Most Addictive Games

[Sarathos]

Hey all

The other day I was playing World in Conflict, I found it again and have been playing none stop. But apart from being a great game, I could stop playing it because I am hooked. The gameplay, the storyline, the battle it is still as great as when I first played it.

So I put the question out to the Arena, what is the most addictive games?
Btw, they don't have to be good, just endless amounts of fun.

[Martok]

In (approximate) descending order of addictiveness:

1.) Star Trek The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation
2.) Medieval Total War
3.) Shogun Total War
4.) Galactic Civilizations 2
5.) Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2


Objectively speaking, #1 and #5 maybe aren't that great a game overall, but they never come off my hard drive, either -- I can't stop playing them.

[YellowMelon]

I have probably played RTW more than any other game...

though I can't really tell.

I was also hugely addicted to Dark Age of Camelot before I shed myself of that mmorpg plague. Also Wolfenstein ET in sheer hours played...hmmm tough question...lol...If you combine every NHL game that might get up there ;)

[Crandaeolon]

Nethack, of course. I've been playing it for about 15 years now, and it's always found a place on every PC hard drive. I try to complete it once a year, playing it in bits and pieces whenever there's time to kill.

[Fragony]

I can never get enough of Thief. Screw Thief 3 by the way, Shadows of the metal age is the true succesor, made by fans for fans. I don't know how many times I finished them and the absolutily brilliant fan-missions.

[naut]

Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday - SO addictive!! Must not play as Soviets anymore, eyes burning! No must take England! :grrrrrrr:
Dawn of War + Expansions - Does get a bit boring every now and then.
World of Warcraft - For obvious reasons, but having other stuff to do means I don't get to play much.
Medieval: Total War - Mods! Mods I say!

[Ramses II CP]

1. Myth: The Fallen Lords
2. Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries

Been playing both of those for a long, long time.

[UltraWar]

Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday - SO addictive!! Must not play as Soviets anymore, eyes burning! No must take England! :grrrrrrr:

One day, I'll actually be able to start to mod the game.

[TevashSzat]

There are only two for me:

1) Diablo II LOD (I have tried to quit for so long, but I always end up playing again)
2) Starcraft Brood War (Very fun normal games as well as awesome custom maps)

[TinCow]

I guess the addictive nature is best judged on how many times I replayed the game. By that standard there are a few top contendors:

1) Civilization Series (Civ 1, 2, Alpha Centauri, 3, and 4) - I have put in massive amounts of hours on every single one of them. Easily the top time consuming game series for me.
2) Baldur's Gate Series. I've probably played both BG1 and BG2 half a dozen times each. Possibly more for BG2. I doubt I'm done with them either.
3) Q3F - The most time I've ever spent in any online game. This later transferred over to Desert Combat and BF2, but Q3F dominated my life for a good 3 years.
4) Ultima Online - Two years of my life vanished in this one. Also the main reason I stay away from MMOs now: I've experienced the time commitment required for them and don't have the ability (or desire) to do so again.

[Quirinus]

I'd say:

--Galactic Civilizations
--Rome: Total War

These two games I have played again and again and again. To a lesser extent, I also used to play with Jedi Outcast: Jedi Academy, Empire Earth and Warcraft III a lot.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

World in Conflict
Hearts of Iron II (been playing since release date, haven't stopped once)

[Ser Clegane]

One of the most addictive games for me was HOMM 3 - never experienced the "one-more-turn"-syndrome to such an extent.

Other games that I spent a lot of time with (and keep doing so every time I revisit them):
- BG2
- Civilization IV
- Fantasy General
- Tie Fighter
- M:TW

[frogbeastegg]

The PC suspects have been mentioned. I won't repeat.

I've found a couple of PSP games devastatingly addictive. The PSP as a platform has both benefits and weaknesses when it comes to addictive games. On the one hand you can take them anywhere, meaning there's no escape. On the other the battery dies after 5 hours. Saved!

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. Predominantly thanks to the item world and character system. If I buy this item and run through 10 floors of the item world I'll subdue a level 8 statistician, meaning I can move it to my amulet and merge it with my other statisticians for an extra 18% boost to the XP gained by the character wearing it. That will enable me to level my fighter up to level 12 much quicker, so I can transmigrate him to the more powerful 3rd rank of his class. That drops him back to level 1, so I'll then need to run through some levels to bump him back up to level 12, however he'll gain the levels far faster thanks to the fact he's more powerful. But wait! There's a level 9 statistician on that gun in the shop! If I buy that then I can run through the item world, subdue him, and move him to the amulet and bring the total experience gain up to 153% ...

It's endless. I'm now trying to level up my basic weaponry a bit. That entails finding and subduing 5 gladiators, moving them onto the weapon, then reaching and defeating the item general on floor 10. This gives the maximum stat boost. Once I've done that I want to get my 3 prinnies leveled up so I can transmigrate them into something useful. The plan is ninja, samurai, rune knight. Each prinny needs to gain another 7 levels, and finish 3 promotion exams in the dark assembly before the option opens up. Once they've swapped classes I'll have to level them back up so they're useful.

You begin to see how it goes?



Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. Combines RPG character growth with bejeweled puzzling, and allows you to train your own giant rat. Nuff said. There's going to be a sequel.

[Sarathos]

1) Civilization Series (Civ 1, 2, Alpha Centauri, 3, and 4) - I have put in massive amounts of hours on every single one of them. Easily the top time consuming game series for me.
2) Baldur's Gate Series. I've probably played both BG1 and BG2 half a dozen times each. Possibly more for BG2. I doubt I'm done with them either.

Definitely agree, but not so much Baldur's Gate...

[FesterShinetop]

Civilization IV:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Br1BWPWEdlQ

Best game "trailer" ever... and so true...

[Viking]

Played RTW pretty much six months non-stop. Of course, MMORPGS are also addicting.

But hey, the more rewarding a game is to play, the more addicting it is. So the more addicting, the better...within certain limits.

[placenik]

Tetris
Morhuhn

Fallout 1 and 2
Jagged Alliance 1 and 2

[Fragony]

Fallout 1 and 2
Jagged Alliance 1 and 2

Try Silent Storm you will love it

[spmetla]

Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday

I simply don't know how many times I'll be playing, look at the clock, and think I'll go to sleep after this "tech achievment, offensives, consolidation, etc" and two hours later only go to sleep because I'm having trouble staying awake.

[PBI]

I've got to put a vote in for the original 3 X:COM games.

They share the same fundamental mechanic that makes the TW games so great, the mix of tactical level and strategic level. These are the only other games I can think of that get the balance just right.

Plus, I got Apocalypse for a pound. Probably the best hours played/price payed ratio of any game I own.

[Ciaran]

I have to agree with placenik, Tetris is the most addictive game I´ve ever come across. Yes, there are games I´ve spent hours and hours playing for months, but after a couple of months I put them aside for a while. Not so with Tetris, that´s good for the relaxing few hours of playing anywhere, any time.

[Motep]

Not in any order:

Rome Total War
Medieval Total War
Conflict: Desert Storm 2
Dynasty warriors 5: Xtreme legends
Solitaire
Chess
...much more...

[Kekvit Irae]

Dungeons & Dragons.

As for the PC, Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 (plus expansion and fan-made patches).

[Martok]

Dungeons & Dragons.

I've not played in over 3 years now. Ever since I moved to Minneapolis, I've been unable to find a group to play with.

[Adrian II]

Games don't cause addiction, people do. Yeah yeah, laugh it off, but it's true.

Now bear with me.

I suppose that the reason why we all play games is that we all have a tendency toward addiction in the first place. I further suppose that the type of game we are addicted to reflects our personality. Thirdly, I suppose that the operative part of our personality is a profound desire to control our surroundings, something that is more easily achieved in fantasy worlds than in the real one.

Finally, I suppose that I'm talking out of my rear aperture and that someone else may have a far better explanation. In which case, let's hear it.

[Sarathos]

Games don't cause addiction, people do. Yeah yeah, laugh it off, but it's true.

Now bear with me.

I suppose that the reason why we all play games is that we all have a tendency toward addiction in the first place. I further suppose that the type of game we are addicted to reflects our personality. Thirdly, I suppose that the operative part of our personality is a profound desire to control our surroundings, something that is more easily achieved in fantasy worlds than in the real one.

Finally, I suppose that I'm talking out of my rear aperture and that someone else may have a far better explanation. In which case, let's hear it.

Your explanation is rather profound and has good evidence. But I don't think people cause addiction.

Humans don't have a tendancy towards addcition, they are just easily affected by it. The human mind is always on the search for stimulating material and once it does find something that fits its ideals, it really doesn't want to let go. The games that we are addicted to do reflect our personality, but more our ideals and fantasies. People are addcited to certain games because that game requries them to employ favoured skills such as logic or numerical skills. People who like maths are have a higher chance of liking puzzle games because it requries them to use their favoured skills thus growing the ability of that skill. Also people like games because they reflect fantasies of that person, FPS's and RPG's are classic examples. Many people love these genres because their can virtual live their fantasies and live the life of their dreams. Lastly, linking back to Adrian II's point about control of surrounds whilst adding me own point about virtual reailty. What person wouldn't love a game that allows them the chance to live their fantasies without modern day consequences? People play games to escape modern life, and what better where than to run around a whole city, driving a car (no matter your age) and shooter civillans without the fear of police. Now I'm not saying everyone would enjoy it, what I'm saying the that play the game because its not something they can norally do.