I more meant it in a light hearted sense
I understood it that way. Even if there are games that are designed with attributes like player retention in mind. Which is a fancy way of saying, how addicitive something is.
but I see where you're coming from.
Uhm, ... I was butting in the sub thread where it seemed to be about real addiction, and tried to convey, that this thread is not actually about real addiction, but the thing one would only figuratively call addictive ;-)
While games, especially rpg, are not linear, this chain of satisfaction, for lack of a better term, is basically what you would see in a well written book. You want to read the next chapter. If you put in too many distractions, interludes, boring things and so on, readers might get bored and would see it as a chore and not a recreational activity anymore.
In a point & click puzzle adventure, this point would be, when players just give up and either play by reading a walkthrough, or just deinstall the game and move on.
For a rpg you have much more wiggle room, because they are usually very non linear.