A brief examination of why we play video games and addictive tendencies that can arise from playing them.

Video games have become an incredibly large part of our culture in recent years, and for all those years they have received a lot of attention which unfortunately more often than not is negative where the mainstream media is concerned. They have painted a picture of how video games will corrupt children, much the same way television was demonised in its early years. Being an avid gamer myself I feel I can take a slightly more informed approach concerning the effects that video games can have on anyone, let alone children, and also see what positive effects can come from them.

                However, in order to be able to understand the benefits and drawbacks of playing video games we must understand why we play video games in the first place. Now you may be thinking it is obvious that we play video games for fun, and while I agree this is true at its most fundamental level, I believe we can look deeper than that. What exactly do games offer that make them fun to play? Shoshannah Tekofsky has taken this approach in her article on the theory of gaming motivation. She has broken gaming motivation down to 11 different psychological needs that are all grouped into 3 larger categories, believing the player will be looking to fulfil at least one of these when they sit down to play a video game.

This Venn diagram shows a visual representation of these needs arranged under their appropriate categories:

[http://thinkfeelplay.com.taz.kontrollpanelen.se/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Theory-of-Gaming-Motivation.png]

According to her Achievement, Recognition and Satisfaction are all basic needs that the player will be motivated to fulfil for the sense of reward they offer, in the article she offers more insight as to why this is the case. 

To quote Tekofsky directly on her reasoning behind each of the basic needs: 

                [On  Achievement]: "This is the most obvious pay-off of playing games. Beating a boss, levelling up, or creating a new weapon are all obviously “fun” for the sense of achievement they offer."

               [On Recognition]: "This is the good feeling you get from earning the regard of others. You always have to do something for that though. Either you help others by caring for them or cooperating, or you earn their admiration and respect by achieving something difficult."

                [On Satisfaction]: "This is what you feel when you successfully fulfil a basic psychological drive. That may sound abstract, but the idea is that there are some things you need to do no matter what. You feel bad if you do not do them, but you do not necessarily feel good for doing them. Think of dealing with negative emotions and caring for friends. It might not be “fun” to do, but doing it right is definitely satisfying. You see this in video games when players are “just killing time”, trying to    forget about bad feelings, or are simply enjoying the scenery of the game."

Whilst her reasoning behind each of these basic needs is sound, what I find interesting is her view on fun and relaxation, which I will again quote from the article: 

                "Achievement, Recognition and Satisfaction are the rewards we get from gaming. Sometimes we feel that it is “fun” to fulfil these needs. Sometimes it is “relaxing” to do so. Yet, within this model I propose that all sense of reward we get from gaming can be led back to a sense of Achievement, Recognition, and/or Satisfaction."

 

Here Tekofsky has apparently chosen to disregard the possibility that people might simply be playing video games as a means of relaxation or simply to have fun, instead trying to argue that both come about as a result of the desire to fulfil one of the three basic needs. Some may take this to mean that she believes we cannot simply be motivated to have fun or relax, and it would be understandable to do so given that her argument involves psychological urges that are subconscious to the average person unless they are actively introspecting while they play. I myself believe this is a fair argument to make, and provides us with an interesting if slightly controversial perspective on why we play video games.

                So to summarise, taking this perspective we believe that we are motivated to play video games due to basic psychological needs that are felt by everyone, and that through the fulfilment of these needs we experience the fun and relaxation that many associate with playing them.

Now that we've established an acceptable perspective on why it is we play video games, we can examine some broad aspects of the effects of doing so.

                As mentioned in the introduction, it is common knowledge that the media have demonised video games for as long as they have been around, with the target more often than not being violent video games that depict graphic amounts of gore, blood, swearing and adult themes that for example can be found in the Grand Theft Auto series, Gears of War and the Call of Duty games. Ever improving visual fidelity has not helped in this respect as it has allowed these violent aspects to become more realistic. This topic is so vastly complex and has been so widely studied that it would be very difficult to come to a conclusion on whether violent games do affect people or not, so I'll move onto another aspect of video gaming that doesn't rank quite as highly in terms of media exposure but is still a major issue that can arise from spending too much time playing video games, or simply falling victim to the enticing rewards that a game may offer.

                I am talking of course about addiction. Now it is true that anything you spend a lot of time doing has the potential to become a habit and eventually a dependency, but video games can have a certain appeal to some people, to the point that it can have severe detrimental effects on their day-to-day lives. One of the biggest genres of video games that suck people in are MMORPGS. These games are designed to keep players coming back for more, the dangling carrot is an excellent metaphor to sum up the methods used to achieve this, players will spend hours of their time performing mundane tasks purely because a reward or new ability will be unlocked when they make a certain amount of progress, for example a player might kill enemies over and over until they reach a certain level so that they unlock the ability to use a new weapon. The BBC ran an episode of the program Panorama that focused on video game addiction in 2010 that I found very eye opening, and slightly disturbing. An article on the BBC website entitle "Can video gaming cross from innocent fun to addiction?" discusses the content of the program. It mentions how psychological devices are used in some games to keep players wanting more:

                "...scientists discovered that rats which had been trained to feed themselves by pressing a lever would press it obsessively if the food was delivered randomly.

                "People have discovered that this works on humans as well. If you give people a lever or a button to press and give them random rewards, they will press it all the time," he [Adrian Hon, chief creative officer of SixToStart] said.

In computer games, instead of food, players are randomly rewarded with extra lives or extra in-game features. The idea is to create a compulsion loop that keeps them wanting to play on."

The thought that these methods are employed alone is worrying, but the article then briefly mentions two people who believe themselves to have been video game addicts:

"I wouldn't move from my bed. My controller would be at my side table, I would turn it on, play and then I would realise it was about three o clock in the afternoon. It could be up to a full 12 hours... or more … or overnight,"

The next person explains how his mother had noticed him spending the majority of his time playing World of Warcraft and decided to intervene by removing his internet access, going on to explain how he flew into 'an uncontrollable rage' after she had done so:

                "I put on a boot and I kicked a hole in my sister's door. I just smashed anything I could    see."

This paints a chilling picture of one of the possible results of playing video games for too long, and the fact that these games are effectively designed to encourage players to do so makes it all the more worrying. This is not however the only means by which a player may find them self  addicted to playing video games.

                Whilst some people may find themselves falling victim to the incentivised gameplay, others might be playing for a different reason. Escapism is an interesting possible reason for video game play, it requires context for us to be able to make a judgement on whether it is a good or bad thing. For example, when someone plays video games to relieve the stress of their everyday activities such as work, we can consider their escapism to be purely for relaxation and hence perfectly healthy. On the other hand if someone is playing video games to ignore their obligations and ultimately escape their day-to-day life then we can consider their escapism to be unhealthy. It is the latter group that will often find themselves becoming addicted to games, as is likely for anyone who uses an activity as refuge from what they perceive to be a world that they'd rather forget.

                In conclusion, we can see that the reasons we play video games are fundamentally wrought through the psychological urges to achieve, be recognised and gain self satisfaction. We can see that they underlie our basic urges to have fun and to relax. In addition we can see that seeking to fulfil these through the medium of video games can lead to addictive tendencies and that these can have negative effects on the players everyday life.

References:

-          Tekofsky, S. (2010) Theory of Gaming Motivation [Online] http://www.thinkfeelplay.com/theory-of-gaming-motivation/ [Accessed: unknown]

-          Rowe, R. (2010) Can video gaming cross from innocent to addiction? [Online] http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9251000/9251687.stm [Accessed: unknown]

-          Gonzalez, L. (2008) A history of video game controversy [Online] http://uk.gamespot.com/features/when-two-tribes-go-to-war-a-history-of-video-game-controversy-6090892/ [Accessed: unknown]

-          Ellis-Christensen, T. (2003-12) What is Escapism [Online] http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-escapism.htm [Accessed: unknown]

Further Reading:

-          Calleja, G. (2010) Digital Games and Escapism [Online] http://gac.sagepub.com/content/5/4/335.short [Accessed: unknown]

-          Vorderer, P. and Bryant, J. (2006) Playing video games: motives, responses, and consequences [publisher unknown]