Ben Franklin and Healthy Gaming Habits
Well, Ben Franklin saved my ass.
A few weeks ago I posted about my, year-long, no video game challenge.
In it I mention, eventually incorporating them back into my life. Although, I wasn't really sure how. After all, those twelve-hour Civ V benders are always just one more turn away.
Yesterday, I finished reading Ben's autobiography, cleverly titled: The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, which is free on kindle. In it, Franklin explains, while studying Italian, his chess playing took up too much time. So he created a rule for himself and his study partner, “the victor in every game should have a right to impose a task…”
Franklin’s tasks were associated with learning italian, but they could easily be applied to other areas of study. So there you have it - problem solved!
The Franklin Game Rule
Starting in the new year I’ll be giving myself a new set of rules for managing a my video game time, thanks to Mr. Franklin.
- Games must be two player and the other person must be in the same room. This means I still have to socially interact to play.
- Tasks will be imposed after a predetermined session. I love playing Soul Calibur, which is a fighting game with short rounds, if we played an hour’s worth of games we just look at the win count and impose the task. If we play a game of Company of Heroes it might be more like "Best of Three." That number of games or amount of time has to be set before we start playing.
- The other person has to keep me accountable for whatever I play. In other words, if my goal is to write a steemit post, the person who imposed the task has to read it and give me feedback or we don't play again.
- If I don't complete a task, I simply don’t get to play again.
A Few Sample Tasks:
- Write a Steemit post.
- Write a short story, chapter, article or a portion of a screenplay.
- Learn a song on guitar.
- Learn to read, write or say something in French.
- Do a particular workout. (Run a few miles, 50 pull-ups, etc.)
I'm excited to get into the new year so I can bring video games back into my life, in a way that is more healthy and responsible than before. If anyone else ends up using this method, please let me know how it goes.
From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin:
I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so much a master of the French as to be able to read the books with ease. I then undertook the Italian. An acquaintance, who was also learning it, us'd often to tempt me to play chess with him. Finding this took up too much of the time I had to spare for study, I at length refus'd to play any more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every game should have a right to impose a task, either in parts of the grammar to be got by heart, or in translations, etc., which tasks the vanquish'd was to perform upon honour, before our next meeting. As we play'd pretty equally, we thus beat one another into that language. I afterwards with a little painstaking, acquir'd as much of the Spanish as to read their books also.
Sources: Franklin, Benjamin (2012-05-16). The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (p. 86). Kindle Edition. / Photo from Wikipedia
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I love this system you've described. I've managed to be game free for a while now, but combining the social aspect & task "punishment" can really bring a guilty pleasure back into life in a well balanced way.
A persons choice of competitor is really key here. If you have the right people to have fun with and then trust to oversee and review each others work, it could really be an amazing social club of sorts!
Let us know how it works out! I don't know if I'd have the willpower to follow the rules I'd set for myself or if it would degenerate into the 12 hour benders you seem to know well.
Thanks for reading. I'll post an update after a few months. To let everyone know how well (or poorly) it's going.
Ben Franklin, behavioral economist. Here's another use of the same kind of idea.
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/save-me-from-myself-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/