Whether you enjoy solving complex puzzles from Legend of Zelda, or your dream is to be the very best and “Catch ‘em all”, in some level, we all enjoy playing video games. I would like to address the most fundamental question surrounding video games. Why do we play video games? Because they are fun? Although that is in fact an answer, it is much more complicated than that; why are they fun to us, what needs do they fulfill in our lives to keep us wanting to play them? In the book titled Glued to Games, coauthor Scott Rigby, explains how video games must satisfy at least one of the three core needs, or realms, in our lives: competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Ryan & Rigby, 2011).
The first piece is competence; this is the feeling of achievement and mastery. The sense that you’re growing learning and progressing plays a huge role in the identification of this realm. Games that satisfy this are best exemplified by plat-formers or puzzle games like Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda. According to Dr. Przybylski, “games offer a sense of accomplishment and competence that gamers might not be able to achieve in meatspace” (Carter, Escapist Magazine, 2011). Most people who are “Completion-ists” and Achievement Hunters fit best in this category, as they are driven by the need to excel and complete their quests and are able to quickly pick up and make progress; such as pass levels and beat bosses, watching the character level up, and seeing yourself solve increasingly difficult puzzles. They find a great deal of satisfaction with the idea of being recognized for their efforts.
In relevance with games, autonomy is the sense that you have control over your actions, your player, and, to a certain extent, the world around you. Choosing your own path and not being forced through a predetermined story is what is appealing. With autonomy, the mere concept of choice is not enough to satisfy the player, the choice also has to feel meaningful. The player has to feel like he has control over his actions, and those actions make an impact on the surroundings. For example, in fighting games like Mortal Kombat, where a character has a set of 40 moves, but only one or two of those moves are actually useful, it doesn’t matter that you have various moves to choose from because you are only going to use those two good ones; thus depriving autonomy. Also, it is important to notice that the choice a player makes does not necessarily have to make an impact, what matters is if the player feels as if his choice actually made a difference. An example is Shadow the Hedgehog; this game uses carefully crafted dialogue trees and scenario pickings that keeps the player constantly thinking about his actions. Most of the time, the choices didn’t ultimately matter, as any route taken would lead to the same conclusion. Whether or not the choice affected the result does not matter, what matters is if the player feels like if their choice altered the game.
Relatedness is feeling like your presence matters and that you’re contributing to society. These are most exemplified by multiplayer or those who have you working as a team. Relatedness however is the most subjective term to define, as each person has different levels of culture and mentality. There are a myriad of factors that contribute to this realm. For example, a teenager whom has had troubles creating social or romantic bonds will most likely not be interested in a game that appeals to another teenager who has not. The relationship deprived will play a game that will fill in the psychological emptiness; a game like The Sims would fit perfectly. As stated by Dr. Przybylski “The attraction to playing video games and what makes them fun is that it gives people the chance to think about a role they would ideally like to take and then get a chance to play that role.” (Gayomali, Time Tech, 2011)
Over the centuries, we have gravitated towards experiences that makes us feel more competent, more autonomous, and more related because those experiences makes us feel complete. Even though work, school, and family can help us satisfy those core needs, we come to realize that videogames are the most efficient for they can easily satisfy all three. We game to connect to people who share our interest, to empower ourselves to explore, discover and shape the world around us, and to gather experience and meet our individual needs.