What’s behind the phenomenon of the “gamer’s mind”? games

SStudies on the effect of gaming on the brain usually focus on the aggressiveness or cognitive benefits of playing games. The former topic is now out of fashion, after more than a decade of scientific research has failed to prove any causal link between video games and real-world violence. But studies on the positive effects of gaming have shown that performing complex tasks using your brain and hands is actually very good for you, and that gaming can be beneficial for your emotional well-being and stress management.

This is all well and good, but I’m obsessed with the concept of the “gamer’s mind” — that part of us that is drawn to objective, meaningless achievements. Mastering a game or finishing a story are natural sources of motivation, but the gamer’s mind cannot explain it. When you retry the same pointless mini-game over and over again because you want to get a better high score? When you’re walking around the invisible boundaries of a level, do you click your mouse just in case something happens? When you stay with a game longer than you should because you feel obligated to unlock that trophy or achievement? When you refuse to lower the difficulty to a certain level on a particularly evil boss, because that would allow the game to win? This is the player’s mind.

Not sure if it’s games a reason This very particular flavor of stubbornness, or whether people with stubborn tendencies are drawn to video games. But almost everyone I know who plays a lot of video games is susceptible to this. It’s the part of you that won’t simply give up, the part of you that is determined to bend the rules of the game to your will. The extreme version of it is learning to play impossible DragonForce songs from Guitar Hero at 2X speed, just because you can. Or whatever happens in Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), marathons of exhilarating, nonsensical games in which people take on increasingly esoteric challenges, like playing The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Blindfolded, or speeding through a cursed, modified version of Halo filled with random items from other games.

In fact, it was this year’s AGDQ conference that got me thinking again about the gamer’s mind, and why we love this stuff. But I also thought about it a lot while playing Baby Steps last year. It’s a game that embraces the concept of the player’s mind but gently mocks it – not least through its main character, the useless Nate, who embodies a host of stereotypical player characteristics, including a complete unwillingness to ask for help.

Two of its creators, Gabe Cosello and Bennett Foudy, told me a lot about this when we spoke in November. Baby Steps is full of moments that push you, the player, to do silly things. At several points you’ll find large holes in the ground that you can intentionally fall into, just to see what happens (spoiler: there’s nothing there at all). A character warns you to stay away from the tower, telling you that there is no reason to climb it because there is nothing at the top; Of course, I immediately tried to climb the tower. One time, I spent 10 minutes making my way upriver to a waterfall to see what was beyond it; On the rocks beyond the water there was only a crudely drawn penis.

“There’s a regular dirt track near a cliff that you can climb quite safely, and then along the cliff there’s a series of wooden stakes that you can climb up instead, if you want to risk losing 20 minutes of progress,” says Foudy. “This is a joke you’re making with The player, because in order for them to find it funny, they have to know that they tend to walk on pegs. If the player doesn’t feel anything about it other than, “Oh, that’s not the right way to behave, I’m not going to walk on those pegs,” then there’s no joke. But the player gets it because he wants to do the hard thing.

The most adorable joke in Baby Steps, for me, comes when she finds a pair of glasses that make invisible steps visible. If you decide to try to walk all the way through the set of rock pillars to find these glasses, risking falling at any moment and wasting perhaps an hour of your time, you will see a path of invisible steps that eventually leads to an invisible cup. Nate will practically cry with joy in front of this trophy that no one else can see, and invites his fellow hiker to admire it, who of course can only see Nate dancing triumphantly in front of absolutely nothing.

“The joke we always come back to is when a player puts themselves in a certain mental or emotional state, and then Nate somehow manages to reverse that,” Foudy says. “You see yourself reflected in this loser. That’s the deep joke: This guy, this person, is actually you at this moment.”

Cosello, who also voices Nate, suffers from a chronic condition of the gamer’s brain. “Over time, we’ve come to the idea that a lot of level design is an opportunity to reflect on why you’re playing the game at all, what types of rewards you’re attuned to and why you play games in general,” he says. “You’re asked as a player: What matters to you? Who are you as a person? If you don’t jump into the hole, you are [left] I wonder for the rest of the game whether you should jump into the hole.

The gamer brain is thought to be a masculine concept, although I can attest that you don’t have to be a man to suffer from it. “I think this is a kind of gender play, or toxic masculinity play, or at least it’s been constructed that way,” Foudy says. “This stuff is full of gaming culture. It’s full of character types that players are asked to embody. Nathan Drake in Uncharted is determined and full of determination, but is that the same thing as being stubborn and stubborn and pursuing something stupid?”

Baby Steps is one of those games that you can’t really appreciate unless you have a bit of a gamer’s mind. Trying to explain why it’s funny is next to impossible – you have to have some understanding of the strange coercion and transgressions in the pursuit of pointless goals. But that’s the basic thing about the gamer’s mind, and perhaps about games in general: these things aren’t useless if they mean something to you.

What are you playing?

When I started Sea sword Last night I found myself surfing sand dunes with tastefully designed quicksand, and I immediately thought of Journey. A a lot This is the game that Journey brings to mind, from the art style and animation to the minimum requirements it imposes on you as a player. But do you know what? It’s been nearly 15 years since that landmark game on PlayStation 3, and it’s been great to play something that captures its best moments. You roam the desert, sometimes jumping, sometimes pressing square to achieve something, looking for places where your magic sword can restore water to your barren surroundings. After the former desert is flooded, you can surf on the water instead, as ocean creatures flutter around you. It is beautiful, sobering, soothing, if somewhat insignificant; I found it to be a comfortable and achievable play in January.

Available on: PS5, PC
Estimated playing time: 2-3 hours

What are you reading?

• This week I wrote about play Hollow Knight: Silk Song While living with a chronic pain condition. This beautiful and punishing game became a symbol of a time when I was thinking a lot about the nature of suffering.

• LegoTake it upon yourself Pokemon It has finally been revealed, featuring a £579.99 Kanto Evolutions set and a rather unfortunate-looking Pikachu. The Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise combo looks pretty cool, but I wonder who has the money to buy expensive nerd nostalgia toys in this economy.

• Rockstar games Staff who were sacked last year in an alleged act of union busting are fighting the company in court, with the support of the Independent Workers of Great Britain union. After a preliminary hearing in Glasgow last week, a judge rejected the workers’ request for temporary relief, meaning they will not receive their wages while the legal case continues.

What to click on

Question block

Gaming reporter Keith Stewart answers this question from a reader David On email:

My New Year’s resolution is to cut back on it Baldur’s Gate 3 and battlefield And play more experimental indie games. But what is the best way to find them?

First, congratulations on your decision to expand your gaming consumption. There’s nothing wrong with blockbuster games, but it’s really fun to discover new – and sometimes incredibly strange – experiences. Aside from the Guardian’s regular indie recordings, of course, the front page of the digital video game store itch.io It’s a good starting point – a lot of small developers put their new projects there and it’s well organized. steam It also runs regular indie promotions, including an annual Indie Festival, which is well worth seeing Indie game Awards, Indicated and games For a change For interesting titles. There are plenty of review sites that specialize in indie titles too – for example, Indie Game Reviewer and John Walker’s Buried Treasure. elsewhere, bluesky It’s great for following indie developers – there are plenty of lists and starter packs you can join, which will give you instant access to indie communities. You can search the Bluesky guide for suggestions. The good thing is that the more indie games you play, the more you learn about the developers and community, and the more new games you discover.

If you have a question about the Question Pack – or anything else to say about the newsletter – hit reply or email us at pushbuttons@theguardian.com.