Why do we love video games and why are we most addicted to the games that are the hardest to play?
Probably, everyone has had such moments when the game maddens the wildest, but you diligently continue to play it. For fans of Dark Souls or Cuphead, this feeling is definitely familiar. A couple of attempts turn into a hundred, and important matters become insignificant, because you need to dunk this bastard.
Once I was asked: “Why are you so mad, but keep playing?” Then I was able to give out a slurred sound of Chubaki and continued to play. When my face regained its natural pale shade, I really thought about it.
I went online with this question. To begin with, I decided to find out why we even play?
Why we love video games
Interesting fact: British scientists really exist and conduct interesting experiments. Researchers at King’s College London have pondered the nature of gaming. After all, usually, gamers start their journey from an early age and do not part with a gamepad all their lives.
The experiment involved 8 thousand 16-year-old twins. Among them there were both with the same genotype – complete and similar only by 50%. Scientists tested them for addiction to media content: news, movies, TV shows, games. It turned out that the “fat twins” watched the same TV shows, read the news and played games. The “incomplete” spent their leisure time in different ways. Both groups were in an almost identical environment, which leads to some thoughts.
It turns out that our addiction to video games is inherent in us genetically? Yes, but that’s not all. Scientists have come to the conclusion that 1/3 of our hobbies are determined by genetics, but 2/3 – by society. But the “paradox of freedom” plays a role here. In short: if you love strawberries, then you will deliberately buy ice cream only with this berry, ignoring other flavors.
Then the human factor comes into play. Usually, a student chooses a favorite subject because he is good at it. I learned a topic from physics, wrote the test perfectly and walks happily. Roughly speaking, when we win, the brain releases a reward hormone. For a student, this is a good grade, but for us – a dead boss.
Too hard
At the same time, difficult games are not eager to reward the player. For example, in Dark Souls, you can defeat a horde of undead and receive a two-story boss battle as a reward. Not very pleasant. But Dark Souls is well done in terms of game design and maintains a balance of complexity.
Here we go back to science again. Scientists, no matter which university, have done research on the complexity of games. They found out that if the game is too easy, then after 20 minutes the player will turn it off. If you make it too hardcore, it will break the gamepad. Either way, the result is the same – he won’t play it.
Dark Souls offers a mechanic that is easy to learn to play but hard to master. The player explores the world, chooses tactics and, for the most part, entertains himself. We just love to explore and adapt to something new and challenging. When we get what we want with blood and sweat, it brings us much more pleasure.
But it is worth remembering that what matters is real complexity, not artificial. For example, a developer can make a “hard mode” in which enemies become stronger and fatter. Or it can make opponents smart and unique so that the player looks for an approach to them. In the first case, the player himself complicates the passage for himself, and in the other, the game was originally conceived to be hardcore.
Social aspect
You may have heard about the phenomenon of conspicuous consumption. I think everyone has a friend who bought himself an iPhone X on credit and considers himself the king of the world. A person understands that he has a thing in his hands that not everyone can afford, and this flatters his pride.
The same happens when we play complex games. We understand that by defeating the boss, we will receive a valuable prize that the loser will not have. This childish desire to get the unavailable plays a big role. We are ready to fight hysterically, curse the game, the console, the cosmic pulsar hundreds of light years away from us, but keep playing.
Due to advances in technology and agronomy, we don’t have to waste time looking for food and hunting. Humanity has chosen a new object of consumption: information, ideas and concepts. We are so prone to the desire for rare objects that we simply ignore rational choice.
A real adventure
On my own I want to add one more aspect – the feeling of a real adventure. In most games, you are an invincible killing machine. Dark Souls shows the player that he is weak and vulnerable, just like in reality.
You will not be able to swing a sword or roll incessantly – you will get tired and you will be stabbed to death. Enemies are insidious, attack from behind and even with a “ball”. The game also does not lead us by the handle, and the player must discover all the information himself.
We love to challenge ourselves, gain new knowledge and indulge in a primal sense of adventure. We want to possess things that seem inaccessible to us. This force drives us in games and even in real life. After all, the desire to win is an excellent quality
