What do slot machines, video games, and smart plotting have in common?
In his blog SCIENCE LIFE, Rob Mitchum writes:
“…the immediacy of the reward [is] part of what [keeps] people at slot machines, making them so addictive. The quick turnaround between action and reward also allows people to get into a repetitious, uninterrupted behavior… Every feature,” he concludes, “the incessant noise, the flashing lights, the position of the rolls and the sound of the coins hitting the dish – is designed to hijack the parts of our brain designed for the pursuit of food and sex and turn it into a river of quarters.”
I grew up in Atlantic City. I’ve seen first hand just how gripping this give and take effect can be. I also grew up as a nerd among nerds, which brought me face to face with another, alarmingly similar, addiction. Video Games. David Wong, at Cracked.com:
[Subscription based video games] keep gamers subscribing…locking them into a repetitive slog using Skinner’s manipulative system of carefully scheduled rewards. [They are] addictive in exactly the same way a slot machine is addictive. You can’t quit now because the very next one could be a winner. Or the next. Or the next.
The evidence overwhelmingly supports the theory that we are reward whores. But that’s OK, because if you’re reading this, you’re probably a writer, which means that you have the opportunity to use this effect for the betterment of mankind. The mechanics of plotting are no different from that of slot machines or video games, except we can offer a 100% payout. Every scene in a book is an opportunity to implement the principles of give and take. We give our readers sympathetic protagonists and compelling stories, we take their time, fiscal, and emotional investments in return. So long as every scene rewards that investment, Cha-ching! they’ll keep coming back for more.
Damn you’re good and sooo right; this is why I keep coming back and reading; this is why I’ll be the first in line for that book of yours. I really enjoyed it. I could have read more if there were, lol. Thanks! That was good advice.
well, yes, but it all sounds a bit dangerous, if you ask me. I know you are with me on this, but, writers have this responsibility to get something right. y’know? Reward the reader with the truth…reward them by keeping the promise of the plot, as you say. I think it’s the give and take idea that throws me. Seems to be a system that should not be imposed on art. I don’t know. I have to think some more.
I agree, nothing should be imposed on art. But fiction should also be compelling, and this system is one way to compel a reader to continue reading. I think it’s one of those rules that can really be stretched to fit a lot of things. For example, if your prose is predominantly descriptive, then your give is your description…for me, it’s an information flow. I like to drip information in bits, hoping it’ll keep the reader wanting more.
Oh this is very interesting. Before I got to the end, I thought how you were going to hook this into writing, but you did it completely differently than I had assumed.
My thought was: You give and take through the ideas/pace of the plot. So… Your character has a problem, your character is in threat, your character is almost killed, wounded even, but at the last minute he survives, comes out on top – and for a moment, the reader is paid off with that joy even though they know the story isn’t over, and chances are, the character will fall under the blade again. And of course, he does, in one way or another, because you need conflict and resolution. The conflict is them risking their emotional investment in the story/character, and when the character comes out on top – their emotions win.
Unless you write a sad ending, I guess.
The effect you describe is similar to what’s called the psychology of the ‘near miss.’ This concept is exploited in casinos and video games – and I think in writing as well.