Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I’ve mentioned on this blog, that I like to play phone games. I do not like to pay for anything on these phone games, So inevitably, when I reach a certain level in any one game, it becomes almost impossible to “beat” that particular level without some monetary insertion from Google Pay. So, that is when I say to said game, “Bye for now!” and I download another game that looks interesting, and makes me feel smart again, because I am zipping through the easy entry levels, like a pro.
I’ve noticed that if I leave a game alone, without logging in for a few weeks, and then I show up again after a long break, all decked out in my pretty little login emoji, miraculously there are boosters and extra lives and thousands of “coins” being thrown at me, as if I were the prodigal son returning to the screen, after so long and arduous, a time apart. The previously impossible level to beat, without buying the super-duper, discounted $6.99 value pack of boosters, is now a breeze to get through, as if I were starting on Level 1. And the next three “extremely hard/expert” levels, I am able to “win”, with the aid of one thumb and keeping my eyes closed.
It appears that these video games for my phone, were created by people who are quite familiar with toxic psychology. They are made with the “cycle of abuse” in mind. They work off of the casino model. Intermittent rewards is what keeps you coming back. A game which rewards me all of the time is ho-hum boring, and that game is quick to get deleted off my application list. A game that never rewards me at all, is easy to say “sayonara, don’t let the door hitcha on the way out”. It does not feel good, at all, to always lose. But man oh man, you let me have a fabulous winning streak for a few weeks at a time, and I will always check in, eventually. You, my sporadically exciting and enthralling phone game, will always have some space on my phone. And you know it.
I was explaining this phenomenon to my husband and he said that I was spot on. My husband and my sons are huge Joe Rogan podcast fans, and my husband said that he had listened to a podcast recently, discussing how computer/video games are made. The creators of video games, study all sorts of fascinating psychology in order to make the consumer stay on these games longer. Apparently, we game players will stick to a game, for at least ten minutes longer, if we think that we are saving a “person” versus some other mission. (I guess that is hope for humanity) Also, we like games that involve a lot of “water.”
I was a marketing major in college. I understand the manipulative side of business advertising, sales and consumerism. Therefore I pose this question, “If you know that you are being manipulated, and you are choosing to be part of the manipulative game, are you still being manipulated???” I think that this is a very interesting topic to ponder. I think that this topic can apply to a lot of things besides video games and product advertisements. As we have experienced a lot of, particularly in the last few years, this question about manipulation can easily apply to government, news media outlets, sports, religious cults, and personal relationships, to name a few. We can even manipulate our own selves, by implementing denial and rationalization.
“If you know that you are being manipulated, and you are choosing to be part of a manipulative game, are you still being manipulated?” Does it even matter? Do we even care? I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. My thoughts aren’t fully formed. As someone who prides herself on always trying to seek “the authentic Truth”, this question is one that is worth spending some time on, since I am taking a break from my phone games this week (with the reasonable expectation of some booster/points “goodies”, next week).
“One of the methods of manipulation is to inoculate individuals with the bourgeois appetite for personal success.” – Paulo Freire
