Written by Fang，2021 Cohort
One of my new year’s resolutions was to go to sleep before 11pm and not stay up late. However, these two weeks, I’ve become addicted to a mobile game named The Glory of Kings, which is like a mini-DOTA game that you could play on your cell phone. Feeling a bit anxious and excited, I play this game for at least two hours a day. Now, I start to reflect on why I got addicted to this game since I was never a big fan of mobile games.
To begin with, novice tasks helped me become a beginner level player. When I played the game for the first time after downloading, I had to complete some tasks designed for rookies, including using skills from a basic hero to fight against enemies and monsters, and knock down the enemy tower in a game simulation. I learned a lot about the game mechanism, mastered basic operations, and understood more about the heroes from these tasks. Of course, I gained a new hero after the practice. More importantly, I grew confidence and interest in this game since I could easily finish the task at this stage.
Secondly, this game has a novice-friendly matching mechanism. I felt delighted and satisfied with the first ten games because I levelled up easily. Then I would confront some challenges. There is a popular saying: “When there are many victories, there will be many defeats.” The system does not allow you to always win or always lose. When I am upset and don’t want to play anymore, a wave of five consecutive victories fills up my self-esteem. For me, this mechanism works like a booster, it gives me a great sense of achievement after many defeats. How could I stop playing when I know I might win next time? Although I know rationally that I need more effort to reach higher ranking, which means I need more time and energy to be more proficient in this game.
Thirdly, The Glory of Kings enriches its characters and skins with each upgrade. The elegant visual design of characters is eye-catching. I usually log into this game every day to get rewards in exchange for better hero attributes.
Fourthly, the cooperation between players makes us feel fulfilled. It is not a single player game, it’s the matter of your team’s glory because this game requires five people to form a team and battle with another team. Sometimes I play it to socialize with my old friends in China.
Last but not the least, I like playing this game because it provides certainty. I’m pretty sure that I will become a “king” (the second highest level of this game) as long as I spend enough time playing. Unlike studying or working, sometimes you gain nothing even if you try hard. In other words, playing this game makes me feel safe and in control to some degree.
After the above analysis, I dug out these five reasons why I became addicted to The Glory of Kings: necessary teaching, appropriate difficulty and providing boosters, attractive visual appearance, socializing etc.. Why are games so addicting? These five reasons may just be the tip of the iceberg.