The Psychology Of Games: The Glitcher's Dilemma

[BlackDragon37]

Psychologist and gamer Jamie Madigan writes for Gamasutra about how social dilemmas work in the world of gaming, and how designers can work to diffuse them before everybody gets glitch happy.

 

[MONEYMUFFINS]

What's really more interesting and useful, though, is to look at what psychology has to show us about when people DON'T choose the purely rational option of abusing a glitch or a winning but boring strategy. Generally, people are more likely to do this when:

- They know they will be playing against their opponents in the future and face retribution
- They expect to interact with their opponents outside the game
- They don't expect to remain anonymous
- They don't know how many games will be played with the same person

THIS. Has struck a chord with me.


Thank you for sharing. And yeah, playing mean is for meanies.