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The role of psychology in computer gaming

Computer Gaming. Comparing it to most of our human civilization, it is a relatively new phenomenon. It is something that seems so innocent and engaging that it garnered an audience that keeps growing like a wildfire spreading through a dry wheat field. What is the draw of this seemingly uncanny device? Why is it that humans once engaged, find it so difficult to withdraw?

I cannot say I have the answer to all the questions you might have. But I can provide what I've learnt over the course of my life, involved with this growing trend. Instead of quoting scientific findings, which are still relatively few and incomparable. I shall instead share a few personal experiences and observations that I have noted while doing research on this topic. I cannot say that it will be substantial because I've only started taking down observations from the last six years.

From a scientific point of view, Computer games are no different from any other anti-stress activity. This puts it in the same category as smoking, sports, getting high on drugs and even sex. People often use games to destress, something to make them feel better than they already are. And from this standpoint, you can see why computer gamers are just as susceptible to addiction as they are to all these other activities. You might see people getting addicted to drugs, smoking and sex.

But sports? Well if you consider high thrill activities such as sky diving and bungee jumping as thrill activities that have become professional sports with competitions, then you'd understand that those adrenaline junkies also have an addiction. That's why the term "adrenaline junkies" was coined in the first place, it was to classify the addiction that these thrill seekers had in their various thrill seeking activities.

I believe that now, you are quite tired of reading about the comparisons of Computer games to the other addiction laden activities. You want more information on Computer gamer's psychology. I suppose that when you look deep into every players' heads, you'd find out that everyone is driven to play with a rather wide range of motivation. Not every player who plays computer games, play it for the same reason. Every game has a genre, a genre was supposed to make the game appeal to only a group of players who have a liking to that particular genre of games.

However even within the group of supposedly like-minded genre lovers, the players still play the games for different reasons. Let me state a minor case study. Let's say


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

The role of psychology in computer gaming

  • 1 of 3

    by Albert Zhen

    Computer Gaming. Comparing it to most of our human civilization, it is a relatively new phenomenon. It is something that

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  • 2 of 3

    by Red Bull

    Computer gaming it's all about psychology. You need to know how the human mind works, so you can make good games.

    If you are

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  • by Maxwell Cynn

    Games have been part of our lives since the dawn of civilization and perhaps even before. Primitive peoples play many types

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