Memes

Doing something constructive feels really good once you've finished and gotten a reward for accomplishing it. Games hijack this gratification system and instead trickle little rewards at you constantly so you always feel like you're accomplishing something.

Games are manipulating you and making you feel happy about progress that happens inside a game that isnt even real. But it works.

Real life is designed to be debt slavery, and for you to constantly run faster to get an education, a good job and a family. My girlfriend feels she is getting enough satisfaction in life from our kid and her gardening interest. I'm not feeling that way personally, and I wish there was something more exciting to look forward to, because life can be pretty boring if you don't feel excited about work and family.

I feel like games are a way to forget the boring real life for a while. But they are clearly manipulative.

Real life is boring because there is no feeling of any meaning to what we do. If we were living in a star trek society where you could be proud of humanity and what we are accomplishing, it would be easier to feel like we are doing good. But there is just no higher purpose to any of our current activities. So it's boring.

Human leaders are super primitive as well, and just depressing to watch. They are the worst of people, but being advertised as leaders.

I've never gotten around to actually reading up on this, but I've always suspected it has to do with the frequency of gratification. In real life you could study for 8 hours and, while you'll learn a lot, you don't get that dopamine (or whatever) hit until you complete the test, succeed at the project, etc. Games, however, are constructed so that you get little rewards at regular intervals to keep you hooked, like levels, new gear, etc. Some, particularly a lot of mobile games, obviously prey on susceptible people with that loop, but even "regular" games can get pretty addictive with that sort of progression.

(I'm far from anti-gaming. It's my main hobby. This is just my guess at how the psychology behind it works.)

Why does this game sound oddly familiar edit: I'm guessing windcraft, rlcraft or Hypixel skyblock

I mean, you keep bumping into stuff. Who do you think has to deal with those pain signals all the damn time?

Nah, not necessarily. I'm 40 and meant to be doing prep study for the Cytech exam and I've watched a grand total of one tutorial video, but I've put in almost 100 hours on Euro Truck Sim 2.

That has nothing to do with age. Most people nowadays are so used to instant gratification that they struggle with stuff that only helps them in the long term, me included. Last time I tried to seriously sit down and learn I caught myself doing dishes and watering plants after not even 30mins.

It's good if there are younger kids like me or even younger. We need some content to consume babyyyyy.