That some online games are addictive is no secret to anyone who has played a good one. They are the golf of electronic sports. The game designer Bill Roper, whose new project, Hellgate: London, is to be released next Wednesday, knows just why that is.“It’s because of the power of what psychologists call intermittent rewards,” Mr. Roper said here recently at the offices of Flagship Studios, where he is chief executive. “When you’re playing golf and you have that one great drive, you’re excited at the end of the round even if the other 17 holes were horrible. But it’s the feeling of that one perfect shot that keeps you coming back, and when you get home you can’t stop talking about that one shot. That’s the kind of feeling we want in Hellgate: London.”So, on Halloween, gamers will get to experience the fruits of the four years the Flagship team has spent refining its seductive “Just five more minutes” style of gameplay. That will inevitably lead to bleary eyes at 4 a.m., irate spouses and neglected schoolwork around the world. (The game is being released in 17 languages.)
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