever when there's nothing else to do. If they had a book with them they'd read that, if someone handed them a Nintendo DS with zero effort they'd probably do that (if they could get over the ego thing).

I can't really imagine anyone setting themselves up for a marathon casual gaming session. They seem marketed to be one level above 'watching paint dry' and used in circumstances where that's the only alternative.

[saturdaysaint]

I probably have a similar sensibility in regard to games, but Candy Crush is quite the opposite of "watching paint dry" in a lot of respects. It's full of novel/weird animations, cute characters, satisfying sound effects. I compare it to a casino slot machine room - a lot of people just like to be mesmerized by pretty sights/sounds without that much of a challenge. I don't exactly respect it as a gamer, but it speaks to a weird/interesting human need.

[TillE]

It was a tired cliche for describing games even before smartphones existed, but the model for typical mobile game design truly is the Skinner Box. You press a button to get some shiny reward designed to make your brain feel like it accomplished something.

It's a remarkably elaborate ruse to disguise the fact that there really is no "game" underneath all the chrome.

[justratsinacoat]

More pointedly, it's a way to monetize the dopamine reward. Most modern mobile games, after all, try to induce "fun pain" to get you to buy more turns/levels/clicks etc. There doesn't have to be a "game" -- just the "fun pain", and then a way to settle back into the dopamine bath via paying RL currency. I know I'm preaching to the choir a bit here, but it's important to note that not only is there no "game", but that they know that there's no "game" and that low-energy-with-periodic-bursts-of-reward state is the _point_.

[tdkl]

They are engineered to be a placeholder for ads and environment for micro transactions while feeding the brain novelty. Everything else is secondary or non existing.

But hey the governments love the mindless entertained drones and if someone desires to be one, it has the human right. But let's call it like it is.

[throwanem]

> If they had a book with them they'd read that

You can fit lots of books on a phone!

[NoGravitas]

Smartphones are actually a terrific medium for casual reading [1].

[1]: http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2014/02/_thats...

[throwanem]

As were some Palm OS devices before them - those with 480x320 screens, at least. (They weren't good for much else!)