来源：《经济学人》
原文刊登日期：2022年1月1日
No business would welcome being compared to Big Tobacco or gambling. Yet that is what is happening to makers of video games. For years parents have complained that their offspring are “addicted” to their PlayStations and smartphones. Today, however, ever more doctors are using the term literally.
没有哪个企业会欢迎被比作大型烟草公司或博彩公司。然而，这正是发生在电子游戏制造商身上的事情。多年来，父母们经常抱怨他们的孩子“沉迷”于游戏机和智能手机。然而今天，越来越多的医生从字面上使用“沉迷”这个词。
On January 1st “gaming disorder”—in which games are played compulsively, despite causing harm—gains recognition from the World Health Organisation (WHO), as the newest edition of its diagnostic manual comes into force.
1月1日，随着世界卫生组织(WHO)的最新版诊断手册正式生效，世界卫生组织承认了“游戏障碍”，即尽管游戏会造成伤害，人们还是会强迫自己玩儿。
Western politicians worry publicly about some games’ similarity to gambling. Clinics are sprouting around the world, promising to cure patients of their habit in the same way they might cure them of an addiction to alcohol or cocaine.
西方政客公开表示担心某些游戏与赌博相似。世界各地的诊所正在兴起，承诺用治疗酒精或可卡因上瘾的方法来治疗患者的嗜好。
Are games really addictive? Psychologists are split. The case for the defence is that this is just another moral panic. Killjoys long ago issued similarly dire warnings about television, rock ’n’ roll, jazz, comic books, novels and even crossword puzzles. As the newest form of mass media, gaming is merely enduring its own time in the stocks before it eventually ceases to be controversial. Furthermore, defenders argue, the criteria used to diagnose gaming addiction are too loose. Obsessive gaming, they suggest, is as likely to be a symptom as a disorder in its own right.
游戏真的会上瘾吗？心理学家意见分歧。为游戏辩护的理由是，这只是另一种道德恐慌。早在很久以前，扫兴者就对电视、摇滚乐、爵士乐、漫画书、小说甚至填字游戏发出了类似的可怕警告。作为大众媒体的最新形式，游戏在最终停止争议之前，只不过是在刑台上度过一段时间。此外，辩护者认为，用于诊断游戏成瘾的标准过于宽松。他们认为，沉迷于游戏本身既可能是一种症状，也可能是一种疾病。
The prosecution retorts that, unlike rock bands or novelists, games developers have both the motive and the means to engineer their products to make them irresistible. The motive arises from a business-model shift. In the old days games were bought for a one-off, upfront cost. These days, many use a “freemium” model, in which the game is free and money is made from purchases of in-game goods. That ties playtime directly to revenue.
控方反驳说，与摇滚乐队或小说家不同，游戏开发商有动机和手段来设计他们的产品，使其令人无法抗拒。其动机源于商业模式的转变。在过去，玩家需要一次性预付购买游戏。如今，许多游戏都采用“免费增值”模式，即游戏是免费的，运营商通过玩家购买游戏内的商品来赚钱。这将游戏时间与运营商的收益直接联系在一起。
The means is a combination of psychological theory and data that helps games-makers maximise that playtime. Psychologists already know quite a lot about the sorts of things that animals, including humans, find rewarding. Smartphones and modern consoles use their permanent internet connections to funnel gameplay data back to developers. That allows products to be constantly fine-tuned and tweaked to boost spending. The industry is even beginning to use the jargon of the gambling business. The biggest spenders are known as “whales”—a term that originated in casinos.
这种手段结合了心理学理论和数据，有助于游戏制作商最大限度地利用游戏时间。心理学家已经对这类动物(包括人类)认为有益的事情有了相当多的了解。智能手机和现代游戏机使用永久的互联网连接将游戏数据反馈给开发商。这使得产品可以不断地进行微调，以刺激消费。这个行业甚至开始使用赌博行业的行话。花钱最多的人被称为“鲸鱼”——这个词起源于赌场。
While psychologists argue the finer points of what exactly counts as addiction, and whether gaming’s design tricks cross the line, the industry should recognise that, in the real world, it has a problem, and that problem is growing. Now that gaming addiction comes with an official WHO code, diagnoses will become more common. Clinics are already reporting booming business, as lockdowns have given gamers more time to spend with their hobby. The regulatory climate for tech is getting chillier. And being lumped in the public mind, fairly or not, with gambling and tobacco will not do the industry any favours.
虽然心理学家争论什么才是真正的上瘾，以及游戏的设计技巧是否越界，但游戏行业应该认识到，在现实世界中，这个行业存在问题，而且这个问题正在扩大。既然游戏成瘾有了世界卫生组织的官方代码，诊断将变得更加普遍。诊所的生意已经开始红火起来，因为封锁让玩家有更多时间玩自己的爱好。科技行业的监管环境正变得越来越不友好。无论公平与否，在公众心目中，与赌博和烟草混为一谈对游戏行业都没有任何好处。