Videogames Fill Psychological Needs for Players

codegen writes "The CBC (among others) is reporting that researchers at the University of Rochester and Immersyve Inc. have released a study indicating that people enjoy video games because they satisfy a psychological need. The study showed that the interrelations between players in MMOGs were particularly important. From the article: 'Gamers said they felt the best about their experience when the games they played produced positive outcomes in scenarios related to the real world ... The researchers evaluated players' motivations in virtual worlds by asking four groups of people to play different games, including a genre known as massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, which some industry watchers regard as the future of video games.'"

So wait, are all videogames MMOGs now?

I don't know about anyone else, but I play to escape, not to feel fulfilled about anything of the real world.

Re:So wait, are all videogames MMOGs now?

You can, and some people do, escape by digging a hole in your back yard and moving in. (The deeper, the better the escape)

Video games are more fulfilling than the hole. Better games are more fulfilling than not so good games, although we are seeing some MMOGs that are achieving a low-level, lizard-brain kind of fulfillment that is more adicting than good-for-you.

Re:So wait, are all videogames MMOGs now?

Video games are more fulfilling than the hole.

You never played DaiKatana, did you?

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They tested other kinds of games too.
Here's the abstract [metapress.com] It's kinda saying. Folks feel good when they play video games, rather, when they feel good, while a player's needs are met while they play a game, they are likely to enjoy it more, and play more.

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I'll expand a little on what need I think MMOs fill. MMO games fill a need that life does not. In the MMO your character always progresses forward. It's hard to 'fail' in an MMO and even if you do you can walk away. You can't really just walk away from fai

Not just MMOGs

It's not just MMOGs that have this fulfillment/achievement mechanic. Platformers, for years, have had "collect all 100 widgets in this level" goals. RPGs have tons of various side quests and extra missions you can do. Action and adventure games have comple

Re:So wait, are all videogames MMOGs now?

Reminds me of one of the opening taglines on a Futurama episode:

"Not a substitute for human interaction."

Duh

The need is called entertainment.

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I dont play for "entertainment" as much as I am entertained by what the game offers. Competition, strategic thinking, social aspects (MMO), and others depending on the game. I go to a movie, read, or watch TV more for pure entertainment than I do with game

Re:Duh

I dont play for "entertainment" as much as I am entertained by what the game offers.

I don't eat for "sustenance" as much as I am sustained by what food offers.

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What you want is called beer. It helps you relax, but it also tastes good and is good for your health. It doesn't need upgrading every nine months, either.

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I too am entertained by what the game offers. Run around looking for "mines," gathering pelts, working on "trade skills," killing things repeatedly for hours on end. They really expect me to pay to do that? That's entertaining alright.

Doesn't it seems obvious to you?

... indicates that people enjoy video games because they are satisfying at a fundamental psychological level.

... but instead a sense of achievement, freedom and even social connectedness.

The draw of video games "also can be experienced as enhancing psychological wellness, at least short-term," ...

Everything in this article seems pretty obvious to me... Just put some researchers playing WoW for a week and I bet a better research would came out.

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Everything in this article seems pretty obvious to me... Just put some researchers playing WoW for a week and I bet a better research would came out.

But that's what they did: this report was obviously written while waiting for a rezz.

Re:Doesn't it seems obvious to you?

Well, indirectly it says something which everyone knows yet doesn't say ...

Gamers are looking for a sense of achievement meaning they don't actually have to achieve anthing to feel fulfilled with a game. I have noticed (personally) that when I am playing a MMORPG the game is a lot of fun until I get to the point where I see no worthwhile accomplishment left to complete; essentially, where the game has become mostly about grinding and nothing else.

Damn it...

How come when I sign up for trials I never get to play MMOGs. All they ever want to do is feed me something that might kill me or put things where there not supposed to go.

This just in

People also enjoy sunshine, sexual activity, and singing in the rain. Some of these are also enjoyed in a massively multiplayer environment.

Re:This just in

People also enjoy sunshine, sexual activity, and singing in the rain. Some of these are also enjoyed in a massively multiplayer environment.
 
 

Link? :)

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Okay, but you asked for it though:

Loving Choice Adoption in Second Life [somethingawful.com] -- A virtual adoption agency where people wishing to sexually roleplay as children are able to meet pedophile partners.

I play videogames because...

...well, for a few reasons I suppose.

1. They can be damned fun.
2. They continually make my brain keep working, continually trying out new tactics.
3. Many a LAN party are included in my top 10 favorite memories of my entire life.
4. There are parts of the gaming community that are fantastic and allow for great friendships to come about.
5. They provide a fun alternative to the daily grind (much like drugs)
6. They have the ABILITY to be educational
7. They provide a safe place for the dark desires that dwell within all of us to be satiated. Afterall, would you rather someone be killing people on screen, or people on the street?

As far as fulfilling some psychological need, I wouldn't put myself in that group...however, I don't dispute it either; I know many people who are anti-social, have anxiety, are overly shy, have aspergers, or various other things that prevent them from interacting properly face to face. Put them behind a WoW toon though, and suddenly they become open and talkative and friendly.

Video games to me are a fantastic form of entertainment. They are similar to reading, the difference being instead of working your imagination, they work your reasoning and reaction. They require you to part with "daily reality", however, and embrace a different world. This is most definately not a bad thing when used in moderation.

Last but not least, it serves for a way for me and my fiance to bond...granted, there are many lonely gamers out there, but for geeks and nerds who are lucky enough to have a spouse who is just as geeky and nerdy...well, playing video games with a spouse who not only wants to but EXPECTS to brings about some amazingly fun times.

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I don't need any psychoanalytical reason why, I simply play video games because they are fun to play.

It's the same reason I'm involved with geocaching [mngca.org] and post "articles" and photos to my website...

Slow news day.

The reason is obvious

We like videogames (and films and TV drama series) simply because we lead exceedingly boring lives, whether we realize it or not.

Just take this simple test: would the last 24 hours of your life make for a good season of "24"? Would anyone watch it?

Re:The reason is obvious

Just take this simple test: would the last 24 hours of your life make for a good season of "24"?

Not all of them, unlike Jack Bauer I occasionally excrete or sleep.

Would anyone watch it?

Maybe if I had big boobs.

Re:The reason is obvious

Would anyone watch it?

Maybe if I had big boobs.

As the posters name is 'Rob T Firefly', I suspect that even if he did have big boobs not many would watch.

man boobs
(shudder)

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Not all of them, unlike Jack Bauer I occasionally excrete or sleep.

But you've got to admit that a phone that never needs charging would be handy...

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Thats not fair. The last season of "24" didn't make for a good season of "24". And they have writers. All I have is normal stupid encounters.

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[...]because we lead exceedingly boring lives[...]

Speak for yourself.... life would probably be less boring if you'd go out and do something instead of sitting playing a video game in the first place!

Anyway, I'd suggest that they serve as not merely a pass

The Opposite

On top of putting in 60+ hours a week, I try to fit in 4 or 5 hours of WoW. The problem I've noticed, though, is I grind all day at work (estimate this, meet this deadline, get this much money, get promoted), then go home and grind in the WoW (sell in the AH, complete this quest, get this much gold, gain a level). I wish someone would use all this MMOG press hype to find out how to make me like work more. Maybe they could call me an Undead Mage instead of an Idustrial Planner. And I could wear a mohawk.

It's about the timescale

On top of putting in 60+ hours a week, I try to fit in 4 or 5 hours of WoW. The problem I've noticed, though, is I grind all day at work (estimate this, meet this deadline, get this much money, get promoted), then go home and grind in the WoW (sell in the

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Or in some industries, your life.

Oh, don't sound so pessimistic!

Those players just chose to hit the "reset" button to try again with a new character, rather than trying to salvage their current one with a large time penalty.

Leveling

It's a lot more difficult to level up at work. You usually need an enormous amount of experience to level up. Some poor saps never level up at all, not even after 20 years of grinding. Others level up quickly, not because they have the necessary experience, but because they're good buddies with the guild leader. That makes it much more frustrating than WoW.

If I got a pay raise after a week of grinding, I'd sure enjoy work a lot more.

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Oh, come now. Work's not so far from your average D&D RPG. Most of your work colleagues will already have been slowed, with a duration of several days, and some may have been blinded or deafened as well. Your office will be under the effects of an ice

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I wish someone would use all this MMOG press hype to find out how to make me like work more.

Work is just work - it's *you*, sat at *your* desk, in *your* office, in *your* world, doing *your* job.

WoW (and any other game) is different - it's *you*, being *s

Re:The Grind

This is the reason I stopped playing WoW after a while, most players were simply interested in achieving higher levels or bigger stats, not actually role playing. Playing WoW I got the feeling that, after a while, all I was doing was hitting an addition bu

Different games...

Based on my own experiences, I would say that single player games offer escapes from reality, and multi-player games fulfill psychological needs.

Reasoning? Pacman and space invaders are immersive escapes from reality. When you're sitting there controlling some pixels (or vectors if you're really old school) on a screen without interacting with anyone else around you, you have escaped our reality to enter another one for a time.

But in Counter-Strike, you can fulfill your basic psychological need to shoot annoying teenagers in the face. When the game is multi-player, it's just a disguise, an extension of the reality we live in. You interact with other real people, and kill them, or sell them blue items for gold, or zerg their base and capture their flags. It's still reality, but minus the consequences one usually faces for equivalent actions.

That's my take on it, at least.

Of all the things I *COULD* be...

I'm a gamer.

I could be an alcoholic. I could be abusive. I could be a prick. I could be an asshole. I could be any combination of the aforementioned, or even more that I haven't mentioned.

All that said, I come home after work, turn in Counterstrike: Source (don't give me shit about 1.6!), and play for about an hour. After this my mind is at ease. I'm relaxed. I make dinner, clean the house, and a lot of the crap that I deal with during the day disappears.

There is an obvious escape from reality, and the bonus is that when you are done playing, the reality you HAD is put in the back of your mind. You're fresh off a high from 20 kills straight, or you got the high score. Your mind is happy, and happy thoughts ensue.

And the only thing I did was burn a little electricity and time. And I'm still not an asshole. Yet.

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LOL... that's a good one, but I'm an MP5/M4/AK kinda guy :)

Synthetic Achievement

I quit EQ2 when I realized I was getting a buzz not off of the fun gameplay, the fun community, and the fun world to explore, but rather from the Virtual Accomplishements that got dispensed to me at regular intervals like a fish biscuit for the clever cage

Re:Synthetic Achievement

I've gotta agree with this assessment. What I find dangerous about gaming, RPG's in specific is how I personally have experianced displacing *MY* personal growth with my *character's* personal growth. Humans have a need for change and development and when you can satisfy that need from a character that you are associating with yourself rather than actually doing something to develop your own life.... I don't think that's such a good thing.

That being said, do with your lives whatever you see fit. It's none of my buisiness. I just personally have given up RPG's because of this realization.

Adarn

I think it might be true...

Ever since I met my S.O., my gaming habits have slipped through the cracks in favor of her. I've just lost the desire to play games. I'm not sure what psychological need there was before that she might be filling, but I've wondered for a while if the event

Significant real world benefits of Mmorgs.

1) greatly improved ability to "chit chat"
2) greatly improved ability to flirt casually.
3) managing a guild of 90 members made managing a team of 22 people at work easy.
4) managing the logistics of a large guild's advancement made managing the logistics of large projects easier.
5) greatly increased confidence
6) greatly increased ability to let everyone bitch and stay above it (a "rare" quality commented on by senior management to me recently).
7) greatly increased skill with alcohol that has lead to being able to hold interesting conversations about Port and other fine drinks with afficianados. (it was a drinking guild and we get together for annual boozy fun parties and that lead to my fall from near teetotaler status).
8) led to RL buds that has led to two extra RL skiing trips (one in whistler) which lead to two 22 year old pretty blond australian girls dancing and flirting with me because I was a texan cowboy. which is funny since I'm in my 40's.

There may be more.

There were downsides.
At the height of my addiction, I let my real personal life go to hell for about 24 months. It was pretty much - work 8 hours, play 8 hours, sleep/bathe/eat in the other 8 hours. It was a magical world that did fill all my needs and then one day in 2002ish I finally got full and got back on with life. I still play 7 to 15 hours a week.

It definitely contributed to carpal tunnel (tho my job does that anyway).

It lead me to be much less idealistic and much more realistic about how many people (80%) out there are users (some purposely- more subconciously).\
It lead me to appreciate those people who are real (i'd say about 20%?).

Guess I'm just odd like that...

...but I enjoy games that put me in scenarios I could never see in the real world, and most of which I would never want to. Scenarios that test my ability to think quickly and make complex tactical decisions.

In other words, RTS (CoH is my current favorite)

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I normally enjoy RTSs as well, but stopped playing after AoE3. I picked up the beta for Supreme commander... I'm not sure if I'm rusty or it is simply insanely difficult. Either way; I still haven't won a skirmish.

DUH!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8559768703 059919910 [google.com]

MMOGS are the future?

"(MMO) games, which some industry watchers regard as the future of video games."

If that's the case, the industry will lose this gamer. I don't have the time, energy or interest to even look at a MMOG. I played several MUDS while attending highschool and

Do you mean......

We're all a bunch of gun toting serial killers at heart? May be they're right? If your twelve year old son is playing a Barbie dress up video game I wouldn't count on grand kids.

Amazing but true!

I wouldn't have thought a video game could have a need, although for a player I guess is something a game might need. The question is (perhaps I should have RTFA): how do they fill it? Some people fill their need for sex with ice cream.

Certainly this is

Possibly, yes:

GTA & rest of the kill-'em-all games give you the possibility to safely exercise your desire to destroy. In those games, you only develop in terms of becoming a more proficient killer. In those games, being a good killer means you are good.

Games like T

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In that case I guess I have some desire deep down to run arond in a mine field and hope I don't fine a mine and get a frowny face!

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"No one's ever going to change things from their living room."

You obviously haven't listened to dr dre's account of his LA riots experience. It begins;

Sittin in my livin room calm and collected
Feelin mad, gotta get mine respected

You can't change anything.