Video Games and Hierarchies of Need
 

I was doing some reading about psychology and video games, and I came across an article (I'd post a link but it's a 404 error now) that offered up an explanation for one of the great riddles of the universe. Specifically, "why are MMORPG's popular despite being tedious level treadmills, typically devoid of storyline?" The article referred to a psychology theory called a 'hierarchy of needs', which describe the things that drive people.

At the bottom of the hierarchy are things like 'I want to eat', 'I want to sleep', 'I'm cold', and generally 'I don't want to die!'. I don't know all the specifics but I'm guessing that as you go up through the hierarchy you touch on envy, greed, wrath, pride, you know, the things that motivate us in our day to day lives, and the theory says that at the top of the hierarchy is 'self actualization'.

Now the article claims that MMO's fulfil a persons need for self actualization directly, without them needing to worry about fulfilling the lower ranks of the hierarchy first. This got me to thinking, why do I enjoy playing video games at all?

My favorite moments in my video gaming career have generally been the moments when it finally dawns on my opponent that he has lost. Of all the chat messages anyone has ever sent me, the two I am most fond of are "Curse you Elodrian!" in WarCraft 3, and my personal favorite "EAT A BOWL OF HELL!!!" in Gunbound.

So is this what self actualization is? Do I play video games simply because I enjoy defeating others and listening to the wailing and gnashing of teeth? What inspires you to keep marching to battle? Why did you spend all of first year defusing bombs and rescuing hostages? What does rescuing the princess or genociding Zebes mean to you?

I play for perfect completion. It's that moment when you realize you just can't tweak your charater out anymore or you have just gotten the coveted 100% on a impossible hard game. Basicly I play for bragging rights.
Spiffy Has Spoken.

I had to study the 'hierarchy of needs' in my psychology class, but I've never heard it apply to video games before. I actually had a poem a little like this in the arts and crafts section: http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=1784 (I hope I'm not self-advertising too much here).

That's a very good idea here Elodrian. When I'm not playing with other people, I really get into my character, especially with RPG's. I try, and enjoy trying, to develop a personal relationship with my character. I hate the people he (or she) hates, and like the people he (or she) likes.

I think the theory falls apart when it comes to games without strong character relationships, like Soul Calibur 2. I play that, with or without friends) for the adrenaline rush and the fast paced action.

The online games can really go into theory because I think people can develop a purpose in an online game. It's easier to leave your mark when there are less people in "the world". I'm not going to break everything down, but you get the idea.

Oh, there is character relationship in Soul Caliber 2. The Demon. I have been playing him since Soul Edge(SE, SE2, I think there was a fifth in here that I missed, SC, SC2). The wandering samurai of the 18th century, honing his skills so the sword he is bound to can keep up with the advancing firearms technology. All taste the wrath of his bladed soul.

It seems to be about the tweaking and twinking of characters for most people nowadays. At least, in MMORPGs they are. That, and human nature. Humans typcically want something bigger and better than what they already have, no matter how new it is. MMORPGs (or just plain old RPGs) allow you to bypass what would be financial problems in the real world and get you that Bad Ass Blade you've had your eye on for a while in a matter of hours, maybe even minutes.

This keeps people in, and gets so srtong that people shell out cash every month to keep getting stronger and stronger in one world. That's why plot and character relationships don't really exist in MMORPGs. The companies have learned it would ultimately be a waste of time and money, so they just don't do it. Smart business-type thinking, I'd say.

The reason I play video games is not to tweak my character through hard work, but to get out agression by smashing things. That's why I enjoy SSBM so much. And any game where you can use cheat codes to make yourself invincible and have all weapons is fun. Nothing is more satisfying than playing Unreal Tournament, putting in God, loaded, and allammo as cheats, naming the bots after people you hate, and just blasting the shit out of them. The message "(person whom you hate's name here) was just blown away by (your name here)'s rocket launcher," is very relaxing and stress-reducing.

That's disturbing...
But I play videogames for the sheer enjoyment of seeing somthing I've just done have an effect (good or bad) on something. I love seeing something I did a long time ago (like putting that extra proficiancy point in long swords in balders gate) have an effect on something later on. Or something as simple as protecting as using cheats to send an army half the size of my screen to crush the enemy in Age of Empires 2.

I usually play games for the story element. For me it's 40% story/ innovative game concept, 30% gameplay, 20% interactive/ multiplayer stuff, and 10% graphics and whatnot. I have yet to find a MMORPG that deserves my $10 a month. I enjoy twinking the character as much as the next person, but twinking it doesn't mean anything to me if the character doesn't have some sort of goal. I can sometimes manage to make my own goals in such games if the interface is expansive enough, but even then it's nice to have SOME kind of story behind it all if mearly for that hint of flavor that only people like me will appreciate.

I guess i go against the claims of the article. I never had any problem with dying in games if there wasn't a penalty in it(FFXI's penalty did piss me off). In DAoC, I'd suicide my character all the time if it meant i could to an area I needed to faster(as long as he was level 50, to avoid Xp penalty, only having to pay 20 gold is nothing). I only didn't want to die to another player because it strengthened the other player. That's the only thing I liked about DAoC was the player killing, some of the enjoyment comes from me annoying the person on the computer.

I'm pretty sure eveyone gets some enjoyment out of killing things. That's the fun.