Video Games and Life

Video Games are a relatively new phenomena in the history of mankind. Video games became mainstream during late 1970's with introduction of gaming consoles such as Atari and with rapid improvement in technology and rise in overall incomes they have become very accessible and are played at multiple platforms from playstations, xboxes to computers and even smartphones. Our monkey brains are relatively old and the first human species evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago from a genus of apes. The modes of entertainment or "FUN" essentialy for us had been pretty primitive from a long time and it's been prety recent with such advacement in technology and proclivity of human beings to keep striving for better and better that we essentialy enabled ourselves to act out our most profound fictional stories in a virtual world. So naturally our ancient monkey brains still haven't evolved enough to this new age constant pleasure producing simulation that are video games.   

Why are video games so addictive? Well, one answer to that question is that they are designed to be addictive or engaging otherwise how would they generate the necessary revenue for their creators. The minds behind creating these games would essentially want to create a master piece which maybe has a brilliant story, then they would hope that it is very engaging and well they would also want their product to generate a decent income stream for them. So, no wonder they are addictive, because that is what they are fundamentally created to do to a human psyche. They try to imitate our life in a heroic way, they feed on the idea of lack of purpose and meaning in our real life, and hence try to replace it with a proufoudly hero figure in a virtual world which ofcourse will keep us hooked in because who doesn't want to be a hero. Mostly, video games are based on a recurring principle : There's a protagonist, a main character, who probably has a brilliant story arch, starting  as a humble novice, who doesn't have any powers, but has the potential to acquire new skills, become competent and is given a mission just beyond his/her current capacity where they can overcome the obstacles they are faced with and maybe win back princess from the clutches of a tyrannical monster. And these tasks are based on stories and narratives that have evolved over a long period of time, where we metaphorically climb a mountain which is not easy, may seem unfathomable at the beginning, then we toil hard through sheer perseverence and struggle and ultimately the potential of reaching the summit excites us and then we reach the summit and then there is a sense of achievement and a sense of pride in accomplishing a difficult task and then we look forward to a new challenge, towards a higher worthy goal, but with video games this all can be done in a matter of days or if you are pretty good then mabe even hours. Why would you want to go out then and do the real tasks when the same feelings and sensations can be induced with minimal effort and very low distress if any.

The way our brains work is that every time a difficult task which we undertake voluntarily beyond our capability and then if we manage to accomplish it, there is a sense of achievement which releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that's involved in motivation and pleasurable rewards. And this is what exactly is tapped into by the these creators of games because they very carefully provide us with a roadmap to be a shining knight although we are starting in complete oblivion, but as is the case generally with video games, we are generall given a difficult mission to complete. but not too difficult (because if it's very difficult then you are going to lose and who wants to be a loser), just enough difficult which if we are careful enough, we can accomplish and which will then again induce a sense of achievement. And then we think that well, that was fun, because it did engage our brain to complete a difficult task and it also wasn't as difficult as real life task would be and your brain says, well Thankyou! I would want more of that and then you play some more and it's too late till you realise that this is all a facade. You are so hooked in that you would rather skip your homework or your job to get a few more hours in. Your brain isn't a fool. It's getting all the simulation it needs without having to distribute all the necessary resouces it is required to other organs to function in day to day life mundane tasks and not having to face all the stressful situatons real life has to offer. Why would your brain want you to go out then, it's perfectly reasonable in its assumptions here. The hero's journey, also known as the monomyth, is a common story structure that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, overcomes obstacles, and returns home transformed. The hero's journey has been present in many cultures for centuries, but became more popular after Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces which ultimately implies-Slay the Dragon, win the gold. This real adventure when carefully curated in an artificial world allows us to be the goddamn Hero.

Games are very carefully calibrated to keep us on the edge of exploration. Games are essentially a microcosm of reality. Life is a sequence of games and wether you win or lose isn't as important as wether other people invite you to play games with them. There are various games of life such as socialising, academics, career, sports, dating. Your brain would rather spend the hours  in the artificial simulation as opposed to thse meta games of life because it's easy. We all strive to be that hero, because why not? But then video games allow us to be a hero every passing day without having to grind or face the real world out there. Dr. Warren Farrel said, "We have through technology created a perfect escape. That escape is video games where you can identify with the hero and you can lose the game as often as you wish without nobody noticing". In video games you can even make a mistake and die and then be reborn again without any severe consequences. So, it takes away from other harsh reality of real world where mistakes can have numerous dangerous repurcussions. Your brain doesn't want to face the real consequences. It's getting all the hit of dopamine it needs in this god forsaken basement of your parent's home with cheetos and all the junk that we eat in the name of food. This is fake dopamine, dopamine released through a simulated world and not in a real life situation and hence ultimately there will be a time of realisation  when meaninglessness sets in where you realise that you are no longer good for anything rather than this artificial game and then you will become miserable and vicious and a victim of the circumstances of your own creation.

So, how does one overcome this addiction? And even if you are not addicted, what is there to learn from these phenomena of video games. For this, we first need to understand the neurochemistry of how this addiction affects our brain. There is a part of brain called Nucleus Accumbens which is a central part of the limbic system and is involved in processing emotional and motivational information. It's also known as the brain's "pleasure center" because it plays a key role in feelings of reward and positive affect. It is a very dopaminergic circuit and so when dopamine is released in Nucleus Accumbens, it reinforces a behaviour and we end up behaving in the way which releases more dopamine which ends up becoming a cycle or a dopamine induced addictive loop which becomes very hard to break.  So, whenever we try to overcome this addiction by trying to restrict it, say we want to visit a gym and workout for an hour instead. So, supposedly we go to the gym and workout for maybe 20 minutes and we become  tired already ecause we havn't worked out in along time and it's hard and we come back after 20 minutes feeling a lot ashamed that we are not even able to workout for 60 minutes. This way we are ultimately punishing ourselves by self criticsm which in comparison weighs heavily as compared to playing a video game which naturally releases dopamine and we revert back to our addictive habit and find it extremel difficult to overcome this loop. So, what to do instead? Well, first we need to stop punishing ourselves for right behaviours. If we are able to go to the gym for even 20 minutes, it is way way better than wasting that time on a video game. So, we need to humble ourself and be kind to ourself for changing for the good and taking a step in the right direction, however small it might be. The thing that helps us most in inducing and changing this self critical tendancy to a more nurturing one is the practice of gratitude. The more we practice gratitude, the more our brain chemistry changes and we subconciusly become grateful and kind towards the small things and small steps in the right direction rather than beating ourselves up everytime we fail to be a perfectionist. You could be a perfectionist in a video game, but this is real world and real world is complex and dangerous. Another thing I would suggest which is really helpful is striving for "Creative Impulses". So, all of us have some creative impulses which can be writing, reading, singing, dancing, painting, some sports or any such creative pursuit. Rather than giving into the addiction, we can strive for this creative impulse which will automatically release some dopamine for the brain, because well we have hooked our brain on such dosages of dopamine for such a long time and so maybe following your creative impulse voluntarily in a positive way in the real world to create something will entice your brain and then maybe this loop can be broken. So, ultimately we need to strive to come out of this artificial world,  slay the real dragon, overcome real obstacles, rescue the real princess, acquire real skills and competence, ultimately be a REAL HERO. So, lets play the REAL GAME & STRIVE TO WIN AT THAT!