Is it the challenge? it customization? Storyline? What do you all think are the most addicting aspects of single player games and how does it influence you as a developer?
Simple, primal stuff actually. Punchy explosions and effects, lots of (CLEAR) visual feedback, tight controls, no complex menus or cutscenes if I die, just let me try again NOW, etc. These are my PRIMARY build targets when I think of how my next game will play.
Also, a progression system can sometimes add a lot of longevity to a game, as a player will psyche themselves up to earn the next gun/sword/level/pony (wait what) or what have you.
All games have that. That’s not important, it’s just polish.
What makes your game addictive is the core ‘hook’, this is usually something special. In skyrim, its shouts, collecting shouts. In MW3, it’s perks and persistent online stats.
The hook is your core gameplay x-factor, that special something that is compelling to play for. Once you have that you need to set about designing the game “cycle” or repetitive series of actions that work with the hook to give you that reward factor. Gameplay design is a whole field of study itself, and goes beyond “punchy explosions”.
I beg to differ. Remember, the OP is talking about addictiveness, not quality or uniqueness. Any core mechanic can work if it’s implemented well, and so I think implementation (punchiness, visual feedback, no long pauses) is more important that deciding on which mechanic your going to use. Given any mechanic what so ever, you can make it fun through the feedback, satisfaction and punchiness of the players actions.
There is only one thing…
loots.
And if a game is addicting, it’s most likely going to have great quality or uniqueness in some area, so if you can make a game addicting, you did something right.
And good loots is good. 
I have to agree with this, although implementation is also very important in my opinion.
You are literally saying that visuals are more important than a well contrived mechanic. I do not have anything more to say other than the polish should be there regardless and you’re advocating working arse backwards, which is never going to end well.
I think the physic can help to a 2d game and i don’t know what you say to this in 2d games the important issue is this if you do any work you can see a difference result and the game designer think to all of the ways of a game for example some times in some of 2d games when it have physic when i press a button late some thing happen and if i press the button some later another thing happen like limbo and happy wheels !!
And a 2dgame should be use simple objects !!
In a 3d game for example fps games if the game play get like movie get more addictable because the player think he is in middle of battlefield and some times we can add sound and image effects to show the importance of a level.
I think the main thing that cause I addict to COD games is the feature that say you every thing can destroyed and you are tiny soldier when a tower destroy and you are going to die under that or when you are on the helicopter that is get downfall !!
Whatever that makes the game stand out.
Borderlands 2: humor and randomized loot
Hitman games: Out in the open stealthing and great AI
Mark of the Ninja: Great stealth and AI and visual indicators of every sound made. Hell, you could play that game on mute and know what’s going on.
Online shooters: multiplayer.
Also, it needs a certain amount of polishing, i.e putting in things that are mainstream and expected for you by customers.
Foe example, Primal Carnage is a great take on the asymmetrical MP, but it lacked polish in game types, variety and modes. If it had that, it would’ve gotten a higher score
I agree with this…
Take a game, have repetitive actions that give you a special reward(ie more guns, more health, more RL prestige like leaderboards ), and you will play it more than a game that does the same with no special reward.
Note that I’m not talking about visuals alone, but the entire “feel” of how a mechanic works on an implementation level. Visuals are important, but so are tight controls, clear feedback, (which many games do NOT have) sound design, among other things. The I still stand by my opinion that you can literally take any mechanic and make it fun if it is implemented in a stimulating, pickup-and-play, understandable way.
Take fruit ninja. I bet that if someone told you they made a game about cutting fruit you would instantly think, “I bet it’s boring and sucks!” But then you play it, and realise that because the game “feels” so tight, punchy, and vibrant, it “forgives” the simple mechanic and you love it anyway.
I’m sure that thinking through your mechanics helps with a lot of things, but I’m also sure that you make a game seriously addictive through the visuals, sound, and control timing alone.
I think addiction is about not being able/allowed to get what you want, but wanting to try anyway. It’s really a form of insanity.
When I think of what games I’ve felt addicted to, games I want to keep playing, it isn’t necessarily games which build in longevity or that are long games with lots of content, it’s games that dangle a carrot but always keep you from totally being able to get to the carrot.
One example of this is Jetpack Joyride, and many other infinite autoscroller games, e.g. Tiny Wings… there really is no end to the game, and it relies heavily on your own skill and ability. It makes you want to have one more try. Also in this boat I’d put games which increasingly get harder and harder with more and more enemies until you succumb. What happens here is there really is no end in sight, yet you get a sense that something even bigger and more challenging lie ahead. Couple this with FAIR gameplay, ie you must really really know that if you failed it was because of something you did yourself, your own failure or error, and not that the game did something overpowering to stop you. Then you know you made the mistake and then you believe you can do better, so you go at it again, determined to put on an even better performance and get even further.
Another element of this is guilt. Guilt compels and motivates. If you love potato chips AND you feel guilty for eating them, the guilt will drive you nuts with desire for more. The guilt says you are not allowed, you can't have it, you mustn't… which in actual fact is saying subconsciously “you want these really bad, they’re so special, you adore them” and then you know that you want them anyway, and then that makes you even more guilty … vicious circle. However, if you LET yourself have the chips WITHOUT guilt, and you go buy yourself 100 bags of them, you are so permitted guilt-free to totally indulge that you find your desire to eat them massively reduced. It is the denial and guilt surrounding what you want, or rather, being kept from what you want, that creates a strong magnetic attraction to want them even more. So when a game dangles a carrot just out of reach and makes you want to get there, like to get further in Tiny Wings, or to survive for longer in Jetpack Joyride, you can’t actually obtain the goal (because there isn’t one) yet the game suggests there is one, so you keep searching for it, and when you’re denied it - if you’re aware that the error/guilt is within yourself, then you want it even more.
I had a period of time where I became addicted to trying to compress image data. I wrote many many algorithms and I kept thinking I would be able to find some way to get those image files to shrink even more. I really didn’t make much progress but I had a really strong desire to achieve something. The problem is, something like image compression is just like the endless scrolling game - there really is no known final goal, there is no exact place where you think the challenge will stop, so maybe if you just try a bit harder you’ll get a little bit further and make that much more progress… and who knows, maybe you’ll find something that nobody has reached before, etc. Because image compression is a tuff challenge and has its limits, yet you know you’re still left with lots of bytes that surely have more potential, you just keep on going, chopping away at it hoping to be just a little better than last time, or even a lot better. It’s very addictive. After a while it became quite self destructive and I had to quit the whole endeavor, because addiction can turn into obsession.
I think there are some moral issues surrounding making games addictive because I think people know that addiction really isn’t healthy, it is a form of insanity telling you you something is impossible, yet you insist it is possible and that you have what it takes to make it possible. Some addiction we allow to be okay, like it’s okay to hurt a little bit, but it CAN go quite far and then it really starts to stand out as the insane ego drive that it is… and then of course games that try to turn people into addicts are criticized for it. Games are, after all, games that we play with ourselves as a form of escape and avoidance and fantasy.
Also just to follow up on what was just said… yes, instant gratification is a big part of it, when you eat those potato chips you’re like oh god i love these. Look at most mobile games, fruit ninja for example, instant feedback and gratification.
The ego has a mantra “seek and do not find” … it wants to compel you to seek out some fictional possibility which is impossible to achieve… that’s how it distracts you and addicts you, and so long as it makes it very hard but not impossible, you’ll KNOW there must be a way somehow because you sense there is a slight opening somewhere in the armor of denial, so you keep stubbornly seeking it out until you break through to the next level of depth. And so it goes.
Getting away from the mechanics discussion, this gets my attention, on two levels.
First, I agree with ExtraCreditz that ‘Game Addiction’ is the wrong term entirely; it should be ‘Game Compulsion’. I know of no video game that can alter brain chemistry to the point where you are compelled at a chemical level to keep playing. The tricks mentioned are psychological, not physiological.
Second, I agree - with imaginaryhuman - that the ethical considerations should be most important. Whether you choose to call it addiction or compulsion, there’s a degree where our well-contrived game mechanics cease to be a positive distraction. Playing a game for a few more minutes might have relatively little impact on our players; playing a game for a few more hours might lead to social issues for our players, depending on circumstance.
I think that, while compelling our players to play is important to make sure that our game remains played, and creates a desire for more of our creations, let’s also be careful of that. If it becomes clear our product is so compelling that it’s causing real-life issues (e.g. the numerous videos and tales of relationships being shattered by World of Warcraft), we may want to rethink our mechanics some.
A game does not have ethics; it is a construct. A business does not have ethics; it is an organization composed of individuals. An individual, however, has ethics. Ethics guide us to make choices that are positive for the self and the greater society. While at first, we may not see a particular mechanic or construct as harmful, when we become aware of it, I believe we have the ethical responsibility to scale it back, and encourage the player to do other things that allow them to function in society.
While I apologize on the long post - and I recognize that game compulsion is not the problem that the mass media would have us believe it is - as designers, we can’t deny that it does occur, and that we too function in society. It may not be explicitly written in the job description, but I see our job responsibility is making sure that we create enjoyable experiences, not damaging ones.
So…back to mechanics, aye?
I didn’t realize we were talking about negative, actual addition, not fun gameplay. Addition is gratification of the senses or the person’s innate self, which is ok, until it starts interfering with everyday life and personal happiness. And personal happiness is subjective. I know people who don’t care about eh social impact gaming has.
I could say I have an addition to gaming, where I get upset not playing for a while. However, it is not a chemical addition like drugs where the body starts to depend on it more than the natural chemical being made, ie dopamine. Also, I’m still social(having a fiance is pretty social if you ask me), hang with friends and family, and go to work. My free time is almost devoted to gaming and I’m happy about that.
Really, I think people who blame their additions on things that cannot take you over like drugs and cigarettes, are just complainers who want an excuse for their bad behavior.
I have been playing alot of ski safaria for the iphone. They have things that keep you motivated challenge you long term (get those achievements to unlock higher score multiplers - or a starting animal or change your starting location). Then when you are playing the game they have a risk-reward mechanic, are you going to play safe and only get 1 backflip or go for 2 or 3. You need to be rewarding the player short-term and long term but the only way they will keep playing at all is if the game is any good (so polish is needed).
The sensation of ‘almost there’… But ‘there’ may never materialize. The same for tv shows, movies, sports ,etc and etc…
for me every aspect is addicting,but what the most probably customization story and good gameplay of course
Along the moral/ethical/social lines, which I’m sure this thread was not supposed to be about 
… you may also observe that pretty much any company selling a product aims to pile on more and more appeal so that you will purchase and stay with their product. They are fighting for allegiance against the competition. As a result we all get bombarded with more and more convincing illusions which more cleverly and fully engage our personal insanity, such as addiction and so on. These companies are literally playing with and trying to manipulate aspects of what makes us human and use it to their advantage. And the people go along with it. And where is that heading exactly? How much is enough? That’s not progress.
That aside… simple gameplay addiction, for me is a game that’s quite hard/challenging, has very fast responsive expressive controls, moves quite quickly, increases the pressure and intensity, requires skill and dexterity and timing and mastery over the control system, and provides good feedback.
Fair point. 
But, I don’t think one can talk about addiction without talking about the risks at least once.
I’ll stop there, though.
For me, it’s all about deep gameplay - one way to play the game typically dosen’t cut it for me. That’s what I loved about World of Warcraft for so long; Priest didn’t always mean healer!