Why Video Games are so Hard to Give Up

December 27, 2006

Motivational Psychologist Richard M. Ryan theorizes that “games can provide opportunities for achievement, freedom, and even a connection to other players. Those benefits trumped a shallow sense of fun, which doesn’t keep players as interested.”



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{ 13 comments }

1 Anonymous December 27, 2006 at 4:43 pm

i played video games from age 5 to maybe age 33. im almost 35. i havent found a good game in some time. if you konw one maybe i can pick it back up !!!:) (no i think im just too old now). haha

2 Anonymous December 27, 2006 at 6:15 pm

Oh, I always hate to hear about a gamer who has lost interest. Was it the wife? thats usually my problem. What do you like, maybe I can suggest a few things :)

3 Anonymous December 27, 2006 at 7:40 pm

I cannot help but think that Karl Marx would have changed his mind and dubbed videogames the “opium of the masses” were he still alive. We have a ban on these games at my house. No virtual reality here, only the real thing.

4 Anonymous December 27, 2006 at 8:04 pm

anon4:43—
I have a PC so I played PC games. mostly RTS (real time strategy games). but they all became the same… Ive played a few others like battlefield 42 type. but gave them up years ago..
No Wife Not yet. but when i occasionally go to the store, theres nothing i really want to play. not to mention $50 is a big price to pay…
I think im done.. unless they go down in price and come up in interet level.

5 Anonymous December 27, 2006 at 8:19 pm

“opium for the masses?” or training to increase your skill as a surgeon?

Probably a bit of both . . .

http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2006/08/wii_trauma_cent.html

6 Anonymous December 27, 2006 at 11:00 pm

Opium for the masses and mindrot. My microsurgical skills are top notch.

7 Anonymous December 27, 2006 at 11:11 pm

I agree. I wish I could get my wife to “give me hand” instead fo wasting time on that Suduko! This argument applies to crossword puzzles too. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

8 Anonymous December 28, 2006 at 11:08 am

A study was done indicating endoscopic surgeons who play video games are better for it. My endoscopic surgical skills (utilizing a monitor) are definitely enhanced by playing of PC games. At least, that’s the excuse I give my wife…

9 Gasman December 28, 2006 at 12:31 pm

or was it that surgeons with better endoscopic skills found games more enjoyable and thus played more.
The study found an association, not causality. My guess is that the best game players didn’t make the grades to become a surgeon.

10 Anonymous December 28, 2006 at 5:22 pm

I made the grades to become a surgeon. I played games as a kid. I didnt play very many in medical school though. I would like to tell you if it helped or not. but i am not in surgery now. but i have much better visuospatial skills. its got to be good for somthing.
CB

11 Anonymous December 29, 2006 at 3:43 pm

Game rec: Diablo 2 – can be had cheap and is addictive (warning).

If you like RTS – Warcraft III.

12 Anonymous December 29, 2006 at 5:41 pm

games ive played in the last 5 years:

Star wars galactic battlegrounds.
Age of Empires 2.
Age of Mythology- good one for a time
Empire Earth 1 and 2
Rise of Nations
Rise of Legends
Star Wars battlefront
civilization 3 and 4.
Guild Wars
and a few others…. and surprisingly i have not been playing in a very long time. i had my fun. wow thats quite a list huh.. at 50 bucks a pop that really adds up . they havent made anything worth playing in years. Cb

13 Diora December 29, 2006 at 7:05 pm

My addiction: Nethack or its variant – Slashem. Both completely free (www.nethack.org) but extremely addictive in spite of the lack of any multimedia. At least to those who like adventure-type games.

Started playing it at grad school ages ago when it was called Rogue and only had a Unix version.
Stopped doing it for a couple of years, then started again at the time of first PCs. By that time the game was called hack33 and had a DOS version and lots of new features. Stopped for many years, started again a few years ago with nethack 3.3 which added lots of stuff to the original game, then 3.4 and a year or so ago tried Slashem. Will try Nethack again when and if version 3.5 comes out.

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