Video games offer teenagers a gateway to new worlds, social connections, and stimulating challenges. However, recent research highlights a growing concern: video games can become addictive when designed to prioritize player engagement over well-being.
From Fun to Functional Impairment: How Video Game Design Can Hook Players
The story of Adelaide teenager Lee Ann Phie can illustrate the example of the social pathos problem. It’s depicted from when she was a mere eight years old carrying out that as a hobby and how it spread during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Cooking then transformed into a gaming disorder whereby Lee Ann started spending more than 10 hours a day on video games, skipping sleep, school, and even social contact with friends and family.
Assuming her average attendance rate significantly decreased to 64%, she realized she had to regain control of her life from gaming.
Image Credits: Psych Scene Hub The case with Lee Ann is not an exception. According to research carried out by various people, approximately 100,000 Australian teenagers are believed to be suffering from the dangers of gaming.
Dr. Kim Le, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, has A substantial increase in video game consumption due to the elements of modern designing strategies. These behaviors are the same as those used in gambling which triggers the reward center of the brain.
One such motivational technique is the variable ratio rewards; games often randomly reward the players in terms of points, virtual money, or new powers.
This factor requires players to continue when they realize the game is unpredictable so that they can get a better reward. Loot boxes, another relatively dubious addition, are also essential for enticing players.
These are available either by grinding for in-game currency or through microtransaction, where players can find a random chance at getting very useful virtual items thus cycling between joy and frustration.
In turn, the informal speech is provided by associate professor Daniel King from Flinders University, who comments that ‘addiction isn’t just about playtime’.
However, the real issue comes into play when an individual starts losing more time playing games than necessary and even essential daily needs and demands are compromised.
Thus, getting back to the concept of games, it is not only linked to negative experiences which can be stated in the context the author is describing.
Despite the negative effects of binge gaming that have been highlighted, streamer Steven ‘Bajo’ O’Donnell states that there are benefits that come with playing games including the establishment of friendships and building communities. He emphasizes moderation to have fun during gaming while not falling into a gaming addiction.
Lee Ann must also have faith in a happy ending. She only changed her attitude towards it and started taking periods to refresh and take a look at her life more globally, she began to enjoy it in moderate measure.
In the same vein, Dr. Le provides recommendations, focusing on such strategies: gamers need to realize their values and goals in life. He also notes the need for the government to set higher codes of ethics against such deceptions in the designing of games.
In facing these trends, the video game industries now have to work hard to address the different aspects of the public and make their games both fun to play with and healthy for their players.
Players need to step away from gaming to be able to regain control according to most studies conducted on the subject.
To improve this situation one could call to focus more on non-opaque reward systems and reducing the popularity of loot-boxes.
Lee Ann’s experience serves as a reminder: video games can be an entertaining and very enjoyable activity and as such are an important part of people’s lives however one should be very careful to make sure that they stay within the sphere of games and do not turn into some sort of obsession.
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Jeeva Shanmugam is a highly skilled content writer with expertise in writing articles, blogs, and other forms of content on various Esports-related topics.
