Compulsion loop

A compulsion loop or a core loop is a habitual, designed chain of activities that will be repeated to gain a neurochemical reward such as the release of dopamine. Compulsion loops are deliberately used in game design as an extrinsic motivation for players, but may also result from other activities that unintentionally create such loops.

Compulsion loops can be used as a replacement for game content, especially in grinding and freemium game experience models. The opposite of rewarding predicable, tedious and repetitive tasks are reward action contingency based systems, where players overcome game challenges with clear signals of progress.

Players perform an action, are rewarded, another possibility opens and the cycle repeats. The positive reinforcement effect can be strengthened by adding a variable ratio schedule, where each response has a chance of producing a reward. Another strategy is an avoidance schedule, where the players work to postpone a negative consequence.

It is hypothesized that OCD symptoms arise from a compulsion loop and an obsession loop.

Encouraging players to return to the game world can lead to video game addiction.Internet addiction disorder can also result from an compulsion loop created by users in checking email, websites, and social media to see the results of their actions.

...
Wikipedia