Hacker News Reader

Comment by trwhite | Hacker News Reader

Video games are immensely addictive. The burst of adrenaline some of the recent online FPS' give me doesn't compare to any other feeling or experience I've had as a human being. They didn't just happen to be this way. They have been designed to be so thrilling that normal life cannot compete.

View on HN

> They have been designed to be so thrilling that normal life cannot compete.

Maybe today's normal life, at least for us in the developed world. But I'd wager that spear hunting a wild animal in the woods with your fellow tribe-mates is far more thrilling and rewarding than any video game.

That could be the issue, our brains don't differ from our ancestors who did things like those, regular life today lacks life-threatening thrill which could be the reason of growing addictions.

I know of a phenomenon present among some peoples in Siberia, the part of the tribe that lives out in the wilderness following reindeer live a tough life but depression among those tribe-members is non-existent. While those living in the towns have substance abuse problems and high suicide rates.

I’ve never gone spear hunting but I did play paintball once. It was thrilling, and when I woke up the next day I was more sore that I’d ever been in my life (including playing varsity sports). I realized that’s because it was the closest I’d ever come to ‘running for my life’.

FPS mimic the pleasure of this experience, but without the physical engagement. It’s like the refined carbs version of hunting.

Really wish CQB paintball was more popular in the US. I’d love to play the equivalent of SWAT or Rainbow Six with paintball, but most of it these days seems to be “spray thousands of balls at large inflatable barriers on a tennis court hoping to mark a bit of your opponent’s elbow”. The CTF events seem fun, but I want something more like a Battlefield round if it’s going to be like that.

Try playing with one hopper of ammo a round. You can't create Lanes of fire and denial without an obscene amount of paint.

Try rock climbing, snowboarding, kite surfing, mountain biking, etc…all quite popular among my friends and colleagues in the tech industry and all quite thrilling.

Luckily, there are still tons of accessible activities with choose-your-own levels of risk and excitement that involve physical effort instead of focusing on a screen.

"regular life today lacks life-threatening thrill"

The problem is not that surfing isn't exciting or life threatening, the problem is that most jobs in accounting, HR, etc. Are soul crushing.

I have friends who dropped out of college to play video games all day and that was years ago. The games today are even more addictive. They eventually learned that was a dead end and got their lives back on track but the addiction did active harm to their lives in the short run and cost them/their parents thousands of dollars for sure.

Edit: TBF this is a chicken/egg problem, people have been dropping out of school forever and maybe the video games were the outlet for their stress, but I don't think we can simply act like all is fine while making games targeting adolescents as addictive as possible.

Once, after a particularly intense fight in EVE Online I found my hands shaking.

The only other occasion I surpassed that level of adrenaline was in Iraq in 2007.

EVE is a very special game. I’d attribute the rush more to all interactions being unscripted, fights to occur relatively rare and having pretty tangible value on the line.

It definitely doesn’t compete very well for attention.

Personally, it was quite effective at garnering my attention - so much so that I cancelled my subscription when I returned to college.

While I've enjoyed many FPS' over the years the rush just doesn't compare with my own physical experiences. I cited EVE because - in my personal experience - it did manage to very briefly simulate that sense of danger.

Is adrenaline really involved significantly in addiction, other than in specific people who enjoy that sort of thrill? As far as my own experience goes, adrenaline is uncomfortable and something I avoid all else equal.

Isn't for a game to be thrilling usually the ultimate goal? I'm not concerned about games being fun to play, that's what they are for. I'm more concerned about the dopamine exploiting patterns implemented in modern games, especially those targeted at younger gamers.

I think it depends on the person. I am an avid gamer (have all consoles and a high end Pc) but despise all multiplayer games! I love RPG and strategy games… the less frenetic the gameplay the better! For me it’s all about the story, the immersion in a new world and the mental challenge! I don’t understand how people can waste time shooting around at random people!

I find the online games very addictive but for a lot of the time they aren't very enjoyable and then for a brief period they are very exciting (the adrenaline I'm speaking about). The game that resonated with me most emotionally was The Last of Us: Part 2 but I couldn't play it regularly or I think it would lose its charm. I generally feel quite conflicted about gaming because of this: there are games (like TLOU) that I'm glad to have experienced, but the ones that I spend the most time playing are only enjoyable some of the time (usually when I win). I think this is what I define as my own addiction: continuing to do something that doesn't bring me pleasure.

I think you actually pointed out the true reason of the addiction! It’s the victory… the need to feel like you achieved something… the satisfaction of winning… it doesn’t matter if to get there it was a chore as long as you feel accomplishment! When I play I don’t look for victory… I look for entertainment (a good story, nice lore, good characters) and a challenge with myself! If the game is not fun all the time I just abandon it! My time is precious… and since I am content with my level of accomplishment in life I don’t seek validation in games! (Mind I do not imply you are not accomplished… it’s about self perception)

> The burst of adrenaline some of the recent online FPS' give me doesn't compare to any other feeling or experience I've had as a human being.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu matches up. Various forms of racing will also hit the same pathways in the brain.

Hard to achieve for sure.

One thing that happened to be though, is that once I got really skilled at physical things, going back and playing games was a lot more boring. It is like the artificial reward loop didn't work anymore once I'd tasted the real thing.

(Either that or I got old enough that my reaction times dropped sufficiently so I wasn't one of the top bad asses playing FPSs so I wasn't having as much fun! ;) )

This isn't anything new. Degrees have been lost to the temptations of something as plain as a MUD.

> Video games are immensely addictive.

No they aren't, and the suggestion that people could be "addicted" to video games makes a mockery of the concept of addiction.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com