The REAL Danger of Videogames

It’s not the violence depicted in them.

Videogames don’t make killers. Even very violent videogames can’t be scientifically linked to violent behavior. But they make unhappy adults, that live below their own potential.

Why you get hooked on videogames

You are a monkey. A high-end monkey, mind you, but a monkey nonetheless. And so am I. So is everyone else. We’re all monkeys down for some monkey business.

Humans in their current form have (as far as we know) evolved from monkeys and we (and our predecessors) have been around for hundreds of thousands of years. Quite a while. Most of this long time, our behavior was purely instinct and motivation-based. In a way, nature needed to give us treats, in order to make us do things.

Reproduction feels great and is fun.

So does eating.

So does success in hunting.

Feed. Mate. Reproduce. Three core principles that had to work for millennia, in order to give the monkey-folk a chance on this planet. And they did. They still do.

Those things feel great, because our brain produces “shots” of dopamine and endorphine. These are hormones and they make you feel good.

It’s the brain’s own reward system to make the monkey do tricks.

While our lifestyle has changed a lot in the past thousand years — especially in the last five decades, the inner workings of our brains have not. We still crave that satisfactory boost of endorphine and dopamine. That is the reason why we’re such easy prey to bad habits and even addictions.

We’d almost do anything to feel good, because we’re wired that way. You’re your own dealer and addict at the same time.

Beating a game, triggers a similar response, like a successful hunt would. Getting a hiscore, finding good loot, unlocking that new sword — it all feels great and videogame designers have learned to exploit our weaknesses.

The more people get hooked on a certain videogame, the more likely they will interact with it, spend time and ultimately money in the dreaded ingame-item-shops (but they’re just cosmetic and a great “surprise mechanic” — yay EA) and eagerly await the next game in the franchise. Once your brain is trained to associate a certain brand with that “oh so weet dopamine shot”, you’re hooked. Addicted.

Consequences of addiction — time and money wasted

So what? Gaming is a hobby. A pastime, not unlike lying on the couch watching formula 1 racing or some other sports.

… you might object!

Well, everything you do in excess inherits some danger for your wellbeing and the progress you make in your real life. It’s really easy to develop bad habits, that might deteriorate your health or stifle your successes in life.

This is easy to comprehend and does not need further explanation, but I have found (from personal experience, mind you), that there is a much more complicated process at work, that ultimately will kill your drive, motivation and even creativity itself.

See, I’m no psychologist, but I am pretty sure, that when you achieve something in a videogame, your brain can’t quite tell the difference between a real and a fake achievement.

So, why would you sit down and study for that exam, work real hard on your physique or try to get a grasp in that new programming language? Why would you do that? Because of the potential success and the associated “treat” your brain will grant you at the end of it all.

Now, when playing videogames, you get many treats like this, for small achievements, that might provide a short burst of endorphines and fun, but don’t mean anything in the real world. By the way, social media works on similar principles (you should quit that too).

So, by overexposing yourself to those “little successes” you basically desensibilize yourself to what real success feels like.

You lose the drive for real-life achievements, because you can easily have the fake ones, which feel the same to your brain. This can also lead to anxiety, because the best way to deal with anxieties is to overcome them, face them, headon. But why would you?

Why would you want to be the best in class (dealing with all the effort this involves), when all the reward you get is a few jealous looks and maybe a proverbial pat on the back from your teacher, if you can save the world, kill all the bad guys and drive off into the sunset with a fat musclecar, engine blaring, on your Playstation?

It’s convenient and easy to achieve and gives a smiliar “kick”.

If you’re not carefull, you’re quickly hooked and your energy and interest for real life achievements will drain. At least, that’s how it worked out for me…

A way out?

What if I tell you, that I lost approximately ten years of my life to videogames, where I didn’t quite move forward? Sure, I had my relationships, jobs and even went self-employed. But I could have achieved much more, if I wouldn’t have put all my energy into “fake achievements” and be content with it.

It’s hard to say, if one is addicted. It’s not wrong to play videogames per se, it’s just dangerous to completely lose yourself into them. I guess, if you’re reading this, you will know, if videogames are a problem for you or not.

I am in my late thirties now, and I just quit videogames this year. I realized, that I am not where I want to be in my life and if I had spent only half of the time I wasted playing videogames doing something productive, I’d be in a different situation and way better off today.

“You have to sacrifice your present, for your future.”

— a very wise quote from Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. I did the opposite.

I wasted my future for my present.

(but that present is now my past, d’oh)

I got many platinum trophies, discovered many hidden secrets, beat the hardest raids in Destiny, shot millions of bullets and saved the planet countless times — in videogames. All of that is gone. Pointless. Worthless. At best a few nice anecdotes, summed up in two or three sentences.

Your way out starts with this realization. You might have the suspicion, that you are wasting your time, when you’re playing videogames, for quite a while already. But it’s still fun. Or at least, it was. Or you think it was.

Maybe, you remember the good old days, when friends would come over to your house and you would play your Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64 (depending on your age) with a bowl of chips and some Coca Cola. You’re trying to replicate this feeling, but it won’t quite work right?

If it’s nostalgia, or the hunt for that “old fun”, that keeps you playing, I got news for you buddy — those times are gone and they ain’t coming back. Console manufacturers and videogame companies want all of us to have our own consoles, own copy of the game and own accessoires, like a headset, gamepads, etc.

Simply, because it’s more money to be made this way. That’s the reason why good couch coop games mostly come from indy developers these days. The big companies simply want your money and time, period. Creativity and fun for fun’s sake are afterthoughts at best.

This was another realization, that was important to me, to find my personal way out.

The biggest help for me, to not only force myself to not play videogames, but to completely lose interest and focus my attention onto something else (writing and archery at the moment) was looking at the time spent playing videogames.

My best friend, who is addicted to Hunt Showdown on PC, told me, over the past year he spent 1.500 hours playing Hunt (and he became ridiculously good at it). He still enjoys it. More power to him. But I broke this down.

That’s almost four hours a day, for a year.

Imagine you would do sports in that scale.

Imagine you’d learn a language with this much time put into it.

Imagine you’d learn an instrument with that much effort.

What could you achieve?

That’s so much time. The day will come, when he loses interest in the game (like it always happens) and the next big thing will appear. Then, all that’s left of all that time (and time really is your life) may be a few screenshots, videos and a few anecdotes of dominating some noobs.

That’s it.

This flipped the switch for me.

I always have to think “What else could I do, what could I achieve, for real?” — that way, it was really easy to turn my back on videogames.

Conclusion

Videogames are a pastime. People need pastimes to relax and calm down. That’s fair. In the end, there’s not much of a difference between playing a videogame, watching a movie or listening to music. Except, when you get addicted to it.

Imagine, if someone told you, instead of doing the necessary chores around the house, spending quality time with their children or learning for an exam, they just spent the past week listening to music, four hours a day, doing nothing else. Doesn’t that sound a bit “off”?

It is and should be — and videogames are no different.

If you can manage, to just play a bit here and there, I don’t think you’re wasting your life. Moderation is key, though. But the moment you’re playing videogames and know you should do something else, you effectively are. The fact, that videogames are designed to get you hooked, doesn’t help matters at all.

I’m glad, that I could finally turn my back on videogames. I just now realized how “long” an actual day is, if you don’t waste hours of it playing videogames. That said, I still enjoy the occassional Gameboy game here and there. Those are perfect, because they’re so low key, so limited in their appeal and presentation, they are good for a quick burst of fun, let’s say fifteen minutes, then it’s easy to put them back down and get stuff done. They just don’t hold your attention too long, which is a quality feature in its own right.

Just this week, I sold my gaming PC and will put the money into a Thinkpad, come end of year, to have that superior laptop keyboard ready for my writing, when I’m all out and about, doing actual work and moving my life forward. Also, for that kind of money, I can still get that new shiny bow on top of the Thinkpad, I was eyeing since last year.

Videogames don’t make killers, but they make unhappy adults, living below their own potentials, afraid of the effort it takes to taste real success.

Don’t be the hero in someone else’s business (because that’s what videogames are) — be the hero for yourself, in your own story.

Thank you so much for reading! This article is purely based on personal experience and opinion. It doesn’t contain any affiliate links!