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Message: [QUOTE="UnDubious, post: 310906, member: 4030"] Personal investment makes sense to me. I'm not convinced narrative engagement is that significant when it comes to media in terms of dopamine releases, or at least comparable (outside of how personally invested it gets you in the game). If I get a dopamine release with every enemy I shoot or kill, and one with every plot twist or interesting development, then the frequency of the second could never come close to the first. I get that it's hard to actually measure these things in studies (not just how often dopamine is released, but how much) and it doesn't look like we have data this specific at this point (at a quick glance anyway). I get invested in stories but I've never felt that addicting feeling tied to storytelling in the same way, at least not anywhere near it. I've had moments after binging a great TV series for far too long where I just get tired mentally, but it took like 5 hour-long episodes in a day, whereas it could happen with an hour or two of playing certain action games that don't let up. Some genres are just inherently more addictive in design, including competitive online games that never end, casual games that reward you for every thing, roguelikes, etc., and in my experience story-driven games are generally some of the "least bad". Plus old-school turn-based dungeons are just not as dopaminurgic, even if there are some rewarding elements (leveling up, finding great equipment, progressing), because the gameplay is slower-paced and the rewards are more spaced out. Frequency of release has a lot to do with the total impact of dopamine. [/QUOTE]

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