What Makes a Video Game Addictive?

I was at my family’s house last week, and my mother and I started to discuss video games. She couldn’t understand how people, like my brother and husband, could play one video game for hours and hours at a time.

Honestly, I’m not sure I understand either, but I do know that there are countless studies about video games and why they are so addictive. Seriously, just Google video games and addiction and you are handed thousands of sources about the long debate.

Here’s what I’ve come to understand about video games and why they are so addicting.

Off the Top of My Head

• You feel accomplished with (let’s face it) little effort.

• You can escape reality

• You are the hero. You are important.

• You want to relax, depending on the type of game.

Cue the Dopamine!

It is said that this chemical activates when we play video games, especially when we defeat bosses, complete missions and solve puzzles.

Whether you’re a hard core gamer or one of those lovely people who sends Facebook requests to play latest Farmville, dopamine is the cause of our addiction.

I will let the Game Theorists explain this one. (Warning: Some swearing)

Player Personalities

Gamasutra did a very detailed explanation of how certain games attract certain personalities. The two personalities most talked about in the article are Bartle and Keirsey Models. They combine the two and create the following categories for each kind of gamer:

Idealist (K)/Socializer (B): Socializers want to get to know people and develop sincere relationships with others. Inter-player relationships are important as well. Idealists are very aware of people. Life is a journey and they love self-discovery. They are imaginative and can be very emotional.

Guardian (K)/Achiever (B): Guardians are kind of greedy. They focus on getting money to buy equipment. They try to make their place in the world by collecting and upgrading everything they have. Achievers are proud of their experience and status in games. They can spend long amounts of time “grinding” in order to level up and collect.

Rational (K)/Explorer (B): They love patterns and raw data. Whatever pattern is presented, they want to understand it in the most strategic way possible. Explorers are pretty self-explanatory. The more discoveries to be had, the happier they are.

Artisan (K)/Explorer (B): They like to impose themselves upon others and like to demonstrate their skills. They like power and are very tactical in tricky situations. The like dominance and like their personal freedom.

Yeah, there’s a lot more to it. Read the full article here

In case you don’t like to be viewed as a textbook description, I believe that not everyone fits the mold. That’s why there are so many types of games out there so that everyone can feel like they can play a game that fits what they enjoy most.

Gamasutra made the following chart to show what kinds of games correlate with each personality.

As you can see, the number of games to fit your personality is endless. Since there are so many games to fit so many personalities, it’s no wonder video games are so addicting.

Conclusion

As I’ve mentioned before, video games are not evil. It’s when it takes control over our lives is when it becomes a problem. Hope this helps, mom.

Learn anything new? Let us know, and we’ll see you next week!