Issue 27 - Despite All Our Games...

[The Escapist Staff]

Shannon Drake"Games are addictive for the same reason anything pleasurable is addictive: Our brains give us little pats of wonderful chemicals when we do enjoyable things. Sometimes the wiring wins." Shannon Drake looks at some of the reasoning behind gaming addiction.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: andy

ii thought this was common sense knowledge, so this is a nice intro paragraph. but you stopped before you really said anything.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: wormeyman
http://wormeyman.com
Had to get you're 700+ words in? ( i count 755) good article but it was way to long and to poetic i really would have liked more content it seemed like the articles i wrote in highschool where i took one idea and stretched it over 2 pages. I can't claim to be a good writer but i'm just saying that you did a good job but it was too long IMO.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Grimfist

I enjoyed your article. I lost myself in Star Wars Galaxies for about 8 months or so. At first it was new and exciting, my first time in a true MMORPG. After I mastered my elite profession I became obsessed with gaining riches (credits) by planting harvesters and selling the resources at my shop. I did quite well, but I became someone else.
My work lacked. Yes I have a full time job. I became irritable when I was not in-game. I was less a husband to my wife and a short tempered father to my kids. I understand this is a gamer problem, I recognized my own problem. My drive for the game overtook my drive for everyday life.
I am finally over SWG, and all it took was a three day vacation to the local mountains. I came home fresh minded, and had no desire to jump back into the endless quest for whatever.
, I have tried Everquest II since. I blame my friends for that one, but the endless grinding, the constant need for others to help you kill the uber monster finally killed that desire.
I now prefer games with a beginning and an end. There is more variety that way. How many games passed me by when I was lost in SWG? Countless.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: genysis
http://genysis80.typepad.com/axisiv
As a graduate student in psychology and an avid WoW gamer, I found this article to be very well written in describing how operant conditioning pertains to the addiction of online role playing games. That is essentially the mechanism behind these games and I think you're right, for some people it gets to a point when it stops being enjoyable and "science takes over."

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Tom

Loved the way you put a full-page spread ad for an MMO in the middle of an article comparing MMO players' behaviour to Skinner's rats.

Interesting content, but I agree with wormeyman- feels like someone had a word count to work to...

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Doug Inman

Great article. Describing escapism in games as 'negative reinforcement' was a great link to make - its a good leap of logic, and proberbly deserves some serious attention.

Anyhow, I absolutely disagree with those who said the article was too stretched out - it was meticulous, setting down the scientific principles before drawing conclusions, and the narriative was written in a near-cynical tone that I very much liked. It's also nice to see that someone bothered to provide a decent link for their information from a reputable source (a university), even if it was only the one. Can you take this further? Where would you go? I'd love to see a follow up on this piece.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Faedrus

You sir, are a brilliant writer, and by no means dserve some of the criticisms you have recieved in this forum. While some gamers may deem reading and digesting good writing a waste of time, I do not. As an avid World of Warcraft gamer, I found your article more than amusing.

Comparing myself to a rat has been a quite pleasurable experience, strangely enough. There is no negative connotation, for me, for such a simple and innocent state of being as a rat. They have no complicated personal lives to keep them from enjoying their simple lever pushing. There is no inevitable human drama for them, as there is for us.

One question this article sparks for me is whether it is the reward for pushing the lever I love, or the pushing itself. I do not play World of Warcraft for storyline or great gameplay, as it lacks both those things. I play it for the rush of killing people I have never met before, over and over. I play it for talking to people who have never been, nor will ever be affected by the silly things and people that affect my life.