Gaming and Peer Pressure

Everyone loves to have fun. Literally everyone. Well, maybe not everyone, but most people that have a functioning cerebral cortex and even the tiniest desire to enjoy a moment or two of their life time, do. So it’s safe to say that everyone has their “thing” that makes them happy, or makes life a little lighter.

For us, the gamers, one of those things is usually video games, of all sorts and of any kind. Be it on a console, pc, VR, phone, handheld or, heaven forbid but not excluding, a Mac.

Now on the other hand, peer pressure is real. As real as the air we breathe. It doesn't matter if you're a CEO, or a newcomer to Kindergarten. There's always peer pressure to act, behave, choose, and be a certain way. However, I'm not going to try to sway anyone in their decision making. I just so happen to do a little research and field research on how people influence others in their vide game decision making.

So here's the deets.

Video games are awesome. There's no doubt about that. However, there is an finite, but extremely numerous, amount of games that are in existence that one can play. Heck,, I think we're to the point where if you decided to play every video game that ever existed, you could spend your whole lifetime doing so, and still not have played every game that has been created. David Mullich, a renown video game designer, director, producer and educator stated the following, "As of May 15, 2017, MobyGames has cataloged 63,762 video games released since 1950 (beginning with Bertie the Brain, an early computer game of Tic-Tac-Toe) across all platforms. However, this doesn’t include the countless video games developed by students, hobbyists, and failed developers that were never publicized or otherwise received attention." (1) That was nearly a year ago. Thousands of games have come out since then, so there is no point in even attempting to play every game there ever was... or is there?

Often with video games, we, as gamers, meet new people, get to know the community that surrounds that particular game, and might even have close friends that play the game as well. This is where I return to the subject of the numerous amounts of playable games that exist. The people that interact with us influence us. They influence us to do better, to go on, to push forward, but sometimes they also push us backwards, whether it be consciously or not. With all of the games that there are, you can be any kind of gamer that you choose to be. Competitive, professional, casual, passionate, passive, a once-in-a-blue-mooner, or just a "I only play when I'm with my friends" kind of person. No judgment here. Whatever you are, it's cool. But this is the dilemma that I have found with a large portion of gamers, particularly in the more "I'm casual (But I have a competitive nature)" are falling into a pit that is closely paralleled by the wasting of time. What an I taking about? Here's the scenario. We've got kids/teens/young adults/adults, and I'm not saying that we should groom all children or young adults to be a specific thing when they grow up even if they don't like it, that have friends. Great. But all of those friend play a bunch of different games than this one individual. So, in order to feel relevant, he/she purchases all of the different games and starts playing them all. He/she might enjoy some more, and enjoy some less than others. But the problem comes in when this person is putting in a significant number of hours just to, in essence, satisfy his/her friends or be part of something that he/she doesn't necessarily enjoy. Peer pressure.

Gaming is about having fun. Don't get me wrong, but let's put it like this. Displaying this kind of behavior is like attending school from the ages of kindergarten to 12th grade. You're put through a number of different types of subjects, sometimes without your consent, sometimes with your consent, and you have to perform well in all of those subjects. Some of those subjects you don't like, some of them you really like, but at the end of the day you have to do all of them. This is why a lot of kids dislike school by the time they get to College, because it's just a bunch of forced knowledge, not necessarily relevant all the time, that they have to learn, and take in as their own and do well at it.

On the other hand we have college, where you start to take classes based on what you actually want to do. You have a specific desire in mind, and a goal that you want to achieve, and you strive and push forward towards that goal taking only classes that are relevant to what you're learning, or what you want to learn. This is how you become a specialized individual in a specific field. This is how you get your Master's in a specific subject. This is how you get your PhD so that you can tell everybody what's up about a specific something.

Well there are slight benefits awarded to the average gamer, like better reflexes, slightly better multitasking, better eye hand coordination, at times better social interaction than non-gamers, the deeper and more concentrated benefits come when you dedicate yourself to one or just a couple of games. Research has shown that competitive / professional Gamers have exceptional problem solving and strategic thought processes. Depending on the game, reaction time and the ability to make conscious decisions increases dramatically. Becoming a team leader, working well with the team, understanding others and their point of view, and even effective compromising skills can be obtained through dedicated play.

However, if you're just dipping your toe in the waters and not really immersing yourself in one single experience, or just a limited number of experiences, the benefits awarded to those who are focused on a specific goal will not be attainable for you. Esports have become just like any other sport. It takes serious dedication and time to do something well,. That's why you have to spend over 10,000 hours to become a master at anything. I'm not suggesting that you play 24 hours a day straight every single day until you hit the 10,000 hour mark. That's not healthy by any means. I am suggesting, however, that more Gamers dedicate themselves to a limited number of games that they play, so that you can get more benefit from them than if you were to spread your time out between a bunch of different games. Time is important, and you shouldn't let it go to waste, even if your friends say you're lame. Don't like Counter-Strike? You don't have to play it. Don't like Call of Duty? You don't have to play it. Don't like Destiny? You don't have to play it. Don't like Halo Wars? You don't have to play it. Play what you like to play, and play well. Get to know it well. Learn the ins-and-outs of the game, take it to another level. don't let other people choose how you spend your time gaming, or gaining the benefits of Gaming.

1. Mullich, D. (2018). How many video games exist?. [online] Quora. Available at: https://www.quora.com/How-many-video-games-exist [Accessed 21 Jun. 2018].