Addiction by Design - UX and Dark Patterns
I’ve only recently come across this highly interesting book by anthropologist Natasha Dow Schull.
In recent years, there has been a significant shift away from traditional social gambling activities centered around roulette wheels and card tables toward a more solitary form of gambling at electronic terminals. The evolution of slot machines, enhanced by advancing digital and video technologies, has surpassed traditional casino games as the primary source of revenue for the gambling industry.
"Addiction by Design" delves into the fascinating realm of machine gambling, an increasingly popular and immersive form of entertainment that blurs the boundaries between human and machine, control and compulsion, and risk and reward.
Based on fifteen years of field research in Las Vegas, anthropologist Natasha Dow Schull explores how the rhythmic nature of electronic gambling draws players into a trance-like state known as the "machine zone." In this state, daily concerns, social obligations, and even bodily awareness fade away. Within the machine zone, gamblers, driven by addiction, play not to win but to prolong their playing experience, even at the expense of physical and economic exhaustion. Engaging in continuous machine play, these individuals seek to lose themselves, while the gambling industry strives for profit.
Schull unveils the strategic calculations behind game algorithms, machine ergonomics, casino architecture, and "ambience management." Additionally, she sheds light on player tracking and cash access systems, all meticulously designed to satisfy the market's demand for extended "time on device." The narrative extends from the casino floors to the everyday lives of gamblers, spanning gambling industry conventions, Gamblers Anonymous meetings, and regulatory debates regarding the origins of addiction to gambling machines—whether it stems from the consumer, the product, or the dynamic interaction between the two.
"Addiction by Design" serves as a thought-provoking exploration of the deepening connection between individuals and chance-driven machines, offering insights into broader contemporary anxieties and predicaments. Schull's account underscores the increasing ambiguity between design and experience, profit and loss, and control and compulsion in the intricate interplay between people and chance-based machines.