I assumed we all know both of the above, and not really relevant. I was abbreviating.
Booking an acceptable
Genie+, ILL or a Boarding Group Pass triggers chemical reactions in our body. The the sake of brevity, I'm going to shorten "
acceptable Genie+, ILL or a Boarding Group Pass" to the much shorter
"G+." All 3 are examples of something called reward uncertainty.
The odd thing is, a big part of what we enjoy is the uncertainty. If we want a mammal to learn a skill, the most effective approach is a periodic reward.
WDW has added a new layer to park visits that is very akin to gambling or playing a game.
From the NIH study cited below:
Studies have shown that reward uncertainty rather than reward
per se, will magnify mesolimbic dopamine, both in monkeys and healthy human participants.
People often describe gambling as a pleasant activity rather than as an opportunity to gain money.
Chemical release is highest in [compulsive] gamblers when the odds of winning/losing are about 50%/50%.
According to Greg Costikyan, an award-winning game designer, games cannot hold our interest in the absence of uncertainty—which can take many forms, occurring in the outcome, the game's path, analytical complexity, perception, and so on.
Discussing the game of
Tic-Tac-Toe, Costikyan (p. 10) notes that this game is dull for anyone beyond a certain age because its solution is trivial. The reason why children play this game with enjoyment is that they do not understand that the game has an optimal strategy; for children, the game of
Tic-Tac-Toe produces an uncertain outcome.
A predictable game is dull, just like a detective novel for which the identity of the murderer is known in advance. Based on this assumption, Zack and Poulos (
2009) note that several payoff schedules (slot machines, roulette, and dice game of craps) have a probability of winning close to 50%, so that they are expected to elicit maximal DA release and, therefore, reinforce the act of gambling.
Individuals are playing to play rather than to win, and monetary wins are conceived as the opportunity to extend the duration of play, rather than the game's main objective.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
So this is what meant in line 2 of my previous post when I said G+ was like gambling. I hope that clarifies.