Compulsion loop

Besides demonstrating that animals would prefer positive rewards and thus learned to trigger the correct lever, B. F. Skinner found that the effects of random rewards and variable time between awards also became a factor towards how quickly the animals learned the rules of the positive reinforcement system.

From a neuroscience aspect, it is believed that the anticipation phase is where dopamine is created by the human brain, while it is released upon obtaining the reward.

[6][7] A core or compulsion loop is any repetitive gameplay cycle that is designed to keep the player engaged with the game.

[1] The compulsion loop can be strengthened by adding a variable ratio schedule, where each response has a chance of producing a reward.

Particularly for freemium titles, where players can opt to spend real-world money for in-game boosts, extinction is undesirable so the game is designed around a near-perpetual compulsion loop alongside frequent addition of new content.

Players take the role of a monster hunter, using a variety of weapons and armor to slay or trap the creatures.

By doing so, they gain monster parts and other loot that can be used to craft new weapons and equipment that is typically stronger than their previous gear.

This is aided by the random nature of the drops (a variable ratio), sometimes requiring players to repeat quests several times to get the right parts.

Loot boxes contain a fixed number of randomly chosen in-game items, with at least one guaranteed to be of a higher rarity than the others.