Dangerous illusions of computer games

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The virtual reality created by games cannot but influence the person immersed in it. Whether this influence is bad or good - scientists have not yet given an answer. But, analyzing my own experience and the experience of my friends, I am inclined to believe that there is more bad than good in this influence. A lot more.

I want to say right away that this article is not a scientific report based on empirical research. There are enough scientific reports on the Web, the interpretations of which often prove diametrically opposed statements. So everyone can pick up a study that supports their point of view and not notice the others. It's a vicious circle.

Instead, I invite all of us to analyze our own experience and try to draw a conclusion. Agree, after all, a person bent over a toilet does not need scientific research to understand how dangerous it is to eat stale food.

Red dot game

First, let's figure out what a computer game is. Roughly speaking, a computer game is a person's control over the color of some pixels on the screen and an attempt to influence the color of other pixels through this control.

Most likely, you have amused yourself or have seen how others play with a cat using a laser pointer. It is difficult to say what is happening in the head of an animal at this moment, but in fact it is not much different from a person involved in a computer game.

Yes, we are wiser than a cat, and therefore one red dot is not enough for us - we have several million of them, and moreover of different colors.

And it doesn't matter to us whether the cat realizes that she is being fooled and is just having fun or taking everything seriously. The main question is whether the player understands that the colored dots are just a game, or is he taking it more and more seriously, which means that he is changing more, but more imperceptibly to himself, than he really wanted.

The illusion of development

Recently, more and more often I come across the opinion that computer games contribute to the development of a person's skills and abilities. But everything is not as simple as it might seem. There are various studies and reflections proving both the harm and the benefits of computer games. But so far, no study I'm familiar with that talks about benefits has shown how it manifests itself in the real world. Even physical labor gives more in this regard.

Has your reaction improved? Which exactly? General or the reaction of your fingers to what is happening on the screen? If the latter, what is the use of it in real life? And information about the work of our brain and the emergence of neural pathways suggests that in this case, the second option is more likely.

Improved strategic thinking or communication skills? No matter what we say, no game has such a variety of choices and interactions as real life. This means that computer games limit our skills and ability to think creatively and tunnel thinking.

There is another point of view: computer games are just a form of entertainment, and they cannot have any serious impact on the player.

The illusion of "no action", or the paradox of influence

But I know from my own experience how gamers love to share funny stories about glitches in reality. Broken mug? What's your first thought? "Ops, I had to save." And only then it comes to mind that this is reality, not a game. Here are some examples from my past.

Once I was going about my business, with my thoughts. And some marketer from the computer pavilion gave all his might to the columns: “Stalker of the free zone! Join the ranks of the "Duty"! " I shuddered, I began to look around and mentally grope for the AK-47. It was a second, but it was very real!

And also, when it happened to approach an abandoned dilapidated building, there was a feeling of danger, I wanted to cuddle up against the wall near the doorway and stealthily look inside. Although it was a clear sunny day, there were people around and I knew exactly what was safe inside. This feeling also arose for a second, but it was, and I noticed it.

I can tell such stories for a dozen issues of "Yeralash". And every gamer can compete with me in their number. As I said, gamers love to share stories like this. They also like to deny the unconscious influence of games on their behavior patterns, personality and moral choices.

The essence of the paradox

Knowing about all the glitches in reality, it is difficult to agree that the influence is limited only by them. Some might argue that in cases of behavior patterns and moral choices, no one has yet felt the impact of computer games. But this is understandable. After all, when we are overwhelmed with the desire to snuggle against the wall in the middle of the day or mentally grope for the AK-47, then we ourselves understand that such a reaction is ridiculous and pathological. But the normality of decisions to deceive, steal, show aggression and others like them, although it can be challenged in a moral sense, they are not pathological.

That is why we cannot always notice and associate a change in our attitude to lying or even to murder with our hobby for computer games. I am not saying that a person immediately becomes a killer when playing shooters, but his attitude cannot but change when he repeatedly makes such a choice in a computer game.

The fact that people take most of the game for reality is evidenced by their behavior: they dodge flying arrows, lean in the direction of a skid of the car, or freeze in indecision before a moral choice, even when they know that this will not affect the outcome of the game.

The way gamers perceive their gaming successes and achievements also speaks about the seriousness of gamers towards games.

The illusion of achievement

Once I boasted to my friend how I had put to flight the army of the Gauls, which outnumbered my legionaries three times. She was not impressed at all. Subsequently, I repeatedly encountered such a reaction and did not understand it for a long time, until I myself began to realize how much I value something that in fact does not mean anything.

What's the use of the fact that your character from a computer game is an 80th level elf, if you flunked a session, ruined a relationship, feed on all kinds of cheap rubbish, unshorn and smelling bad?

This, of course, is an extreme case, and I myself did not reach it, but I saw people like this. With all this, they consider themselves successful and are proud of their achievements. What has really changed? Only the color of the pixels on the computer screen.

You may never go to the extreme, but the illusion of achievement affects every player. It is not for nothing that the opportunity to show off game records in social networks and special communities has blossomed lately.

How does this affect real life? Negatively. A person has a desire for development and success. Satisfying this need in the virtual world, we thereby reduce it in the real world. And the more time we spend in artificial reality, the easier we agree with the present state of affairs in real life, more calmly accepting the "work → home → work" algorithm.

Computer games: execution cannot be pardoned

Where to put a comma in this classic amphibole is up to each of us. From my own experience, I know that saying goodbye to the red dot is not an easy decision and an equally difficult process.

Computer games help you to have fun, feel like a hero, escape reality and feel successful without much effort. This is not so easy to refuse.

But if you decide to abandon them, or at least limit the time of the game, then you need to understand: a void is formed that needs to be filled. Think about what can take the vacant space? Studying, family and friends, self-development, a useful hobby …

Better yet, find a worthy goal in real life, understand what is necessary to achieve it and leave computer games for it. This approach will not make goodbye easy, but it will make it much easier.

If you disagree with me, I am ready to listen to your opinion in the comments. In any case, whatever choice you make, make sure you make it. Be truly free.