I chose the slot machine mascot as a literal icon to satirize the downward spiral caused by digital addiction, the dealer for “all-things-gamified.” Quotes by Natasha Schull’s book, ‘Addiction by Design,’ spring up everywhere when it comes to the topic of gaming addiction. The book specifically dives deep into the highly detailed tactics used to keep gamers in modern Casino machine gambling fully hooked and like clockwork, in a perpetual state of “nothing.” The wide playbook of tactics in this book are lifted straight out, and applied into various aspects of today’s overall– problematic, addictive tech.
It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
Run a Google search on the strategies deployed by the billion dollar attention economy, you’ll most likely hit an assorted mixed bag of techniques that mimic casino machine gambling. Proof that addictive, attention sapping design, can simulate the glitz of the Las Vegas strip, vices and all, conveniently packaged in the palm of our hands. Well oiled capitalism, highly efficient machines, all systems laser focused on engagement, ad revenue unending; keeping users trapped and ultimately held there as it’s main goal.
