Not impressed. More armchair psychology from another gaming hipster shitting on Destiny. Jesus -blam!-ing christ, Destiny is fun so -blam!-ing what? Why do people feel a need to make it out to be "Wait! Destiny isn't actually fun you're being tricked!" Seriously, this video describes the first couple of weeks of destiny. Sure, there is some addictive quality the first few weeks when you're getting new gear. But it doesn't explain why people keep playing. I have nothing to grind for and neither do many others. Why do I keep playing then? I guess this "journalist" isn't aware of the fact that all the RNG part of Destiny is essentially gone since House of Wolves. Everything has a specific way of being acquired. Hell, the three new exotic guns are guaranteed drops on PoE 35. All the other stuff is bought with armor and weapon cores which are also guaranteed drops. This "analysis" is very naive and shallow. I keep playing because the game is FUN. Here's a thought: maybe the addictive part of Destiny is the fact that it's a SOCIAL game. People keep playing because it's the best cooperative game out right now. Another thing he tries to squeeze in there is that Destiny is "full of DLC." TWO -blam!-ing DLCs all year and it was all content DLC. No character skins, no pay 2 win gun packs, no shortcut passes. The Taken King is the start of year 2 and is shaping up to be more like Destiny 2 than a DLC. I'd rather have that for $40 than the a yearly CoD or Assassin's Creed rehash for $60. In the end, this comes down to another butthurt hipster upset that Destiny isn't an 8 hour shooter with 3 hours of cutscenes that you play for a week and move on. Somehow it's a bad thing (or "unethical") that Destiny is a game that is worth playing long term and remains fun.

The only problem with Destiny is the community complaining about the way Bungie is running things! People need to realize (especially PSN users) that Bungie has been doing what they're doing for a long time (I've been around since the Original Marathon). I'm really not seeing most of the problem being caused a around Xbox Live users, but more so with PSN because they haven't been with Bungie for a long time compared to Xbox Live users who've been playing since Halo and some even further back such as myself. I don't see any major problems with Destiny at all and all you "fans" who keep calling Bungie out on the carpet for small problems with Destiny and asking for big changes need to stop because I can almost guarantee that it's not happening! Bungie is a very independent company and game developer, they listen to the community, but they do what they want and that's what makes them so awesome! Right now a bulk of the problem is in the PSN community who haven't been around Bungie and think things are going to change for them. I'm not saying there's no jerks in the Xbox Live community, but the bulk of the problem is with the PSN community which is sad because Bungie is giving the PSN users the exclusive content, but not the Xbox Live users. Which I do hope changes soon because the Halo fans are really what built up Bungie to what it is today and they did leave behind, but we do forgive them for that! Hopefully Bungie finds a way to tame the Dog and bring things back together! -VainerKill 117 (Xbox Live User)

Bump to get this trending, this is the reason I've cut my grind down to only nightfalls and trials

I agree with you... sadly, most the people on this forum are too stupid to realize they're getting screwed. That's why business strategies like this work so well. A huge part of the population are literally clueless. That's why advertising $.99 is more effective than $1.00... people are fooled by small gimmicks.

What makes destiny the number one best game out is, it's only game that offers pretty much close to nothing content wise, but gamers bend over and get f787ed up the a78 , ans throw their money willing , which then makes bungie and Activision even more richer.

I kind of agree, but I dont think its particularly bad. Its just a more advanced version of getting a gold medal at the end of mario kart. The only difference is that it is a random reward...that's about it. Its gambling at its core, except instead of gambling money, your gambling your time. Gambling time is much easier to control than money though, you can drop a shit ton of money and lose it in a split second in a casino. Spending a shit ton of time takes many conscious decisions over a period of time, rather than one stupid decision. At the end of the day we are playing a game not very different from the likes of Counter Strike, Halo and other FPS' - we would sink hours into those games with no reward other than simple competition, either against AI or real people. Having a random reward at the end of each game doesn't change playing behavior that much. I think we've all tried a shitty facebook game with the same skinner tactics and stopped playing after a few weeks because it was just a shit game. If you have a good game, say like Halo 3, and you added random rewards it enhances the experience. We would probably still play destiny without the random drops, probably just alot more multiplayer, I like that RNG encourages me to play more PVE since most games give you little motivation to play through the story a second or third time - in a round about way you kind of get more value for money because of it. My mate asked me why I still play since I have everything I wanted in the game and I told him "Because I'm good at it and I enjoy playing, remember playing Counter Strike? There were no rewards playing that." At the end of the day, these psychological reward tactics will never strengthen a shit game nor will it beat the feeling of just playing a good game, but it can definitely enhance it.

Gamespot with store only exclusives and price fixing the UK arm "Game" can say NOTHING

Dude is probably salty because Xur won't sel Gjallahorn, also probably bad at PvP and can't complete Thorn bounty. Thats why he is really shitting on Bungie.

Is Destiny's story seriously lacking...YES Is it too often reliant on RNG as opposed to skill...YES (although ToO has adressed that somewhat) Did they spend too much money on celebrity voices as opposed to professional voice actors...YES Does Bungies QC need to seriously up its game before releasing ANYTHING EVER.....YES Does Bungie need to engage with the community in a far more positive and less patronizing manner....YES Does Bungie need to stop blaming users/isps/everyone else for THEIR choice to use P2P as opposed to dedicated servers...YES Have I learnt a valuable lesson about pre-ordering games from Bungie...YES Does any of the above, or any other complaint i can come up with explain why i have spent a total £70 in the last twelve months and got literally HUNDREDS of Hours play out of it...NO

Gamespot has called you out, Bungie. You are challenged in the waaaysss of ooold....

Dude is probably salty because Xur won't sel Gjallahorn, also probably bad at PvP and can't complete Thorn bounty. Thats why he is really shitting on Bungie.

[url=http://www.nirandfar.com/2012/03/how-to-manufacture-desire.html]Some further reading[/url] [quote]Type the name of almost any successful consumer web company into your search bar and add the word “addict” after it. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Try “Facebook addict” or “Twitter addict” or even “Pinterest addict” and you’ll soon get a slew of results from hooked users and observers deriding the narcotic-like properties of these web sites. How is it that these companies, producing little more than bits of code displayed on a screen, can seemingly control users’ minds? Why are these sites so addictive and what does their power mean for the future of the web? We’re on the precipice of a new era of the web. As infinite distractions compete for our attention, companies are learning to master new tactics to stay relevant in users’ minds and lives. Today, just amassing millions of users is no longer good enough. Companies increasingly find that their economic value is a function of the strength of the habits they create. But as some companies are just waking up to this new reality, others are already cashing in. [b]First-to-Mind Wins[/b] A company that forms strong user habits enjoys several benefits to its bottom line. For one, this type of company creates associations with “internal triggers” in users’ minds. That is to say, users come to the site without any external prompting. Instead of relying on expensive marketing or worrying about differentiation, habit-forming companies get users to cue themselves to action by attaching their services to the users’ daily routines and emotions. A cemented habit is when users subconsciously think, “I’m bored,” and instantly Facebook comes to mind. They think, “I wonder what’s going on in the world?” and before rationale thought occurs, Twitter is the answer. The first-to-mind solution wins. [b]Manufacturing Desire[/b] But how do companies create a connection with the internal cues needed to form habits? The answer: they manufacture desire. While fans of Mad Men are familiar with how the ad industry once created consumer desire during Madison Avenue’s golden era, those days are long gone. A multi-screen world, with ad-wary consumers and a lack of ROI metrics, has rendered Don Draper’s big budget brainwashing useless to all but the biggest brands. Instead, startups manufacture desire by guiding users through a series of experiences designed to create habits. I call these experiences “Hooks,” and the more often users run through them, the more likely they are to self-trigger. I wrote Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products to help others understand what is at the heart of habit-forming technology. The book highlights common patterns I observed in my career in the video gaming and online advertising industries. While my model is generic enough for a broad explanation of habit formation, I’ll focus on applications in consumer Internet for this post. [b]Trigger[/b] The trigger is the actuator of a behavior—the spark plug in the engine. Triggers come in two types: external and internal. Habit-forming technologies start by alerting users with external triggers like an email, a link on a web site, or the app icon on a phone. By cycling continuously through successive desire engines, users begin to form associations with internal triggers, which become attached to existing behaviors and emotions. Soon users are internally triggered every time they feel a certain way. The internal trigger becomes part of their routine behavior and the habit is formed. For example, suppose Barbra, a young lady in Pennsylvania, happens to see a photo in her Facebook newsfeed taken by a family member from a rural part of the State. It’s a lovely photo and since she’s planning a trip there with her brother Johnny, the trigger intrigues her. [b]Action[/b] After the trigger comes the intended action. Here, companies leverage two pulleys of human behavior – motivation and ability. To increase the odds of a user taking the intended action, the behavior designer makes the action as easy as possible, while simultaneously boosting the user’s motivation. This phase of the Hook draws upon the art and science of usability design to ensure that the user acts the way the designer intends. Using the example of Barbra, with a click on the interesting picture in her newsfeed she’s taken to a website she’s never been to before called Pinterest. Once she’s done the intended action (in this case, clicking on the photo), she’s dazzled by what she sees next. [b][i][u]Variable Reward[/u][/i][/b] [b][i]What separates Hooks from a plain vanilla feedback loop is their ability to create wanting in the user. Feedback loops are all around us, but predictable ones don’t create desire. The predictable response of your fridge light turning on when you open the door doesn’t drive you to keep opening it again and again. However, add some variability to the mix—say a different treat magically appears in your fridge every time you open it—and voila, intrigue is created. You’ll be opening that door like a lab animal in a Skinner box. Variable schedules of reward are one of the most powerful tools that companies use to hook users. Research shows that levels of dopamine surge when the brain is expecting a reward. Introducing variability multiplies the effect, creating a frenzied hunting state, activating the parts associated with wanting and desire. Although classic examples include slot machines and lotteries, variable rewards are prevalent in habit-forming technologies as well.[/i][/b] When Barbra lands on Pinterest, not only does she see the image she intended to find, but she’s also served a multitude of other glittering objects. The images are associated with what she’s generally interested in – namely things to see during a trip to rural Pennsylvania – but there are some others that catch her eye also. The exciting juxtaposition of relevant and irrelevant, tantalizing and plain, beautiful and common sets her brain’s dopamine system aflutter with the promise of reward. Now she’s spending more time on the site, hunting for the next wonderful thing to find. Before she knows it, she’s spent 45 minutes scrolling in search of her next hit. [b]Investment[/b] The last phase of the Hook is where the user is asked to do bit of work. This phase has two goals as far as the behavior engineer is concerned. The first is to increase the odds that the user will make another pass through the Hook when presented with the next trigger. Second, now that the user’s brain is swimming in dopamine from the anticipation of reward in the previous phase, it’s time to pay some bills. The investment generally comes in the form of asking the user to give some combination of time, data, effort, social capital or money. But unlike a sales funnel, which has a set endpoint, the investment phase isn’t about consumers opening up their wallets and moving on with their day. The investment implies an action that improves the service for the next go-around. Inviting friends, stating preferences, building virtual assets, and learning to use new features are all commitments that improve the service for the user. These investments can be leveraged to make the trigger more engaging, the action easier, and the reward more exciting with every pass through the Hook. As Barbra enjoys endlessly scrolling the Pinterest cornucopia, she builds a desire to keep the things that delight her. By collecting items, she’ll be giving the site data about her preferences. Soon she will follow, pin, re-pin, and make other investments, which serve to increase her ties to the site and prime her for future loops through the Hook. [b]Super Power[/b] A reader recently wrote to me, “If it can’t be used for evil, it’s not a super power.” He’s right. And under this definition, habit design is indeed a super power. If used for good, habits can enhance people’s lives with entertaining and even healthful routines. If used to exploit, habits can turn into wasteful addictions. But, like it or not, habit-forming technology is already here. The fact that we have greater access to the web through our various devices also gives companies greater access to us. As companies combine this greater access with the ability to collect and process our data at higher speeds than ever before, we’re faced with a future where everything becomes more addictive. This trinity of access, data, and speed creates new opportunities for habit-forming technologies to hook users. Companies need to know how to harness the power of Hooks to improve peoples’ lives, while consumers need to understand the mechanics of behavior engineering to protect themselves from unwanted manipulation. What do you think? Hooks are all around us. Where do you see them manufacturing desire in your life? [b]Here’s the gist:[/b] The degree to which a company can utilize habit-forming technologies will increasingly decide which products and services succeed or fail. Habit-forming technology creates associations with “internal triggers” which cue users without the need for marketing, messaging or other external stimuli. Creating associations with internal triggers comes from building the four components of a “Hook” — a trigger, action, variable reward, and investment. Consumers must understand how habit-forming technology works to prevent unwanted manipulation while still enjoying the benefits of these innovations. Companies must understand the mechanics of habit-formation to increase engagement with their products and services and ultimately help users create beneficial routines. [/quote]