《糖果傳奇》：成癮、賭博與新自由主義金融化世界

Candy Crush: Addiction, Gambling and the Neoliberal Financialized World

《糖果傳奇》可說是有史以來最成功的遊戲之一。遊戲玩法很簡單，玩家需將隨機出現的糖果配對消去，但遊戲卻是以令人無法自拔聞名。許多評論者已指出《糖果傳奇》完美運用了數位角子機開發的心理操縱技巧，但我們應超越單純義憤，而是將心理操控的興起視為資本主義晚近之特定傾向，而本文主張那正是在新自由主義解除管制的大方針下被許可、甚至鼓勵的方向，也就是全力發展可預測並可控制未來的各式科技與商業模式。為了展示此特定新自由主義傾向，本文將探索金融投機之文化史以及成習科技的原理與概念，是如何創造了當代無所不在的行為成癮的大環境。本文將據以重新審視《糖果傳奇》的成癮體驗，並以阿多諾與班雅明的批判理論思考行為成癮的社會意義。最後，本文將探索班雅明的賭博理論與歷史哲學，以思考跳脫人為預測與控制的天羅地網之可能性。

Candy Crush Saga is one of the most successful games of all time. With the simple premise of matching random candies, the game is nevertheless notoriously addictive. Critics have revealed how Candy Crush owes its success to the psychological techniques developed by the slot machine industry since the mid-1990s. To go beyond moral indignation, we need to see its rise as a recent development of capitalism, which, the essay argues, is shaped by the desire to develop technologies and business models that predict and control the future under the neoliberal aegis of deregulation. To illustrate the particular neoliberal tendency, the essay will explore the cultural history of financial speculation and the program of habit-forming technology, which together have created the contemporary context of ubiquitous addiction. I will then reconsider the addictive experiences of Candy Crush Saga along with Adorno and Benjamin. Finally, the essay will explore Benjamin’s theory of gambling, which also inspires his redemptive philosophy of history, to understand how his thinking can potentially help us break out of the chain of artificial prediction and control.