# Professor Adam Alter shares insights on how programmers design addictive digital feedback loops, from his book, "Irresistible"

1 Faculty News April 28, 2018 ![PC Magazine logo 192 x 144](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/pcmag192x144_0.jpg?itok=6gYiHeAd)>

Excerpt from [PCMag](https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/360715/tech-addiction-nation) -- "Let's say you're wondering whether a quest is more engaging if you're trying to save someone versus trying to find an artifact. So you run an A/B test releasing version A to five million people and version B to five million people. You measure different metrics, like how many people return to the mission more than once and how long they spend. If you discover version A works better, you go with the red code and put aside the yellow. And you keep doing that until you have the tenth, twentieth, or thirtieth generation of a game."

[Read more](https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/360715/tech-addiction-nation)