From my experience i can tell you it is way more addicting than seems from outside. It relies on the sense of progression and turns into attachment - for online mates, for your character, for some places ingame, for the climate, etc.
Especially when the unlocks are things that can have an attachment by the player, like a car or a weapon or clothes yk, like people will spend 50 hours in a racing game to unlock a Toyota supra than spend 3 hours on a generic car that’s faster. Or like you’ve referenced in the other comment: 💳
From my experience i can tell you it is way more addicting than seems from outside. It relies on the sense of progression and turns into attachment - for online mates, for your character, for some places ingame, for the climate, etc.
Especially when the unlocks are things that can have an attachment by the player, like a car or a weapon or clothes yk, like people will spend 50 hours in a racing game to unlock a Toyota supra than spend 3 hours on a generic car that’s faster. Or like you’ve referenced in the other comment: 💳