I think the main problem is that as a kid or a young teen, there’s not much to do that gives you any sense of purpose.
Unless you have strict parents who make you do sports or music, your only obligation is school, which is not very exciting. You might have hobbies, but since you haven’t achieved much in life yet, you have no concept of how far you can take things.
Games make all this super easy for you. They lay out the rules very clearly: “If you want The Glowing Sword of FU (and you want other players to admire you for it) you’ll have to collect 500 magic mushroom caps and slay the 4 centaurs terrorizing the village every night.” So not only do you KNOW IT’S ACHIEVABLE, but you GET A ROADMAP of how to get there. (This is also where YouTube and twitch comes in where you can learn from experts, analyze their techniques, or just experience the game vicariously through their progress.)
But basically the game becomes something you understand and know you can get good at.
They’re designed to be easy to jump into and start progressing very fast. Sooner or later you'll understand the whole game and decide what you want to go after. You can start setting goals and know exactly what you need to do in order to reach them. Also, even if you have massive goals, there are milestones along the way with smaller rewards, so you’ll constantly feel like you’re progressing and that keeps you focused.
Now compare this to how complicated and vague things are in real life, especially for a kid. Throw in all the misinformation and stupid advice you get in school, conventional wisdom about talent, privilege and entrepreneurs starving while working on their impossible dreams... Why would you do ANYTHING in life when games give you so much more encouragement and hope? (and dopamine)
So as a kid, or even as an adult who hasn’t had much success in life, a game that offers a clear way to success and status, encourages fearless experimenting, and rewards minimal progress... beats real life any day of the week, no question.
-----
If I was a parent (I’m not) I’d try to find a way to apply what games do so well (encouraging experimentation, breaking down goals into actionable missions, measuring and rewarding progress, etc.) and essentially help my kids gamify their life so it can compete with the games.
Also it's probably not a bad idea to limit their passive dopamine sources (including video games) and give them a chance to be bored out of their little minds so that they can find out what else interests them.
Unless you have strict parents who make you do sports or music, your only obligation is school, which is not very exciting. You might have hobbies, but since you haven’t achieved much in life yet, you have no concept of how far you can take things.
Games make all this super easy for you. They lay out the rules very clearly: “If you want The Glowing Sword of FU (and you want other players to admire you for it) you’ll have to collect 500 magic mushroom caps and slay the 4 centaurs terrorizing the village every night.” So not only do you KNOW IT’S ACHIEVABLE, but you GET A ROADMAP of how to get there. (This is also where YouTube and twitch comes in where you can learn from experts, analyze their techniques, or just experience the game vicariously through their progress.)
But basically the game becomes something you understand and know you can get good at.
They’re designed to be easy to jump into and start progressing very fast. Sooner or later you'll understand the whole game and decide what you want to go after. You can start setting goals and know exactly what you need to do in order to reach them. Also, even if you have massive goals, there are milestones along the way with smaller rewards, so you’ll constantly feel like you’re progressing and that keeps you focused.
Now compare this to how complicated and vague things are in real life, especially for a kid. Throw in all the misinformation and stupid advice you get in school, conventional wisdom about talent, privilege and entrepreneurs starving while working on their impossible dreams... Why would you do ANYTHING in life when games give you so much more encouragement and hope? (and dopamine)
So as a kid, or even as an adult who hasn’t had much success in life, a game that offers a clear way to success and status, encourages fearless experimenting, and rewards minimal progress... beats real life any day of the week, no question.
-----
If I was a parent (I’m not) I’d try to find a way to apply what games do so well (encouraging experimentation, breaking down goals into actionable missions, measuring and rewarding progress, etc.) and essentially help my kids gamify their life so it can compete with the games.
Also it's probably not a bad idea to limit their passive dopamine sources (including video games) and give them a chance to be bored out of their little minds so that they can find out what else interests them.
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