People who fall into traps usually have two motivations. One is the economic motivation, which is a rational motivation—the desire to minimize financial losses. The other is the non-economic motivation: the desire to regain face and punish the opponent.
There are many such traps in life: For example, two deputy directors want to get promoted and compete by giving gifts. The gifts already given are sunk costs, which cannot be recovered unless you, as the deputy director, decide you don’t want to do it anymore. Another example is the game Zheng Tu (征途): this is a game that changed the landscape of online gaming. In an era where everything required clicking a card, it was permanently free to operate. When you try it for free for a while, you are quickly drawn into the game world. However, you gradually realize that if you don’t pay, you aren’t truly playing the game; you are being played by the game. Those “RMB players” (real-money players) who possess various luxurious equipment and high levels will crush you to the point where life is worse than death, making you feel your self-esteem has been completely trampled. So, in anger, you shout, “Isn’t it just RMB? I have it too!” and immediately purchase the full set of luxurious equipment, instantly leveling up, thereby completely defeating the previous humiliation and achieving a triumphant victory.
But is that all? Of course not. Once you feel satisfied, the person who defeated you becomes dissatisfied, and you both fall into the trap.
By making people crave the restoration of their face, the trap encourages them to spend money endlessly to regain that face. Ultimately, this achieves the goal of sending money to the company.