“It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.”
-Bruce Wayne (Batman Begins, 2005)
Although online games have traditionally been touted to be distractions from work and deemed to have no real-world value, recent studies have managed to show otherwise.
Researchers have discovered that the amount of time players spend on online gaming could be a major factor influencing their motivation for cooperation and achievement. This is partly due to the fact that designers are increasingly making games that are more open-ended This is also because players are immersed into the game to such an extent that there is a belief that they are their character, actively making the everyday choices that, down the road, have profound effects on the character’s (and consequently their own) development. (Related Post:Social Games for a Social Change)
This is why online games have so much more of an effect on a person’s behavior compared to activities such as watching TV or reading. Activities such as reading or watching TV are classified as passive: That is to say that the person cannot make decisions to affect an outcome. Active involvement in games lets players have a stake as to how their characters will end up, and because cooperation is a major factor that determines how far players get into the game, players are more inclined to work together, as well as to be more socially aware.
Let’s break this down, shall we: Imagine you were to be playing with a team on a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game and one of your team members were to be selfish, always looting more than his or her fair share of treasure. You’d probably not feel very happy about the whole thing, and should this particular person come to you later on in the game asking to form a party, it’s likely that you’d think twice about agreeing.
In this way, social gaming mechanics subscribe to psychologist B.F Skinner’s theory of reinforcement, which speaks of strengthening certain behavioral patterns by rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior. Players, throughout the game, are thus slowly conditioned to behave better socially.
Professor Jane McGonigal from the Institute for the Future believes that gamers are all looking for an “epic win” – a quest of unparalleled magnitude that can change the status quo. She admits that unlike in games, such cases rarely happen in the real world, as rewards might not necessarily follow virtuous acts, and disincentives might not be dealt for misdeeds. The interesting thing is, she has found that gamers tend to be fiercely optimistic and extremely cooperative when it comes to solving monumental tasks. This means that they truly believe that with help, they can do whatever it takes to succeed. Prof. McGonigal posits that if we could bridge the gap between games and reality, this optimism and teamwork could be harnessed for productive purposes.
And the beauty of it all is that in-game choices made by players are just that: Active choices made by rational people.
It is increasingly the case that in today’s world, we are all part of a collective effort to make an impact. Our individual choices matter that much more now, because they have the power to shape the future. And in the end, only our choices and what we do about them truly define us.
Zhang Wenjie, Shaun
Shaun is the staff writer here at MatchMove Games.
