ABSTRACT
The Off-Ramp is part of the overall promise of the Session length. It promises the player that the game respects her time and that it will provide moments in the gameplay where it would be appropriate to put the game down and come back later. Energy has become a staple of service games, particularly on mobile. Games have long given players rewards, often of variable amounts, in return for a carrying out specific actions, whether those actions involve skill, as in an arcade game, or simply turning up, as in a resource-management game. Pottering in video games is the equivalent of the humorous sidekick in a Hollywood blockbuster who slows down the pace before the director ratchets it back up again. The game is rewarding players for turning up five days in a row with a lottery ticket that offers the chance of winning a large in-game prize.
