Why we play video games.
There exists an indefinable quality that separates gamers from the rest of humanity, some thing that makes us, us and them, well not us! It's a quality that I have never been quite able to identify dear reader, but it is inescapably there. Today, in hopes of moving closer to that essential quality of gamerosity, I examine part of what makes us tick. In particular, I take a look at what draws different types of gamers to the hobby, and while every gamer does indeed play for very different reasons, there are distinctive and common threads that tie the entire gaming experience together.
A lot gamers are motivated by the
very challenge that a game can present them. Where success in their game may be governed by any of a wide variety of abilities. For instance a
First Person Shooter ie
Call of Duty requires twitch reflexes, an extremely steady hand and the ability to remain calm under pressure. Whereas a word puzzle game require's an extensive vocabulary and the ability to rethink the meanings and uses of old words, but no measure of speed. Indeed a sports simulation like
FIFA '16 might well require an in-depth knowledge of the topic, in addition to arcade skill, but is unlikely to have terribly much concern for linguistic acumen.
The common thread in these different and often disparate games is that all of them challenge some subset of a player's abilities. Indeed it's this challenge that can be seen as a powerful motivator. A
Challenge Motivated gamer is drawn to a game that tests their skills, preferably one that tests them to their upper most skill limits. This kind of gamer can be and oftentimes is also motivated by the natural improvement that comes from working at peak. They are driven then, not only to excel, but to improve.
Challenge Motivated Gamers thrive when a game tests the boundaries of their skill set, but they may be disinterested in games that fall too far away from the target.
Competition is a very close cousin of challenge. Many gamers are driven by the need and desire to prove that they are the best, to compete against their fellow gamers and come out on top.
Competition minded gamers range from those gamers who look for a challenge in a fair fight to the sort of win-at-all cost
leet speaking infants that give us all a bad name! A word of warning though;
Competition can be very easy to take too far. Now there's nothing wrong with being driven by competition. To some extent, competition is merely challenge taken to the very edge of extreme. It is only when it leads to mistreating other gamers that it begins to become less a motivation and more a terrible quirk of personality!.
Competition Motivated players love games where they are pitted against each other with the outcome being dictated by their skill at the game. They will often wane in those environments that either require cooperation, such as many
MMORPGs, or in games where skill plays a much smaller role, for instance card games.
Less common than the first two motivators,
creativity is nonetheless an important and potent force in the gamer psyche. Granted, at first gaming doesn't seem like a particularly creative act, mainly becaise each game has some sort of formalized rules and inherent structured systems, there is in fact more room for self expression than you might think.
Many games play to this directly through their presentation or by using artistic themes. Music games like
NOW Sing and many of the
Sim titles to give but two examples are basically just expressive outlets that happen to use a computerized system of rules. Some
creative type gamers find their outlet in multiplayer gaming. The modern
MMORPG sports equipment and decorative combinations numbering well into the millions.
The
Creatively Motivated gamer takes enjoyment and time in designing how their character looks, as well as changing how they are best able to interact with the game environment.
Creatively Motivated gamers thrive when their creativity has an outlet. Any game which involves a high degree of expression, or creativity will draws this kind of gamer. They will dislike intensely being in gaming environments where the structure is governed purely by numbers, and in those where presentation is extremely poor.
Though we sometimes hate to admit it,
escapism is a motivation that lives in the heart of every gamer. By their design, a video game creates an inherently different world. Even games which have as one of their primary goals simulation of some aspect of the real world recast the player into some role they find more exciting than their own. Escaping into the role of adventurer, pilot, quarterback or even zookeeper provides motivation for nearly every gamer.
Escapism Motivated gamers seek out games where the environment is rich, comprehensive, real. They thrive in worlds where suspension of disbelief is high, where they can lose themselves in the depth and complexity available to them. They gravitate toward role playing and simulation, environments where the world is rich and believable. They tend to avoid abstract games where the underlying reality is difficult to believe or understand. It is a strange sort of paradox that
MMORPGS, with their incredibly deep histories and expansive worlds, are not as attractive to
Escapism Motivated gamers as pure
RPGs.
This effect arises from the multiplayer aspect. Players talking in a public channel about out of game topics or, worse, about the mechanical and numerical aspects of the game world may well ruin the escapists experience and cause them to seek the company of non player characters or others who share their motivation.
Much has been made of the downside of
escapism. A gamer who spends too much time in a world not their own can begin to lose touch. This sort of disassociation with reality can, and has, lead to all sorts of problems with work, school and personal relations.
This does not mean, however, that
escapism is itself an unhealthy thing. It is a basic and somewhat essential part of the human experience. The reasons why we go on holiday, watch movies, play sports or go camping are inherently escapist. As a species, it is our lot in life to be unsatisfied with what we have. It's natural to seek out activities that allow us to participate and be part of something which is outside of our day to day norm. gaming is no different.
However, as gamers, we are an often misunderstood and much maligned community. We owe it to ourselves and to the world in general both to fight with information, by spreading the positive realities of gaming and gamer culture, and to fight internally against obsession. No matter how good a substitute for the real world a game may seem it is, in the end, only a pastime. Leave it once in a while. Go outside, participate in life, it's an adventure on it's own!
Social interaction is a subject on which we gamers take a fair bit of static from our non-gaming peers. This can sometimes be because they mistake different priorities for introversion. Wanting to talk about the relative merits of grinding in say
Destiny isn't really any different from wanting to talk about the strength of the government's next law, its just that one of them is relevant to a somewhat narrower audience albeit for now!
Ocassionally though the criticism is merited. We tend to be socially awkward people, in part because the hobbies in which we invest a sizeable amount of our time have rigid rules governing most interactions, making them a poor substitute for the reality of interaction with other people. For some gamers, the level of
Social Interaction found in the gaming experience is a primary motivator.
Social activity in gaming occurs on many levels. At a low level, gaming can act as reinforcement for existing social groups. Think of a group of friends getting together to play a game of, say
Half Life. The social activity found in modern online games can be a lot broader in scope.
MMORPGs, to which the discussion of the current state of gaming always seems to turn to, are essentially groups of people that already share some primary common link. The friendships that are and can be formed through online cooperation and friendly competition can be one of the biggest draws of such games. Anyone who has ever stayed up later than they should because their friend needed them or because someone asked them to knows this! These online relationships are in fact no less real, have no less an impact than their offline analogues. They are, however, different.
The interaction that takes place within a video game is structured and often, online gamers see only part of one another. A different kind of group bond is formed, due to the fact that the only thing they have in common is a particular game, and their liking for it, ergo this bond is not as deep as the bond of a group of friends that exists solely for the purpose of supporting one another.
To avoid this becoming a lecture on not forgetting your real loved ones we'll not travel down that thought path. The important thing is that some video game players are purely
Socially Motivated. This type of gamer thrives online, where other players can be met and interacted with on a social level.. For gamers like this, the heavier the social component of the game, the better.
Interestingly perhaps, many games with a high degree of social complexity also have a large amount of the mathematical complexity that may drive away many socially motivated gamers. In their pure form, this type of gamer is is search of an experience that blurs the line between video games and chat room.
Challenge.
Competition.
Creation.
Escape.
Socialization. Five very different motivators, all of which combine to make up the motivation of a particular gamer. It's very likely that I could add more motivators, but I think these will do for now. So where do we go with this? We could for example make a pretty infographic, but there would be no point as it wouldn't really help!
A more useful tactic might be, to think about what motivates us as individuals. Knowing yourself and what drives you can help you work out what kind of video games you should be playing and, more importantly, those games which will frustrate you no end. Hand-in-hand with this is understanding what motivates others can give us better insight which will help us relate to each other much better.
Arguments in online games usually occur because the various party members are motivated in different ways.
Creative and
Challenger Motivated video gamers aren't likely to want the same things from a night of dungeon delving. The
Escapist and
Competitive video gamers are definitely not going to even speak the same way about a game.
All us video gamers have a little of each gamer type in us and if we can understand what motivates us we can then use this knowledge to better interact with each other and increase our enjoyment of playing video games..
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