Final Skinner Box 14

[Urthdigger]

Yes I believe you posted the exact same thing in the other thread similar to this, but the point of this thread is not to shed light on what skinner boxes can do FOR MMOs, it's about how this game in specific is exploiting them to derail the game from having content with any valid depth and reward system.

Skinner boxes aren't vital to teaching a player on how to play a game and that is a mistaken notion. If you watched the video that hulan posted it's intrinsic in a skinner box that it baits you into repeating an action not because it benefits YOU the person but usually the maker or developer in this case.

Learning how to surpass content does not go hand in hand with me killing ifrit 70+ times and getting nothing.

This thread is meant to focus on what is bad about skinner boxes in this game and how they are hurting it. Rather than discuss that it feels as if you deride them then lift them up just to spite the nature of this thread. Very odd.

I have seen that video before. I've also taken psychology classes. My point is that you're using the term wrong. Killing Ifrit 70+ times and getting nothing is NOT an example of a skinner box. It's an example of something that BENEFITS from prior conditioning.

If the game was nothing but Ifrit, would you feel the need to keep repeating it for gear? Because of the drastically low rate of rewards, events like Ifrit actually do a very poor job of reinforcing behavior... if they even reinforce it at all.

I am not trying to say that events like Ifrit are good. I agree that things like Ifrit should be changed. I'm objecting to the term you are using.

[Ventus]

I have seen that video before. I've also taken psychology classes. My point is that you're using the term wrong. Killing Ifrit 70+ times and getting nothing is NOT an example of a skinner box. It's an example of something that BENEFITS from prior conditioning.

If the game was nothing but Ifrit, would you feel the need to keep repeating it for gear? Because of the drastically low rate of rewards, events like Ifrit actually do a very poor job of reinforcing behavior... if they even reinforce it at all.

I am not trying to say that events like Ifrit are good. I agree that things like Ifrit should be changed. I'm objecting to the term you are using.

I've taken many psychology classes as well but I don't believe that is a precursor for mastering the knowledge around the skinner box because the term seems to be bended so frequently to whomever sees it fit. Besides tossing "Qualifications" in front of someone as an excuse for being right is a bit cheap.

I believe one of the main analogies used in the video was to that of a casino slot machine. We understand the odds are direly against us yet we continue to press on hoping for a reward since the odds are essentially random.

The reason doing ifrit 70+ times IS an example of a skinner box is because although most all players are aware the content rewards players very little and they may have exhausted all the fun and mastery they can out of it, they STILL attempt ifrit because they hope for that random chance to get a weapon. I'm not sure how we don't see eye to eye on this, but nonetheless it doesn't even seem to be what I'd mainly like to talk about anyways. We are just arguing definition and semantics.