From slot machines to Candy Crush and loot boxes, near-misses turn frustrating losses into a powerful urge to keep playing longer.
Every slot machine is built around a failure engineered to feel like an achievement.
Two cherries and a lemon.
The reel that stops one position short.
It is a loss, and yet it does something to a player that a clean loss does not.
B.F.
Why your brain keeps making the same decisions – even when better options exist
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