Remember being a teen and your parents yelling that it was time for dinner? You probably shouted back, “Just one more game!” Even as an adult, you’ve likely felt that same pull at some point or another, preventing you from doing pressing responsibilities.
We get sucked into another round, feel the urge to pursue another level, and experience a sense of satisfaction that we don’t find in many other parts of daily life. Before we know it, hours have passed and night has fallen. But have you ever wondered what it is about certain video games that captivates such a massive audience?
What’s the Psychology Behind Game Addiction?
Game addiction shares similarities to other addictions, particularly in how it triggers the brain’s reward system. Every time someone plays a game and achieves something, whether completing all the side missions of GTA V, winning at Crazy Balls, or even just unlocking a new reward or leveling up in a game, it provides a dose of dopamine, the feel-good chemical in our brain that reinforces satisfaction and pleasure. We might actively enjoy the feel or subconsciously seek it, but either way, we become fully motivated to continue chasing that reward.
The positive side to game addiction, despite the stigma attached to the word “addiction,” is that there’s no chemical dependency, and the social and creative aspects to the gameplay promote cognitive stimulation, teamwork, and personal expression.
Variable Rewards
Many games incorporate two types of components: the predictable and unpredictable. The predictable provides structure and consistency, while the unpredictable keeps them on their toes, introducing the important elements of anticipation and excitement. Variable rewards are a good example of the unpredictable, providing intermittent reinforcement. For instance, when you kill a certain monster in an RPG, it typically drops different types of loot every time, with some items being rarer than others. Players continue to kill these monsters because they never know when they’ll come across something exceptionally valuable and get that satisfaction again.
Achievement Systems
If you worked at a company for years and never got any recognition for your tenure and hard work, your morale and motivation would likely suffer. The same principle applies to games, where recognition matters.
Compare the game Flower to a game like The Last of Us. In Flower, players guide the wind wherever they want to go as a flower petal, so they can explore different environments and experience an escape. With no goals to achieve, the game is purely about finding peace and quiet. In contrast, The Last of Us is full of achievement systems, both with external rewards like trophies, collectibles, in-game upgrades, and progressing within the storyline.
Many gamers would ultimately lose interest in Flower or just use it as a relaxation tool. Yet with The Last of Us, it’s a much more complex title that keeps players coming back.
Gameplay Loops
Addictive games, in particular, rely on gameplay loops. These loops are a set of actions and rewards that repeat in an endless cycle, making up the core of the game and giving it its rhythm. The most successful games use this loop to their advantage, injecting challenge, progress, and reward in equal parts. For example, the player might solve a puzzle, receive some form of reward, and use the reward to enhance their character. The concept then repeats itself throughout the game.
It’s another psychological tool that provides predictability and taps into our inherent itch for progress. Every action then has a payoff, regardless of how significant it is.
Streaks
Streaks are another common mechanic in video games, where consistency is rewarded with prizes or recognition. Unsurprisingly, this feature is directly linked to another psychological principle called loss aversion. It’s like how we’re more fearful of losing access to a coupon than motivated to purchase an item, or how losing $100 feels significantly worse than gaining $100 feels good.
In the gaming world, this concept is capitalized on most by mobile games and apps. Players are motivated to build up streaks by logging in for a few days straight or winning several matches in a row—all to avoid losing progress and wasting what they’ve worked so hard to build. A game might reward them with more lucrative rewards the longer they maintain consistency, like the gamified language learning app, Duolingo. When they keep up with their habits, they receive badges or XP to climb the leaderboard.
Procedurally Generated Content
A well-developed concept in the gaming world is procedurally generated content, a system in which encounters with NPCs, maps, levels, and worlds build themselves as you go. That means you never know what to expect, and you’re constantly exploring new environments whenever you play.
While games in the 1980s and 1990s already used procedural generation, they were by no means as advanced as they are today. Indie games use it as an easy way to provide replayability while minimizing development costs, with games like No Man’s Sky generating entire universes and Dead Cells for enemy combat. Games that use procedural generation benefit from endless variety and a lower risk of players eventually losing interest over time.
Limited-Time Events and FOMO
Ever felt left out when friends are out painting the town red, but you’re stuck at home babysitting your niece and nephew? That’s a typical example of FOMO, or fear of missing out. When you feel FOMO, you’re more fixated on whatever you’re missing rather than enjoying what’s happening in the moment. It’s a purely emotional response that video games take advantage of through limited-time events, rewards, and items.
Whatever tactics video games use to grab our attention, they’re designed to enhance our enjoyment, which is what gaming is all about.
