The Psychology of Games

We all play games – whether be it on the computer, at work, or even with our kids. We grew up with games, we learned with games, and we just love games! Games have been increasingly receiving the attention from researchers with technological developments in visualisations of our brains such as that of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). We now know slightly more about this brain and how gamification leads us to do things we never thought we would. Let us explore how the psychology of games can be applied into our day-to-day trades!

Games can satisfy our intellectual needs. Recently, I have been playing a game titled Genshin Impact. Although there isn’t much of a need to exert my cerebral prowess while playing the game, it gives me a sense of accomplishment on certain achievements attained in game and it fills the emptiness in my mind sometimes as I mindlessly do things in-game to unwind. Gaming is an essential part of our lives, and we are inclined to get ourselves involved in games from time to time. The fulfilment we receive brings the need for more games as we seek out more fulfilment and soon, it leads to what we commonly know as addiction.

The reason for our happiness and satisfaction is due to the fact that games create tangible results. When we complete an achievement or storyline, we are given observable feedback to tell us our success. When we defeat an opponent in chess, we are given feedback that we have won with the irreversible checkmate. When we clear a certain level, we see the progress in the next stage and a higher number to climb. And games are designed with many perceptible feedback for us to stay hooked onto the allure of the system and delineating our roadmap to fulfilment.

There are many motivations for individuals to play games:

1. Competitive Experience. We understand very clearly that we are all clearly competitive creatures, and we can’t wait to taunt our opponents or gloat over their demise. We would like to see ourselves ahead of the game and far from where anyone can catch up. But that’s not all there is to games. The enjoyment comes from winning your opponents and the superiority derived from doing so. Even for a game like Genshin without a competitive PvP element, friends still compete how high their damage numbers can go and the highest floor clearance of the most difficult content in-game just for the sake of competition. And that is what the game uses to keep us hooked – to spend more time and upgrade our characters.

2. Co-operative Experience. When working together on a task and completing it, players’ moods are also lifted higher and have better moods than competitive play. I personally notice stronger relationships being built between friends when we converse and clear domains on Genshin together. The conversations and work spent together help with forging better relationships with one another and keep us within the game. Time spent also feels way shorter than it would be, going to show that we have entered the state where time is “sped up”.

3. Chance Experience. Yeah, the word for this would be “gambling” actually. We experience fulfilment and the rush of adrenaline from not knowing and trying to predict an unpredictable outcome. It is usually the go-to for casinos and gacha-based games. Trying to even be superstitious on how we are pressing the in-game summoning button creates joy. I recall a superstition created and circulating in Genshin that if we draw a “Great Fortune” ticket from an in-game shrine, it is said to provide us with great summoning luck. Unfortunately, that is not true. Getting our 5-star will prove that theory and not getting it would only just give us a reason to blame the failed theory rather than recognising the fact that the game is rigged against you.

4. Vertigo Experience. This might be a new term to most, but it is slightly related to the word Vertigo too. It’s just that we are too mesmerised by the game that we are often so absorbed into what we are playing – and we are trapped in a state similar to a trance. That is the “dizzy” feeling when we play a game too long. We are held in with such hyperfocus that we don’t realise until we finally stop playing.

5. Make-believe Experience. Games allow us to feel that we are of an entirely different persona. We may sometimes fantasize that we are the characters we play, and we feel an immense illusion of control and power that we don’t get to have in reality. Games give us a heroic feel as we wield various characters and save the world from harm.

So, these are the 5 motivations why players play games and the reasons why games such as Genshin Impact are successful. They tap upon these needs of an individuals’ psyche and trap us in their world to slowly leech upon our money as we blindly spend on our favourite games without feeling the pain of losing money like we normally do.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/community/dad-saddled-with-20000-credit-card-bill-after-daughters-in-game-purchase-spree-on-genshin-impact

This article here depicts how scary addiction to games can form in individuals and we may feel numb spending money on games.

Back to our topic on investing, we can draw some links between games and playing the stock market. You see, all these 5 motivations can be found in us delving in the stock market without us realising it. And some of these motivations can trick us into thinking that investments are actually a game without realising the danger of treating it as game.

We are competitive with our friends. We ask them what stocks they buy, what are their returns, what are their investment outlooks – all for the sake of proving that we are better than our friends. It may be a friendly comparison, but nevertheless, a competitive mindset that we have created for ourselves. We may also create a culture of sharing investment tips with one another, but it may sink us into the trap of groupthink – thinking that the stocks we pick are right and infallible, and we fail to put an appropriate stop loss to our decisions.

We are hooked upon the illusion of control over random news and events and fall prey to gambling when in fact, investments should be treated as a very disciplined, untimed, systematic task to achieve our long-term goals. And, never should we be too over-engrossed with our analysis of the market, such as the sharp movements we have seen recently, that we lose track of the bigger picture of our investments. We need to snap out of the idea that we are able to predict the market or that our work of analysis will influence the market to our favour.

Most individuals may attribute their profits to their intellect and great foresight of the market while blaming their losses on their bad luck or external events that cannot be controlled. Just like drawing the fortune ticket in Genshin, it is the same as placing our hard-earned money’s fate in the hands of what a random number generator provides to us on the day. By avoiding all these, we will be in a clearer mind and to steer away from numbly losing money from gambling losses that we could have avoided.

Investing is not a game as what many finance gurus out there are professing. It can be quite dangerous to assume that investments can be taken lightly as if a game. We may be inclined to feel that we can predict and chart the trajectory of a stock’s price but do know that ultimately, the idea is to diversify and dollar cost average piously to what we do – and who knows, we may be pleasantly surprised.

If you're interested to chat on this topic or to exchange ideas, please feel free to drop me a message on Telegram @elijah2212 or through email elijah.thj@gmail.com!