Why I think video gaming slowly became the most addictive entertainment media with no signs of stopping. What do lemmy users think of the subject?
Video games can be addictive time wasters, sure you can say that a gamer should just manage their time better. As someone who’s played some games from the last few years on various consoles, I can say some types of games are played more then others. so…
Why are games addictive? lets first start by looking at a game pong on the the Attari. A game with just paddles disguised as lines and dots bouncing back and forth. If a person is just playing the game alone against the cpu they’l more likely get bored playing quickly. While if they play with a friend it’s a more fulfilling experience and they might play it for hours. However, at some point they would move on from it but they wouldn’t have to they could keep playing their pong game as newer console would release, but as the game was just lines and dots, without their friends this game we then become played less as more and more people passed it by.
How do games create a single player experience to keep people playing without their friends? Lets look at pacman, if you have a game that recreates the experience of being somewhere, where you can move an onscreen character and interact in certian situations with said characters you would then potentially have one person hooked to your game playing solo.
This would work for awhile from the nes, to the snes to the n64 generations for gaming in regards to sells. Then the next step to hook players would be to mix single player with multiplayer, if the players ‘friends’ are playing it then they better be playing it too. The idea was that both players would had bought the game and practiced at their own houses solo. Think games like Super Smash Bros 64, Mortal Kombat, Mario Kart 64.
The next and second to last step to addict players is with online gaming. Bonus points if a game is online but has no split screen local multiplayer. Because if your friend gets the new game then you better get it too or feel left behind. Other thing about online gaming is it can addict solo players the worst. Typically these games will have you feeling good collecting exp points and the games currency winning each match. Making you keep wanting to play it day after day back to back at its worst.
last and final step to gaming addiction is vr, or virtual reality. While its still too early to say much about vr gaming, it brings a fake reality to the game universes, that players can enteract in with their physical hands. And they can physically turn around and look around envirorments. Gaming just keeps getting more addictive in nature.
Idk, I wish I could enjoy video games again. I miss that. I haven’t been able to enjoy gaming since college.
I game to avoid my crippling depression and mask it with by not climbing up the competitive ladders. The feeling of winning one round after you lost 2 in a row is one thing that keeps me going. I do it for the Dopamine, the achievement progress and the battle pass that sometimes isn’t worth it.
Depression + feelings of dopamine issues could be adhd, ever get checked?
Who diagnosed and when were you diagnosed? If diagnosed as a teen or adult, your even more likely to have both.
From the NLM
According to the scientific literature, 50 to 70% of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) also present with comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
You can even find higher percentages cited from less sciency sources.
I mostly play idle games nowadays and for me it is numbers go up and bigger numbers get bigger.
As someone who’s having a bit of difficulty finding great incremental games, would you mind giving aome recommendations?
The ones I currently play are Melvor Idle, Idle Skilling, Stone Story, Idling to rule the gods and Legends of idleon. If you like somewhat more complex Idler i’d recomment Idling to rule the gods and Legends of idleon. Melvor idle is pretty simple. It is basicly Runesscape if it was a idle game. Idle skilling is simillar to clicker heroes kinda and Stone Story is just visualy interesting with its ascii art. I think all of them are at least worth a try. Idling to rule the gods is the one I played probably the most. My current run is 5 or 6 years now.
For me it’s the sense of progression. I cognitively know it’s meaningless progression but emotionally I still feel value out of that artificial progression. Like I’ve achieved something. In addition to that it’s freeing in that it’s the most objectively fair setting(I suppose this is less true in modern games than it used to be sadly) in a game it doesn’t matter who you are or what your reality is, it doesn’t exist there. No problems from your real life have to exist there so that escapism can be a very addictive coping mechanism.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that back in the day, if you played a game enough, you either beat it, and quit playing it, or you got stuck and quit playing it.
Now, DLC, matchmaking, and monthly events add years of replayability to games. As long as there’s another battlepass to complete and holiday themed costumes to collect, there’s ALWAYS one more thing to do/collect/buy.
