Anders recently took a class on how video games are designed to be addictive (by a video game programmer). The most insane thing he told me that he learned was that the YouTube channel CocoMelon -- they do all the nursery rhyme songs for babies and toddlers -- is owned by video game companies. The songs and the videos that accompany them feature popular sounds from popular video games and popular movements and images from popular games. This is done in such a sneaky way that no parent would ever recognize that their baby is being primed to love these sounds and movements, but in such a way that children who listened to or watched CocoMelon as babies/toddlers/preschoolers instantly fall in love with video games when they are exposed to them later. Apparently this channel has funneled millions of kids to the video game industry....
Also, anytime your older kid hears your younger kid listening to CocoMelon songs, your older kid will suddenly start thinking about (and wanting to play) video games to which he has been exposed.
In the class he took, he was told that Dungeons and Dragons is the best video game alternative. Apparently it cannot be addictive because it is too slow.
While we are on the subject of video game addiction: Anders has been saddened over the last few years to find that some of his friends no longer enjoy doing pretty much anything except play video games. As I was looking for information on video game addiction, I found this amazing article:
https://gamequitters.com/im-addicted-to-gaming-and-i-need-help/
I love this article because it shows the path of addiction--the knowing you have a problem, getting clean, and then getting addicted again. Every time the guy returns to gaming Anders would say, "He STILL hasn't learned that's a bad idea!?!"
That is interesting, but I don't think it is much of a concern compared to what really drives kids to addiction. Having an unfulfilled life is the biggest issue. Especially when kids are sent to an 8 hour government baby sitter and become depressed since they aren't able to pursue what interests them. I can't blame kids for wanting to escape reality when they are in that situation. It happened to me when I was in school.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about making an addictive video game is having it be fun. Of course a designer would strive for that. The most devious tactic that they use though, is intermittent rewards to keep people hooked. This is done a lot in mobile games. For some games that is their entire function. Look at any hourly/daily/weekly rewards. It hooks you in through dopamine release. Dr. Andrew Huberman has a great podcast episode on dopamine. I highly recommend listening to it to understand how our reward pathways work and how they are overstimulated in today's society. He has another episode on addiction that is really fascinating as well.