Thursday, November 20, 2014
The Traps of Gaming
I think by recognizing why and how video games are addictive, we can better avoid falling into their traps. Mobile devices are making casual gaming more popular and lucrative than ever. Even initially free game applications generate large revenues, especially for designers who know how to keep us playing. Games like Candy Crush are addictive because we have limited turns for a given amount of time. This encourages us to return in short bursts throughout the day, creating a habit. We may be so caught up that we start paying for extra turns. Once we realize this strategy, we can take a step back and look at the game for what it really is, rather than being clouded by how we feel while playing it. We can still enjoy these games, but should think critically about how they manipulate us; this usually makes it easier to limit our time spent playing.
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I don't think it's intrinsically evil to play video games, but we must recognize that the entire industry is built on consistent reuse of consumers. Their goal is to get us to continue playing. Whether or not their aims are entirely honorable is beside the point, we still get to choose whether we want to be a part of their system. Gaming only becomes a vice when we neglect other, more important things, to do it: but that at the end of the day is still on our heads.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Addiction is such a terrible thing that we shouldn't even get us into it at all in the first place. Once you are in there, it will be super hard to get back up again. Personally, I think the only good way is to not get into gamings at all to prevent all the possibilities in the future.
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