So it just occurred to me when I was rereading some Naruto and Yugioh (don't judge, the manga's not that bad lol) that these two are so popular because they attract us via one of our basic human needs - progression. Progression comes under the need to have...
... a sense of fulfillment and strength over other people. You know how in stories that the strongest person typically gets the girl and all that, and how in Naruto that Naruto's trying to become the strongest ninja in the village? The same applies to Yugioh GX, wherein the main protagonist is trying to become the best duelist. But in any case, the element of progression can also be applied to games. When we play games, we often play them to become better (League of Legends, World of Warcraft), make the best buildings (Minecraft, Terraria), make the best farms (Farmville, Minecraft), become the most powerful (Runescape), collect all the rare items or cards (Final Fantasy, Yugioh) or even to progress in the story in general (Bioshock, Final Fantasy, pretty much any game). A game without a sense of progression in any way, shape or form ultimately ends up meaningless and therefore boring. This is what addictiveness is - the desire to progress. If someone becomes addicted to a game, they're enjoying it and/or wanting to progress. There's a long element of Psychology that I could cover here, but for the sake of this post, I won't. If you're interested, let me know, or look up 'dopamine'.
Therefore, the general consensus is that people read books and play games in order to feel a sense of progression for themselves, the character they're playing and/or who they're reading about. This principle of progression may be helpful when deciding how to forward your game or write your story.
Until next time!~
Until next time!~