Video game play often has a shadow cast over when it is talked about as a past time. The media has often questioned its safety as an activity as well as placed blame on it for low motivation and laziness. With each passing decade, video game play has become nearly ubiquitous in households worldwide. One argument I make is that there is no true “Gamer Personality”; yes there is the stereotypical picture of a chubby, unshowered, 30-year-old male who lives in his Mother’s basement eating pizza and drinking mountain due and yelling swear words at your 10-year-old child, but it is just that, a stereotype. A gamer can be literally anyone with infinite life goals and dreams. For the vast majority of gamers playing video games has been an important catalyst in becoming who they are today.

I centralize my psychiatric practice and this blog around the pursuit of a deeper understanding of what video game play and other electronic play mean in the greater scheme of our interpersonal interactions, relationships, and values. I don’t have to tell you that gaming can be highly significant to many individuals, both old and young. I posit this to the world, gaming is not just a fun or distracting activity. Gaming is truly the most powerful media that we have which is reflected in the fact that annual revenue from video games now exceeds that of annual box office revenue (https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/22/video-game-revenue-tops-43-billion-in-2018-an-18-jump-from-2017/). Gaming is analogous to a wetting stone (a tool for sharpening knives or swords) and as such can be used to sharpen and enrich one’s life but at the same time if you are not mindful of your use it can dull your mind and prevent opportunities for enriching your life.  

Some background: Let me review Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Here is a picture:

As you can see, the most essential parts of life are at the bottom (Steps 1 and 2), these can be thought of as life-sustaining needs and basic human rights. For much of the western world, those needs are met for most people who can afford to play video games (there are exceptions, however). After physiologic needs and safety needs, psychological needs come into play. These are love, relationships, and self-esteem. These tend to be important life goals in Western and Eastern cultures alike. Children are raised to know that they should grow up and find a partner and a job that is fulfilling financially. These two steps can be thought of as one’s value to society on several measures. Most people get stuck within the 3rd or 4th steps of the hierarchy. At the top of the hierarchy is what is known as Self-actualization or fulfilling your life’s potential. The top of the pyramid can be thought of as realizing one’s true value to themselves.

#Livingmybestlife

Very few people truly figure out how to achieve self-actualization. I believe that you cannot gain self-actualization without prioritizing some form of mastery. Malcolm Gladwell explained that it required 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery in something.

When playing video games, the player will often control a character of incredible power, or at least incredibly important to the story of the game. Most single protagonist, story-driven games start with a character who is average at best and usually down on their luck. As the story in-game moves forward the main character experiences a series of challenges and tragedies in Shakespearean fashion all the while discovering himself and growing from average joe to exceptional superhuman or even savior. In the span of a 10 to 20-hour long video game the player experiences a simulation of self-actualization. The player gets to achieve mastery without spending the requisite 10,000 hours most experts feel to be the minimum amount of time to master a skill. I feel there is a huge draw to this and evidently, so does your brain’s reward system as it naturally gravitates towards sources that stimulate dopamine bursts. Your brain will naturally seek out reliable and easily available dopamine sources. Once the game is over you are left with a relative dopamine deficiency.

The ease of, or rather the accessibility to this is what makes games special but also a barrier to manifesting one’s own life mastery. Without mindfully investing deliberate practice dopamine seeking will outcompete investing into your own life goals. Mastery is a function of time and consistency. As I am mere weeks from completing my fifth and final year of Psychiatry training, I am well over 10,000 hours of experience, and though I have learned and experienced a tremendous amount I cannot yet call myself a master. Going through the process of learning the field of Psychiatry has been difficult, fulfilling, and life-changing. I encourage everyone to seek mastery in something within their lifetime. It is up to you to choose the best path.

There is always a process of practice to skill-based games for you as a player seeking mastery over a specific video game. As a physician, we call what we do the “practicing medicine” because there is always an opportunity for improvement. Our goal is to become better rather than perfect. You can always achieve better. This is also the case for many other important life activities and crafts. You have to put work into something important to you, it is foolish to think you will automatically achieve mastery. Examples that come to mind include yoga, meditation, jiu-jitsu, and any sport for that matter, as well as things like marriage and friendship. To quote the social media entrepreneur master Gary Vaynerchuk, “You have to love the process”. 

 
While gaming can simulate a type of mastery, it is not a truly fulfilling, self-actualizing mastery–unless you happen to be someone who ACTUALLY has the reflexes or entertainment value to be a pro-gamer or successful video game streamer. Even then, I am sure that they put in their tens of thousands of hours into gaming and building their platforms as twitch streamers or league of legends superstars. As the average gamer, it is important to game mindfully and not block your ability to achieve your potential. As a gamer, you must ask yourself what you really want to achieve IN REAL LIFE and honestly answer to yourself if you are not taking steps towards those goals. Sometimes it’s okay to take a step back to get your footing again.

Don’t take gaming so seriously and enjoy the time you spend with it. This isn’t an article about quitting gaming but rather it’s an article to ask you to look at your own life and realize that gaming is just a piece to the whole person that is YOU. If you are interested quitting gaming I will be writing an article about that shortly and you can take a look at r/stopgaming if you want to learn more about decreasing or stopping gaming and r/getdisciplined if you want to learn how to improve your time management and reduce procrastination.

The bottom line: Playing video games can simulate a sense of mastery, but be sure to be on the lookout for when it’s preventing personal growth and exploration. 

What steps and actions you have taken towards Mastery? What can you see yourself practicing for the rest of your life? Please comment below.

Speaking personally, I recently passed on a relatively stable and well-paying job at a large medical institution. Why? I knew that I would achieve my 4th step in the hierarchy, but I could not imagine how I would achieve self-actualization, I would not be able to do the work that I love, work that truly fulfills my destiny. I cannot be certain that self-actualization is in my future, but do I ever love the process. 

At Level Up Mental Health we work to help our clients build better lives through their relationships with themselves and others around technology. We use gamer informed therapy, psychopharmacologic medication management, interpersonal skills building, and technology focused parenting enhancement skills training to provide an adaptive psychiatric experience. If you are in the Los Angeles County area, sign up for a FREE 15-minute consultation to find out more about our practice.

Photocredit: DepositPhotos.com