Why are we addicted to games? (Image: Patrick George)
How do you design a hit video game? Psychologists are diagnosing what gets us addicted – a recipe for obsession that could hurt or heal us
IN APRIL, a landfill in New Mexico disgorged proof of a decades-old rumour.
The story goes back to 1983, when James Heller was given an unusual job. His bosses at video-game maker Atari wanted him to drive out to the desert with 750,000 copies of their latest game, and bury them there. Over decades the story acquired the status of urban legend, an illustration of the quality of the game in question, ET: The Extraterrestrial. Despite a $21 million outlay, Atari's expected blockbuster was an unmitigated flop, and was later dubbed "The worst game of all time".
Now consider Flappy Bird, a game that, despite having been created by a single developer ...
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