Bloodscript: Survival Game of the Reborn
He scrubbed a hand through his damp hair, drops of fog‑water flicking off his fingers.
“Back home,” he said, “I knew a guy who worked on mobile games. Free to play, pay to win, real soul‑sucking stuff. He used to joke that players weren’t *playing* the game; they were testing loops, feeding data to the system so it could get better at trapping them.”
“That’s not a comforting analogy,” I said.
“Wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “Point is—somebody had to build those loops. Design the traps. Decide what kind of fun hurt the right amount.”