People of all ages play video games for many different reasons. Video games serve a purpose and everyone plays for a reason. Identifying your motivation to play can be helpful to maintain moderation or shift your desire to other activities.
Whether you are a gamer yourself, a concerned parent or loved one, or a professional interested in learning more about the gaming world, this article is for you.
Why people play video games:
Novelty
Novelty or variety keeps life interesting, fun, and engaging. Video games give you the opportunity to do something new. With over 1 million games out there, there are endless amounts of new gaming experiences.
You can play a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft and experienced novelty with each territory you discover. You can form alliances, make friends, complete quests, and obtain items. All these experiences can be novel.
You can play a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game like League of Legends and experience novelty with every character you play. Unlike World of Warcraft, players in League of Legends play in the same environment or map every game. There are some cosmetic changes depending on the season, but it’s mostly the same. The novelty comes with playing different characters. As of August 2020, there are 150 characters or champions in League of Legends. That’s a lot of novelty.
Role-play games (RPG) are games allow you to create and develop a character. Games like Skyrim and the Diablo games are RPGs where you can experience novelty in the game itself and through each character you make. You can play the entire game of Skyrim using one character then use a completely different one and have a different experience.
Competency or Mastery
Competence is made up of feeling mastery and control over something. Many video games require skill to play well. In games like Overwatch, Valorant, or Rainbow 6: Siege, gamers compete against each other in real time. Your reaction speed, map awareness, aim, landing skill-shots, dodging skill shots, farming, and overall game knowledge are all skills that require some level of mastery to play well and win matches.
Gamers will play the same game for thousands of hours because they want to master their skills. Back to the 150 champions to play from in League of Legends, some play one champion for over 10,000 hours. One map. One champion. One game. All with the drive to get better and improve their rank or standing in the game. People love the pursuit of mastery and video games are a great way to pursue that.
Video games offer a safe place to improve your skill and get better at something. Some video games have a high skill cap – high level of difficulty to become masterful. However, those same games also help beginners get involved by giving them positive reinforcement for the little good things they do. Even if they stink, there are natural motivators in games to bring them back for more. They get rewards the more they play. And the more they play, the more masterful they become.
Exploration and Freedom
Games like Rust, Ark, or World of Warcraft give players the ability to roam free in a digital world. You are able to do almost anything in these virtual worlds. We can explore external or internal environments.
External Exploration
Through quests and objectives, games are designed to help you explore. You don’t have to do the quests, but you can. You have the option to just explore the world and do what you want with no rules or boundaries. The Fallout games allow for environmental exploration. They are open worlds with objectives to complete. Exploring the virtual environments is exciting because you never know what you will discover.
Internal Exploration
RPGs allow you to take on any identity you want. You can be a confident, strong warrior online but feel timid and weak in real-life. Video games offer you a chance to explore any identity you wish. If you are a female in real-life, you can express yourself as a male online. If you are unsure what identify as, you can explore different genders and roles online through games.
A beautiful thing about video games is anonymity. Online gaming can give you the space to be yourself and explore different personalities in a safe environment without anyone knowing you in the physical world. This gives players comfort in being able to freely explore thoughts and feelings they might not feel comfortable doing anywhere else.
Risk-Taking
There are three main types of risks in video games: competitive, quest, and social.
Competitive Risk
Games like League of Legends, Fortnite, and Rainbow 6: Siege are games that require some level of skill to do well. You can play safe or risky. There is excitement and some danger, not real danger, but virtual danger the riskier you play. The risk is you could lose the game or match, resulting in a loss of your rank.
Quest Risk
There are in-game risks from story driven or character driven games like the Witcher and Fallout. You have something similar to a morality tracker. How you interact with the townspeople or in-game characters determines if they will be kind or hostile. If you are kind and do positive actions, you will get rewards. If you are a jerk, there are consequences.
Social Risk
Many video games are played with others. There is risk involved in how you play and interact with others in real time. Games that allow you to play in an open world like World of Warcraft allows you to interact with others in real time and there is risk in how you socialize. You could randomly hit someone in-game for no reason and it could have a bad consequence. Or you could befriend others.
You can raid, or invade another player’s structure, in games like Rust and Ark. You fight with others and risk losing your items. You can make a friend and work together for a common cause. You can backstab that friend and take all their stuff. All of these social interactions online are risky.
A Safe Place to Fail
Video games also allow you a safe place to fail. You can safely take as many risks as you want. If you die while trying to beat a boss, you simply start over. If you don’t win the competitive match, you play another one. If you have a poor interaction with another gamer, you can talk with someone else. Gamers have a much safer place to fail online than in the physical world.
Failing is good!
It’s healthy to learn how to fail well. We can fail and give up or we can learn from our mistakes and improve. Failure is part of our human experience. If we don’t learn some level of resiliency or ways to start over, we will suffer. Failing and trying again in video games can be a good skill to transfer to the physical world.
Competition
Games like Valorant, League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and Dota 2 are all 5v5 competitive video games. Your team works together to take objectives and beat the other team. There is a lot of skill and communication involved in competitive video games.
Every competitive video game requires hand-eye coordination, fast reflexes, quick decision making, and strategy. These skills take time to develop and they can grow over time. Gamers can play Dota 2 for years and still improve every time they play.
Competitive video games get attention because they can be played professionally. Just like the NBA houses competitive teams and competitions for basketball, eSports houses competitive video game teams and competitions for video games.
Michael Jordan played countless hours and worked hard perfecting his basketball skills. Gamers play countless hours and work hard to improve their gaming skills. Many gamers wish to go pro. They desire to be on a professional gaming team like Evil Geniuses or TSM and make gaming their career.
The desire to win and compete is in a lot of us. Video games offers an alternative for high level competition if basketball isn’t your thing.
Whether you are a gamer yourself, a concerned parent or loved one, or a professional interested in learning more about the gaming world, this article is for you.
Why people play video games:
Novelty
Novelty or variety keeps life interesting, fun, and engaging. Video games give you the opportunity to do something new. With over 1 million games out there, there are endless amounts of new gaming experiences.
You can play a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft and experienced novelty with each territory you discover. You can form alliances, make friends, complete quests, and obtain items. All these experiences can be novel.
You can play a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game like League of Legends and experience novelty with every character you play. Unlike World of Warcraft, players in League of Legends play in the same environment or map every game. There are some cosmetic changes depending on the season, but it’s mostly the same. The novelty comes with playing different characters. As of August 2020, there are 150 characters or champions in League of Legends. That’s a lot of novelty.
Role-play games (RPG) are games allow you to create and develop a character. Games like Skyrim and the Diablo games are RPGs where you can experience novelty in the game itself and through each character you make. You can play the entire game of Skyrim using one character then use a completely different one and have a different experience.
Competency or Mastery
Competence is made up of feeling mastery and control over something. Many video games require skill to play well. In games like Overwatch, Valorant, or Rainbow 6: Siege, gamers compete against each other in real time. Your reaction speed, map awareness, aim, landing skill-shots, dodging skill shots, farming, and overall game knowledge are all skills that require some level of mastery to play well and win matches.
Gamers will play the same game for thousands of hours because they want to master their skills. Back to the 150 champions to play from in League of Legends, some play one champion for over 10,000 hours. One map. One champion. One game. All with the drive to get better and improve their rank or standing in the game. People love the pursuit of mastery and video games are a great way to pursue that.
Video games offer a safe place to improve your skill and get better at something. Some video games have a high skill cap – high level of difficulty to become masterful. However, those same games also help beginners get involved by giving them positive reinforcement for the little good things they do. Even if they stink, there are natural motivators in games to bring them back for more. They get rewards the more they play. And the more they play, the more masterful they become.
Exploration and Freedom
Games like Rust, Ark, or World of Warcraft give players the ability to roam free in a digital world. You are able to do almost anything in these virtual worlds. We can explore external or internal environments.
External Exploration
Through quests and objectives, games are designed to help you explore. You don’t have to do the quests, but you can. You have the option to just explore the world and do what you want with no rules or boundaries. The Fallout games allow for environmental exploration. They are open worlds with objectives to complete. Exploring the virtual environments is exciting because you never know what you will discover.
Internal Exploration
RPGs allow you to take on any identity you want. You can be a confident, strong warrior online but feel timid and weak in real-life. Video games offer you a chance to explore any identity you wish. If you are a female in real-life, you can express yourself as a male online. If you are unsure what identify as, you can explore different genders and roles online through games.
A beautiful thing about video games is anonymity. Online gaming can give you the space to be yourself and explore different personalities in a safe environment without anyone knowing you in the physical world. This gives players comfort in being able to freely explore thoughts and feelings they might not feel comfortable doing anywhere else.
Risk-Taking
There are three main types of risks in video games: competitive, quest, and social.
Competitive Risk
Games like League of Legends, Fortnite, and Rainbow 6: Siege are games that require some level of skill to do well. You can play safe or risky. There is excitement and some danger, not real danger, but virtual danger the riskier you play. The risk is you could lose the game or match, resulting in a loss of your rank.
Quest Risk
There are in-game risks from story driven or character driven games like the Witcher and Fallout. You have something similar to a morality tracker. How you interact with the townspeople or in-game characters determines if they will be kind or hostile. If you are kind and do positive actions, you will get rewards. If you are a jerk, there are consequences.
Social Risk
Many video games are played with others. There is risk involved in how you play and interact with others in real time. Games that allow you to play in an open world like World of Warcraft allows you to interact with others in real time and there is risk in how you socialize. You could randomly hit someone in-game for no reason and it could have a bad consequence. Or you could befriend others.
You can raid, or invade another player’s structure, in games like Rust and Ark. You fight with others and risk losing your items. You can make a friend and work together for a common cause. You can backstab that friend and take all their stuff. All of these social interactions online are risky.
A Safe Place to Fail
Video games also allow you a safe place to fail. You can safely take as many risks as you want. If you die while trying to beat a boss, you simply start over. If you don’t win the competitive match, you play another one. If you have a poor interaction with another gamer, you can talk with someone else. Gamers have a much safer place to fail online than in the physical world.
Failing is good!
It’s healthy to learn how to fail well. We can fail and give up or we can learn from our mistakes and improve. Failure is part of our human experience. If we don’t learn some level of resiliency or ways to start over, we will suffer. Failing and trying again in video games can be a good skill to transfer to the physical world.
Competition
Games like Valorant, League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and Dota 2 are all 5v5 competitive video games. Your team works together to take objectives and beat the other team. There is a lot of skill and communication involved in competitive video games.
Every competitive video game requires hand-eye coordination, fast reflexes, quick decision making, and strategy. These skills take time to develop and they can grow over time. Gamers can play Dota 2 for years and still improve every time they play.
Competitive video games get attention because they can be played professionally. Just like the NBA houses competitive teams and competitions for basketball, eSports houses competitive video game teams and competitions for video games.
Michael Jordan played countless hours and worked hard perfecting his basketball skills. Gamers play countless hours and work hard to improve their gaming skills. Many gamers wish to go pro. They desire to be on a professional gaming team like Evil Geniuses or TSM and make gaming their career.
The desire to win and compete is in a lot of us. Video games offers an alternative for high level competition if basketball isn’t your thing.