Video gaming, ever since I was about 6 years old, has been an important part of my life and continues to be, as it is how I spend the majority of my free time. However, I had never really stopped to think about why exactly I was playing games, I just thought it was a fun past time. Jane McGonigal, the author of Reality is Broken, has made me rethink my analysis on the fundamentals of gaming and why I actually do it.
McGonigal believes that "all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation." (McGonigal 21) Through her explanation she shares that goals in games provides players with purpose, the rules help the player to be more strategic, and the feedback system helps to motivate players. This kind of motivation is what justifies players to come back for more. Voluntary participation is described as willingly accepting the goal, rules, and the feedback system. (McGonigal 22) These, in turn, all help to evoke a positive mindset and experience for the player. Besides, we play games to be entertained, to be immersed, or to have fun in our virtual reality. When we play games, "we are actively pushing ourselves to the positive end of the emotional spectrum." (McGonigal 28) We want to be challenged, and we want our skills to be utilized, unlike how it can often feel in the real world. In a game, we feel the direct result of our positive actions, which rewards gamers and allows them to feel free. Many of this can be directly applied to my gaming.
One of the video games that I've been playing most recently is Destiny: The Taken King. Below is a picture of my Warlock, one of the 3 main classes in the game.
My character represents the "rules" portion Jane McGonigal was explaining, as through my subclass setups and different pieces of armor, I'm restricted to doing certain activities and playing in certain ways until I find more powerful armor. This forces and challenges me to become more strategic as I play.
McGonigal believes that "all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation." (McGonigal 21) Through her explanation she shares that goals in games provides players with purpose, the rules help the player to be more strategic, and the feedback system helps to motivate players. This kind of motivation is what justifies players to come back for more. Voluntary participation is described as willingly accepting the goal, rules, and the feedback system. (McGonigal 22) These, in turn, all help to evoke a positive mindset and experience for the player. Besides, we play games to be entertained, to be immersed, or to have fun in our virtual reality. When we play games, "we are actively pushing ourselves to the positive end of the emotional spectrum." (McGonigal 28) We want to be challenged, and we want our skills to be utilized, unlike how it can often feel in the real world. In a game, we feel the direct result of our positive actions, which rewards gamers and allows them to feel free. Many of this can be directly applied to my gaming.
One of the video games that I've been playing most recently is Destiny: The Taken King. Below is a picture of my Warlock, one of the 3 main classes in the game.
My character represents the "rules" portion Jane McGonigal was explaining, as through my subclass setups and different pieces of armor, I'm restricted to doing certain activities and playing in certain ways until I find more powerful armor. This forces and challenges me to become more strategic as I play.
My current quests (as shown above) represent the goals explained my McGonigal as it shows me what I have to work towards to make my Warlock more powerful.
This quest (as shown above) rewards me with one of the exotic-tier swords named "Bolt-Caster." A Sword Reforged is quite a long quest, and it represents the motivation aspect because though the process to receive said sword can be quite long and tedious, the reward at the end is what keeps players like me challenged and wanting to go back for more. All in all, the reasons I play games are to challenge myself through exciting means with positive reinforcement.
If you're a fan of video games, why do you play them? Also, did this analysis help you to understand more about why people do play games?
McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Print.
This is really cool. I am also reading Reality Is Broken and find this post very relatable to the game I play: Guild Wars 2. While there aren't traditional quests in Guild Wars 2 there is definitely a sense of goals to work towards such as making the legendary great sword named Eternity. The long and hard work with amazing payoffs is something I also experience and keeps me playing.
ReplyDeleteI really like your post too. I really enjoy just acting out as my character at times, and watching said character grow. I mean who doesn't like throwing out a nice loud shout when you're about to Fist of Havoc?
ReplyDeleteThis was a well-developed blog. I play video games mainly because I get so much satisfaction out of it. For example in BO3, I continue to play to level up in multiplayer. I get this sense of accomplishment every time I level up and enjoy the perks I get of leveling up. As well as the satisfaction, I also do it for the competitiveness. I really like playing with friends and I think video games really bring us together.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I would like to add that I sometimes enjoy helping newer/weaker players, helping them get past some of the harder levels and getting some of the better loot. The thing is, there isn't really a medium of entertainment that I can do that in better than video games. Because of that, I'd add it to the list of reasons that we play games.
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