Except it is exactly like a slot machine, well akin to an evolved version actually.
It is designed to be addictive with compulsion loops and reinforcement, exploiting brain mechanisms you are not aware of such as disproportionate feedback coming directly from slot machines. Candy crush is a sort of glorified skinner box.
Same as gambling machines, candy crush makes use of "illusion of control" by congratulating the player for being skilled for things that actually happened by chance (or were made to happen by the game itself).
The comparison does not stop here, similar to gambling machines candy crush makes money not on the vast majority of people but on a limited few that will spend lots of money the "whales".
The fun thing with candy crush is that as long as you never pay the game plays fair but once you've become a paying customer the game starts to play tricks on you to nudge you into paying more, it will become harder or impossible to win without the use of bonus you have to pay to get. The game actually adapts to you to maximize profit it can squeeze out of you.
There was a detailed article about all this mechanism a few years back when I did not shaarlize[0] all my interesting findings so I can't link it here, but everything I just written comes from memory of what was described in this article.
>It is designed to be addictive with compulsion loops and reinforcement, exploiting brain mechanisms you are not aware of such as disproportionate feedback coming directly from slot machines. Candy crush is a sort of glorified skinner box.
So, in your opinion what makes something a slot machine is which psychological effects it tries to use?
Do you know where else all of these same psychological effects come up? Human interaction. Candy Crush is basically somebody trying to sweet talk you and wrap you around their finger. Do you consider that to be a slot machine too?
So, in your opinion what makes something a slot machine is which psychological effects it tries to use?
I'm not OP, but to me it's the triggered randomness with occasional wins that makes it a slot machine. The intentional psychological effects and engineering to persist the desire to subject oneself to those effects are how King and Zynga are evil companies and deserve to have their corporate charters dissolved. IMHO.
I don't think calling it a slot machine is fair.