(Intro Music)
It's been a year since we last talked about game compulsion
I think it's time we look at it again
In the last year a number of you have written to us talking about your own experiences
and James has had several people, both friends and students,
ask for help getting back to the world
We've learned a lot from these interactions
and I think it's time we talk about what we think are
some of the root causes of the compulsion that many of us wrestle with
Because, the more we learn, the more we realize that there's a larger issue
A sense of being lost,
a sense of not having a purpose
that many of us turn to games to solve
I believe that game compulsion is the result of many things,
but the thing that I rarely hear all of the studies talk about is the human element
The pressures society may put on us that leave us with the unmet needs that games feed
James talked to several experts and read many papers on game compulsion,
and we have great respect for the people doing work in this field,
but most of those he talked to didn't play games
They never had to wrestle with that dragon
or see how it affected the lives of those around them
and, because of that, they seem to focus on things like
the Skinner Box element of games, or adrenaline rush addiction, or whatever
when what's at the heart of it may be a lot closer to home
maybe in our society itself
I think, today, many of us are lost in society
We don't understand our purpose or why we matter in this world
Back when mankind lived in little villages it was easy.
If you were the only cobbler in the village, you understood why you mattered
if you weren't there, no one in the village would have shoes
Today it's just so much harder
I don't know if the human brain was built to comprehend a society of six billion people,
to understand why being a cog in the vast machinery of our modern times could possibly matter
Many of us look to our jobs, to our lives,
and see no greater purpose, no reason to be,
and this wears on a body
If you're entering data into a spreadsheet that you don't even know what it means,
or pressing a button that puts a cog on a sprocket, which will eventually be some part of a machine you'll never see,
it's hard to always remember why it all matters
And this is something we NEED.
It's also something games are very good at giving us
In this giant post-industrial world, where our purpose might be obscured,
games are very good at giving us a clear sense of purpose,
of being a hero,
of mattering to the people around us
When you're the healer or the tank, you know exactly why you're there
and you can take pride in a job well done
You can feel accomplished and proud, like you're part of something greater,
without being subsumed by it
When at the end of a game you save the world,
you're sure of who you are, that you're not just some interchangeable part
And we, as human beings, need that
You may not notice it in your day-to-day,
you may not be consciously aware,
you may not be actively registering or saying to yourself regularly:
"I wish I understood better why I matter"
but for many of us, on a subconscious level,
today's society leaves us with that void,
that gaping hole that games can help fill
And so, when we talk about game compulsion,
we have to talk about a sense of purpose,
about the meaning in our lives outside of games
otherwise the discussion is incomplete
But along with this loss of meaning also comes a loss of control
In this giant incomprehensible world we live in,
sometimes you feel like you don't have any agency over your own life
You're going to school, taking classes you don't care about because it's "what you have to do"
your parents would be ashamed if you didn't,
you're stuck in your job because of choices you made years ago,
You can't be with that girl you like cause you're not good enough at talking to people,
or you can't be with that boy you like cause his friends are too cool
Now, these are all illusions
they're all things we actually do very much have control over,
but it's very very easy to feel powerless in a society where someone else
assigns you grades, gives you job reviews, rejects your resume, or lays you off,
but games give us a sense of agency,
they show us the consequences of our actions,
and always leave the outcome we want as something we can achieve through our direct control
In a game you know it's a fair playing field
a place where, if you really try, you can succeed
No force beyond your control is going to tinker with that outcome
You're never gonna be denied that job 'cause someone had a bad day in the HR office out of the kipsy,
or get rejected from the school you wanted
because someone didn't have time to really read your essay, 'cause they had to rush out to get their daughter from daycare
No,
in games, YOU are the ultimate authority, the final Arbiter
The designers make a pact with you that, if you work hard enough and are skilled enough,
you will succeed
That feeling of control, that assurance that our destiny is really our own,
is something that we all need
something that's essential to our moral, to our well-being
Studies have shown that kids who feel like their choices matter,
that what they do will get them into the collage they want, or earn them the career they long for,
simply perform better than those who don't,
regardless of IQ or even school system
When we don't feel that in our lives
it's easy to retreat to games to find it
and slowly withdraw more and more into that world we can control,
as doing so causes our real lives to seem more and more out of our control by comparison
Lastly, there are times where our society doesn't reward us for things that we think make us great
I mean, I was lucky in high school
I met good people, I found my tribe,
but we've talked to several young people who see all their talent and their gifts;
the fact that they're smart, the fact that they're good at math, or that they've read a lot of books,
and those things seem to have no value in the society they're in
The popular kid gets the adulation, the praise, friends, and relationships they want
and so, they turn to games because games reward you for all those things
because games acknowledge to some of us the things society doesn't, and tells us:
"Yeah, you should be proud of that!"
That is a powerful thing, and an easy place for us to get lost in if the rest of the world doesn't seem to value what's good in us
Just remember, that's all an illusion
WE'RE the ones who create worth,
WE'RE the ones who decide why we matter,
and WE'RE the ones that control our own lives
It may not always seem that way, and it may be much easier to see these things in a game,
to get what you need to that psychic void from characters on a screen,
but you don't NEED that
Rather, USE it
USE it to make you stronger,
to remind you that you DO write your own story,
that if something doesn't succeed, if it falls out of your grasp,
come up with a new plan
You die in a game and you don't just give up,
you try something different
Use that lesson in life because our hours in games aren't wasted time,
they're not just a way to burn daylight or escape from the world,
they're a way to teach us to conquer it
And remember, life will always welcome you back.
I'll see you next week.
(Outro Music)