6. Perfect Contingency: From Control to Compulsion

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Table of Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. Note on Informant Anonymity xiii
5. Introduction: Mapping the Machine Zone 1
6. Part One: Design
7. The Defibrillator Experiment 30
8. 1. Interior Design for Interior States: Architecture, Ambience, and Affect 35
9. 2. Engineering Experience: The Productive Economy of Player-Centric Design 52
10. 3. Programming Chance: The Calculation of Enchantment 76
11. Part Two: Feedback
12. The Rat People 102
13. 4. Matching the Market: Innovation, Intensification, Habituation 107
14. 5. Live Data: Tracking Players, Guiding Play 137
15. 6. Perfect Contingency: From Control to Compulsion 166
16. Part Three: Addiction
17. Convenience Gambling 184
18. 7. Gambled Away: Liquidating Life 189
19. 8. Overdrive: Chasing Loss, Playing to Extinction 210
20. Part Four: Adjustment
21. Terry's Machines 236
22. 9. Balancing Acts: The Double Bind of Therapeutics 239
23. 10. Fix upon Fix: Recipes for Regulating Risk 257
24. Conclusion: Raising the Stakes 290
25. Notes 311
26. References 385
27. Index 425