It's no question that society does not view video gaming in high regard. There have been innumerable headlines condemning video games as a new variety of drugs, the downfall of the new generation or worse. While these apocryphal statements are obviously that, there are undeniable comparisons to be made between video games and drugs. There have already been reports of "overdosing" on video games—a 24 year-old man in China was found dead after reportedly playing World of Warcraft for 19 hours straight, among others.
Views on video gaming have separated into two major camps. The first is composed of staunch opposition, believing that video games have no place anywhere, and should be banned. The second is less radical; it believes that video gaming should be nothing more than a pastime, and should be strictly considered leisure. There are even proponents of this second group that offer video games as exercises for real life; they say that video games develop reaction times and the like. There’s even the novel idea that video games can be used as a tool for governments to control the masses with—those deemed unsuited for contribution to society would be closed up with nothing but the basic necessities and a computer to spend the rest of their days with. Holistically, this second group views video gaming as something with pros and cons.
To view gaming as something completely bad, something that only eats up time better spent on studying or working, is silly. In the same realm that outlaws video games, movie theaters would be out of business, novel writers wouldn’t exist and the alcoholic-beverage market would revert back to how it was in the Prohibition era. Our world isn’t this practical.
But what makes games so addicting? The most successful video game of all time, Tetris, involved only blocks falling from the sky, so it’s obviously not subtlety or complexity that makes video games enrapturing. Tetris also had no way to win, so it’s not the feeling of winning either. So what makes games fun to play?
The answer to this question is feedback. The goals in video games are short term and simple—you shoot this many things, you stack that many blocks—and there is feedback for every goal you complete. Feedback is the important part of this equation; it inspires a sense of achievement. Pay attention to the illustrations and sound effects in every game. They aren’t there for your viewing and listening pleasure, they’re there to provide satisfaction and feedback to user inputted action. To illustrate the importance of feedback, let’s look at one of the computing world’s greatest achievements: the loading bar. Just imagine that you’re courting a potential partner in life. Wouldn’t it make a world of difference if you had a progress bar to show how close you are to gaining that sought-after affection? Even if it’s only at 10%, the loading bar’s still informing you that you’ve made progress.
If that’s all there is to it, then there’s no question that video games are just useless, short term goals to distract us from real life, right? Not necessarily. It must be remembered that video games are now undeniably integrated into society. If you’re the only non-gamer at a group dinner, and the topic of conversation suddenly turns to the latest "League Of Legends" development, something you know nothing about, you’re the one out of touch with society. Video games have become so ingrained in everyday life, with 1.2 billion gamers worldwide, that non-gamers will soon become the minority. What if video games become the next golf? Golf’s a similarly impractical activity, but if you don’t know how to play golf, you can’t discuss business at the golf course, like a properly-imagined business person. With video gaming already an obvious fact-of-life for anyone living in the developed world, it’s better to stop denying it and see how you can embrace it.
