A study reveals the most addictive games, and the first risk of really surprising you.
After more than 40 years of existence, video games still suffer from a pejorative reputation, the general public deeming them too violent, but above all addictive and forcing the isolation of those who play them. Yet many of these myths have been relegated to mere prejudice, except in some cases where addiction takes precedence over pleasure, as with everything in this world.
The most addictive game is….
A study has therefore looked into the addictive potential of current video games and the result that emerged is surprising. We owe this observation to the Private Rehab Clinic, Delamere, located in the United Kingdom. Regarding its methodology, the clinic used the Metacritic site, which lists all video games as well as player reviews. By searching all the comments, she managed to isolate all the times where the word “addictive” was written. From this data, it has established a ranking of the games most likely to make you addicted. Here are the top 20:
- Rocket League
- Littlewood
- Demigod
- Stardew Valley
- League of Legends
- frostpunk
- Path of Exile
- My Time At Portia
- Fortnite
- PlanetSide 2
- Tom Clancy Rainbow Six: Siege
- Dota 2
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Fallout 3
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Call of Duty Black Ops III
- Smith
- The Sims 4
- Rust
We find in the very first place of this ranking the car game Rocket League, particularly present on the professional scene but also in the field of livestreams. Equally popular games, or even more, are found a little further down the list. We think in particular of League of Legends which is in 5th position, or even Fortnite who is 9th.
One sample only
If these results surprise you, it should be remembered that the study does not strictly speaking have a scientific scope. Indeed, the clinic only used a sample of 50 games to form its opinion on the question of addiction, even though thousands exist. It was also based on a single review site, while knowing that the presence of a word is in no way a tangible or irrevocable factor in the potential addictive nature of a game, especially when we know that there is many ways to express being addicted to a specific license.
We also do not talk about the fact that the use of the word addiction very often leaves its recognized pathological context when it is found on sites open to all audiences. These abuses of language can therefore have a great influence on the final result of the study.
Martin Preston, founder and managing director of the clinic explains that “one of the most addictive features of games is that many of them don’t have a predefined ending, which is more common in MMORPG games. This means that the player does not get to a point where they have ‘completed’ each challenge or task, which brings the game to a natural end and allows them to move on.”
It is therefore normal to find service games, such as Rocket League or Fortnite, or even management games in this genre rank more than any classic action-adventure game. And you, what are the games that made you the most addicted?
