It seems that lately, for every five apps out there, 3 of them have in their description a "disclaimer" or "warning" about the game being highly addictive. The first time I noticed this was Doodle Jump, and it didn't bother me to see one or two other games along the line using it, but now it seems to be catching on way too fast, and is being put on way too many games lately. Does putting that "disclaimer" really boost sales that much? I don't see why it would, but people are strange, so who knows
I believe the developers of Doodle Jump posted somewhere saying that their sales really started to take off when they added the addiction warning, and like most things in the App Store as soon as someone heard that something was successful it got duplicated over and over and over and over...
I guess it sort of is like when a game boasts about being very addictive, I want to dislike it more since I'd rather have modest developers instead of braggart ones. Some sort of psychological thing. Either that, or my expectations increase into a skeptical sort, and I end up disliking what other wise might have been a solid game. I love Canabalt, but if it bragged about being addictive in it's title, I probably wouldn't find it all that great. Just my two cents anyway.
I sort of take it literally and so when it says 'Warning: Highly Addictive' I just think 'well, OK then, I won't buy it' and move on. They are trying to do some sort of physiological thing where a man says to a kid 'don't press that button' and kid is then curios of why he should not press the button and ends up pressing it just to find out what happens. For me it just puts me off the game.
and now it doesn't work anymore it looked okay on Doodle jump but on the other games it's just been blatantly copied
Well I think what developers who are copying them have failed to realize is that Doodle Jump is an amazing game and that's why people are buying it, not because they're looking for some kind of new addiction.
I do something similar... when I see that label I assume it basically means the game is highly repetitive. It seems like most games calling themselves addictive actually have quite shallow gameplay, but gameplay that goes on indefinitely like Doodle Jump or any game where you have to avoid objects for as long as possible. It's almost as though "Warning: Highly Addictive!" could translate directly to "There's not much to this game, but it goes on for aaaaages!".
It's just a little thing that will spark your attention. You'd probably go, ya right I doubt it but would try out the Lite anyway. Then again, same goes for Memory Card
You guys can make fun of those warnings all you want, but they're there for a reason. Trust me, if it wasn't for warning labels I would have drank my bottle of Windex ages ago. It looks delicious. Maybe when you guys are popping car stereos out of dashboards or B&E'ing homes just to make a quick buck to pay your energy bill, so you can charge up your device for your next fix, you'll take this stuff a little more seriously.
These are usually the same games that are "Easy to learn, hard to master!". It's just marketing bullshit, but apparently it works on some people. A note to devs: Putting marketing hype in your app title can leave your actual app name up for grabs. E.g. I just checked on iTunes Connect, and the app name "Doodle Jump" is free to be used by anyone. Apple might reject it, and I'm sure Lima Sky has the dough to protect the name, but devs with less clout might not.
Doodle Jump was deleted when I realised it was as addictive as a kick in the crotch. Honestly, it's boring. The best bit about it was the spring noise...
I don't think Doodle Jump is boring, it's fun when I don't feel like playing anything else or if I just have two minutes. but I don't play it nonstop..
I never really payed much attention to it, just kind of laughed. I've only seen Doodle Jump & geoSpark have that tag; but imo, I think both warrant the use of that tag, because they are rather entertaining.
feels like I've seen it on a lot of other games, but now that I'm trying to think of some I can't come up with any
