Monday, September 29, 2014

Best Candy Crush Blog Ever

By Kerri Stout


Though incredibly simple and straight forward, Candy Crush is one of the most addictive games ever to be invented. The best Candy Crush Blog estimates the app to be worth billions, even after the Wall Street debut experienced by the company behind it.

It is estimated to make around 800,000 US dollars every day just from its in app purchase schemes that push players past high levels. King Digital Entertainment, the app developer, was reported to have made a net worth of 568 million US dollars in 2013 alone.

There are several reasons as to why this game is so addictive. The first and most important reason is that it is so easy to win in the initial stages. This leads to a sense of satisfaction in the brain from the release of dopa-mine. This is an agent that leads to addiction and it cements our actions such that we repeat them over and over from the pleasure we derive from them. As the game progresses, it gets harder, this makes the reward from winning of these games more by making the dopa-mine releases more intermittent within the human system.

Despite what many may think, including the claims of the app developers, this game relies entirely on luck depending on the randomness of the given candy colors rather than individual swiping skills. This implies that the reward schedules become unpredictable. As a result, we lose more than we win. This ends up enticing people to play more rather than discouraging them as opposed to having people win easily. This is an effective mental strategy used in gambling slot machines.

One other important feature of this game is that it limits the amount of time you can play. 5 losses, and you are on time out for the next couple of hours. This leaves you craving for another round of the game. By the time you are allowed back into candy land, the reward you get from winning the lost round becomes multiplied. This is also a clever scheme devised by the app developers to have people buy some extra lives and get back in sooner.

This deprivation strategy is called the hedonistic adaptation. In a research done at Harvard University, two groups of people were used to test this theory. One group was asked to abstain from chocolate for a week while the other group was given unlimited amount for the same week. When both groups were given chocolate the next week, the group that was deprived chocolate expressed the most pleasure and satisfaction in consuming the treat.

The final reason as to why the game is so addictive is that it uses candy. Food is often used to in gambling games in order to trigger the pleasurable sensations we derive from savoring it. It is no wonder food is used in some gambling machines such as the famous fruit machine. The King company knows this positive association that help make it relaxing and fun.

While this app has had the reputation of keeping people highly occupied to the point of forgetting some of their duties, it is mostly harmless. You have the utter and complete freedom of refraining from making any in app purchases and even quitting it altogether.




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