Gaming: edge between fun and escapism

Gaming industry is around for decades. Times when gamers were hipsters are long gone. I am part of that industry for several years, and familiar with it a lot longer. Being gamer myself, i'm aware how dangerous can a simple colorful program be. 

Addiction power

There are many reasons why games are addictive, and different reasons are dominant in different stages of addiction, and i will try to describe them all, from perspective of someone who is in touch with such people on regular basis.

Basic stages:

• Low energy consumption, obvious one, our brain likes when we don't spend a lot of energy.
• Intensive eye candy and attention grabbing stimuli
• Great control over environment, much greater compared to real life
• Completely new worlds trigger our curiosity and gets us hooked

Advanced stages:

• Competitive nature
• Human inherent hunger for prestige
• Misguided sense of accomplishment 
• Hypnosis, separation from the real world
• Escapism and procrastination 

Individuals are usually not prone to every addiction source mentioned here, but since there are so many of them, its impossible to avoid all of them. Every source has basic primal instinct behind it, which is hard to control. Being good at something, respected in community, influential, entertained, and all of that without being exhausted in process is a dangerous combination. People usually don't have balanced lives, and lack something mentioned above. That's why young people are so susceptible to jumping into virtual worlds, which represent controlled environment, unlike real world. It is easier to master a game than succeed in life. Life is more harsh, effort and reward aren't always correlated, and above everything else can't be repeated over and over when mistakes are made. If we only had save/load in real life, wouldn't that be wonderful. 

Denial power

Fighting invisible enemy is very difficult. People refuse to accept fact that they have a problem. Without recognizing a problem, one is impossible to solve. One hour a day turns into two which turns into three. Serial gamers are among us. We all should somehow find a way to help them realize real life isn't that bad in a constructive, proactive way. If you have hardcore gamer in your home, try spending time with them. If they abruptly refuse, its a sure sign problem is serious.

Freemium evil

Industry is merciless. Taking all free time from a person is just a start. Rich companies figured out what drug dealers knew for much longer. Give a free first dose, and just wait for them to come back. P2W , pay to win model absorbs people into virtual worlds, and then just condition their power, influence or prestige demanding money for competitive edge. It is often done in such a subtle way, premium donations are invisible to other players, making impossible to determine if someone is achieving because of skill or money. Those donations are often limitless. Similar to gambling, person involved is in a blind spot, never seeing entire picture. And entire picture is high, inflated subjective value of purchased goods. People are giving hundreds of euros or dollars for few virtual items.

Games are fun, and by all means should be played from time to time. Seeing it as potential addiction is paramount in keeping our loved ones out of problematic behaviors. Twitch streamers no older than 30 are dropping dead in streaming marathons. Kids are dying in internet cafes. Not saying this happens all the time, but it's a good reason to be careful.  

Thanks for reading, and feel free to add your own perspective in comments below.