A 6th-grade boy steals his father’s credit card and spends 40,000 rupees in a game called Free Fire. Gets hit at home. Feels guilty. And then takes his own life. A 10th-class boy in Hyderabad gave his life just because his mother refused him to play PUBG. In Andhra Pradesh, a 15-year-old boy hanged himself inside the bathroom and lost his life. Investigation happened, it seems that he lost a game of PUBG after that he was bullied a lot. Due to depression, he took this dangerous step. Today out of every four people playing online games, there are 3 people who are suffering from some kind of mental disease. But all this is not limited to just video games.

Work Pressure On Game Developers

Video game developers who work inside a big company develop these games. They are also used to work for 80-100 hours in a week. Popular games like Fortnite and Red Dead Redemption, their developers have also been used to work for 14-16 hours seven days a week.

An American video gaming company named Telltale makes its employees work from 3 in the night. And when the employees refused to do so, this company fired 200 employees in one stroke. Today here 3 out of 4 game developers have to work overtime and the sad part is that they are not paid any extra for this. Developers are deliberately forced to make these video games super Addictive. But you know that, From making games to playing games every person is in trouble today.

Video games are becoming a dangerous threat to people. These video game companies are controlling people in becoming mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. And the worst part is this is just the beginning. The game has just begun.

Timelines of Revolution

• 1940

The story begins in 1940 in New York when Edward Condon invented a computer that contained a game called a Nim. And soon after many people started making such games on computers. But the only problem was that at that time all these computers used to be very costly. And at that time, no one wanted to spend money on these boring games. But still, games on computers continued to be made.

• 1967

And finally, in 1967, a man named Ralph H. Baer made a device by which you can play video games by connecting to the television. With this invention, he got his name, “The father of video games. “

• 1971

Ralph sells a license of a device named Brown Box to a television manufacturing company named Magnavox. After which in 1972 Magnavox launched a commercial video game market named Magnavox Odessey with the help of Brown Box. Technology keeps on moving forward and new games keep coming. But then suddenly something changes.

• 1994

Sony launched its first PlayStation which was then called the biggest move in the gaming industry.

• 1997

Nokia launched a mobile called its Nokia 6110. Remember it had a game with snakes inside and after this one move, it became a huge revolution in the game industry. The Nokia 6110 is a phone whose price was also very low. And by the time this phone was launched within no time, the phone had become the need of every common man. Due to which the snake game became very popular.

• 2000

By the year 2000, Video games became a mainstream item.

• 2001

Microsoft entered the gaming market with the X-box. Competition keeps on increasing and a new era begins. The era of big-budget gaming.

• 2001 - Gta 3
• 2003 - Call of Duty
• 2004 - Half-life

And games like Assassins Creed in 2007 became very popular. And as the use of mobile phones and computers starts increasing. The gaming industry went on an evolution. You can see that initially Video games were invented for entertainment purposes only, something which you can enjoy. But if you look at things today then there is no longer a scene as an entertainment tool. Rather today gaming has become a multi-billion dollar capitalistic business.

Entertainment to Business

A business that will go to any lengths to get you to use their products. Gaming – has now become a dirty business game. Whatever the gaming industry is doing with you today, to understand those things. First, we have to go back in time a little bit. Days are a very good saying, If you want to make Billions, then make sure that your product is easily available to millions. Interestingly, As video games became popular, people started to find different ways to make money from them.

Today 55.19% of players play the games on mobile phones, 28.70% on PC and in consoles, only 16.11% of players play games. Today professional gamers started Live streaming on platforms like YouTube and Twitch platform. Because many people pay them money to see the thing. Just like you watch IPL players get paid for playing and this is where it starts to get dirty. Most of the people who are addicted to video games will find themselves saying this one thing that this is Esports. Just like you play cricket or badminton And also make their career by playing games.

How it works

So, it’s totally fine to play video games. Honestly, it is not their fault. Since the entire gaming industry is designed in such a way that it makes you feel that you are doing something with your life. You are given the feeling of achievement without achieving anything. And you keep on playing. I’ll show you how this works. If you just look at things from the top. So, in the gaming industry, you will see something like this game developers make games, followed by gaming companies such as Ubisoft, Tencent, and Valve.

All these companies buy these games from game developers. There are also support companies inside this entire cycle. Companies that manufacture hardware of PC like NVIDIA and mobile companies that manufacture mobile phones like Xiaomi, One Plus, etc. Basically, Game developers make the software, and the support companies make the hardware to run that game. After this these gaming companies used these 2 models to launch the game paid Model and Freemium Model. After which the game is tested. And the game comes in the hands of the players and the video game players are of these 2 categories.

Number 1: The people who play the actual professional tournaments.

And Number 2: Popular people who do live streaming on platforms like YouTube and Twitch

But you know what this is just one side of the story. Reality looks like this.

Categories of Players

Gaming industries are divided in 2 different parts, casual gaming and Esports. And it depends on your level of play, whether you are a part of casual gaming or esports. There are 3 levels within the industry. Beginner, Intermediate, and Professional. The one who is a beginner earns hardly any money, the one who is intermediate earns some money by doing all these things like YouTube, live streaming, etc. And those who are professional those people play actual tournaments and those people earn real money.

So, you see those who are beginners fall under the category of casual gaming. Those who are intermediate are not beginners, they do not do casual gaming but they are not professional gamers either. So, they don’t come under the category of esports. And those who are professional gamers these people actually come in the category of esports. Those who are beginners want to reach intermediate and professional levels. But in real sports most of the people who start, these people never reach from a beginner to a professional level and it’s completely ok.

But you know what, the caches that a person playing video games at a beginner level video games and sports considers both these things the same. But there is a very big difference i.e., when you play any normal sport like table tennis, cricket, or basketball in all those cases if you know that you will not reach the professional level. So, either you give up that sport or you keep it going just as a hobby. But this thing video games, like PUBG, Fortnite, and Call of Duty in all these cases, This thing are not applicable.

Most people know that they will never be able to become professional players. But those people are not able to leave this thing even if they want. But why? After all, video games are like other sports. Not at all. You see in today’s date. All of us have reduced attention spending very much. We cannot blame anyone for this thing. It’s complicated. The truth is that video games are designed to keep you addicted to them. But how? You know it all starts with this 1 thing. The Hook of Addiction.

Addiction

These 3 things happen inside the hook of addiction.

1. High Score: High scores make you feel that you have achieved something. You are doing something better than before, which puts you in a competitive space. Competition with your own high score, Competition with the other player’s high score. Which is followed by the second element,
2. Level UP: Video games are filled with levels and this thing is done deliberately. So that you get a high status, powerful position, and a recognition feeling. You go level after level and you don’t even know. That is when you have become emotionally attached to that game. But in the very first place, How do we reach this high score and level up stage? Well. This is where the third element comes in Social validation.
3. Social Validation: In my friends circle everyone used to play PUBG. And it is very obvious that’s when something like this happens. The one who doesn’t play the game can’t match the conversation, Vibe, feel, or anything of that whole group. Moreover, in such groups the more status, achievements, and collectory items you have within that game. The more respect you will get within that entire group. And guess what, to try it all. I also downloaded the game and I’m 100% sure that most of you must have downloaded the game for the same reason.

But once you start playing it things start to change. Having fun, Having a lot of fun, Hitting levels, Getting chicken dinner, Getting respect within social circles, and boom, Welcome to the addicted world of gaming.

Skinner Box, The addictive game Design 1950, a Well-Known Psychologist B.F. Skinner discovered that human behavior can be controlled by using these 2 things. Stimulus and Rewards. Whenever you complete a task in any game, your brain releases Dopamine. Tasks, items, and game missions are consciously placed in the games. So that you take an action and when you complete them, you get rewards and this system keeps you hooked.

Payment

There is a battle pass system in Fortnite that costs you around 10 dollars for 10 weeks in which you get a chest and objectives and when you complete them you get rewarded. If you observe things very carefully, you can see that the pricing is set in the game in this way.

Number 1, You pay “X” amount, and you get everything and

Number 2, You pay “Y” amount which is very less than “X” amount and you get a chance that you can achieve many things by playing the game

You know what whenever both these options are placed in front of a child. So, every time he is likely to choose option B. Why? Because Option B gives him such an option, In which he gets the chance to achieve many things by paying very little money.

• PUBG

With 2 billion dollars in revenue, PUBG became the highest-grossing game in 2020. But do you know that how did PUBG it all? One word, Gifts. PUBG offers rewards to these people free cosmetics upgrades, and achievements for playing regularly, and people spend their valuable time, playing PUBG to collect as many items and titles as possible.

I stand for Indifference, free users always get fewer goods than premium users and that indifference helps PUBG to sell his Royal Passes. F stands for fear of missing out sessions with ranking systems in case you miss playing sessions. Then you miss an opportunity to collect the rare items. T stands for trust. PUBG ensures that there is no manipulation in the game and your in-game ranking and collective items are always protected. And the last and most importantly S stands for social proof. The better you play PUBG your social group where everyone plays PUBG there you will get much more social validation.

The reason why are we stuck to games?

I know what you are thinking that I play only for a while I play with alarm. That’s all I have to play for this long but have you ever thought that even after doing all these things, why do you end up spending hours and hours on these video games? Well, one word Compulsion loop. And this is how it works. Every video game is designed in this way. It uses the principle of re-inforcement and re-inforcement is used in two ways.

1. Variable reinforcement: you play video games and you get variable rewards at variable levels. You don’t even know at which level you will get the reward Aland because the reward is variable. You keep on playing it you start playing, and you cross the easy level. A tough level comes. The game gets tougher thinking of quitting the game. But you won’t be able to because this is where the second type of reinforcement comes in and that is negative reinforcement.
2. Negative Reinforcement: When you leave the game you will be punished. Candy Crush, Dota 2, PUBG almost every game has a negative re-enforcement attached and it’s very simple. All of this is done so that you perform a behavior to avoid the negative outcome. And that behavior is you keep on playing the game. But this is not the end you see Reinforcement works well only when there is one principle working very strongly and that is the near-miss effect.

When have you ever wondered, why people keep playing for hours, even after losing within the casinos? I’ll tell you, because every time they get realize that they were very close to victory and just missed a little. The near-miss effect is the same thing video games also use. So that you always feel that you were very close to winning so, you don’t give up. Maybe you win next time and you keep on playing.

In any game, easy levels give you a dopamine head and hard levels make you feel inferior your friend has cracked the level of the game, which you are not able to you are tensed, you feel bad about yourself, your Anxiety is increasing, something has to be done, the level has to be cracked, new items have to be collected, want new weapons. Basically, You are in a compulsion loop. You are just looking for one thing.

The one thing that makes you feel superior to your friends, you don’t want to be a loser, you want to win and then there is a way a path that will make you the most powerful of all your friends, in your entire circle. You want that status, you want that validation and you make a decision. The decision to convert from a free user player to a premium user and you are trapped.

You buy that royal pass, you buy that membership and now there is no stopping because once you start paying. It is very hard to stop but why so? It doesn’t happen to you anywhere else. Well, it all happens to you because of this one thing and that is the dissociation effect.

Dissociation Effect

In the majority of cases, You will see virtual currencies inside video games something which you can earn, buy, and spend but what happens when you spend real money in games? Now look at this very carefully, In the majority of cases, whenever you spend money inside a game in return, you are given the currency of that game. So, you see money is replaced with money without any cash transaction and this thing is done deliberately to reduce the spending friction.

In very simple words, whenever you see when you spend cash you feel that you have spent money but all the payments are digital inside the games. So that you never feel that how much money you have spent and as a result, you spend more video games lets you associate with virtual money by dissociating with real money.

So that you never get the feeling of how much actual real money you have spent inside that game and not only that to earn money, free-to-play games also use progress gates, there are 2 types of progress gates.

• Number 1, Hard progress gate

A place where you are restricted to play as soon as you lose. The game lost, Replay, Pay money, Something which happens inside casinos.

• And Number 2, the Soft progress gate

Inside this, the user is restricted for a time period, that is, you have been banned from playing for a few hours or a few days. You can buy a pass by paying money.

Conclusion

Video games that use a combination of Hard progress gates and soft progress gates to get as much money out of your pocket as possible and regretfully, you can never get out of these things. You keep on playing you keep on spending but what is the solution? Quit playing video games.

Well, it depends. It’s true that a lot of people have made their career playing video games. But it is also true that video games have ruined the lives of millions of people forever. The only solution to this problem is Self-awareness and Self-control you need to know how and what these video games are doing to you and you should know where to stop.

Honestly, Until and unless you want to do it professionally or build a career out of it. Stay away from video games because even if you are playing it for free, you’re not even spending money. Still, you are paying for it. Even if you play for free you are not spending money, paying with your time. Time that can never be bought back with money because the time is gone, it’s gone and you also want to increase your performance by enhancing the focus of your mind. 

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