As life in the real world is becoming more complex, one might seek a breather and an escape from reality - and that's when video games come in.

In video games, you can unlock new levels, improve your skills and accomplish goals, but most importantly, you can be your own hero. 

Aside from that, video games had even evolved online and become a professionalized industry. Whether you’re a professional gamer, an esports bettor, or just a regular player, video games are beneficial in one way or another.

However, while these factors are generally helpful, you may want to be careful not to be addicted to it, which is the primary goal of video games: to hook gamers players to play. 

As to the question of how video games are built to trigger you, many factors can be considered which are composed mainly of the structural features of the games.

Social Features

Most top video games are built with features that enable players to socialize and interact with one another through chats or audio communication. That way, players are encouraged to socialize, cooperate, and compete.

Narrative Features

Another way that video games can trigger players is the feature that gives identity and narrative among characters which players use. This feature also makes players take on identities from the game - either from the fictional character or the gamified constructions of their personalities. 

Moreover, the storytelling elements of video games help players relate with their characters and therefore be more fully immersed in the gameplay.

Reward and Punishment Features

These features are designed to encourage players to improve their gameplay and skills. The more the players are encouraged and challenged to improve their skills, the more they would want to engage in the game.

Video games usually penalize players who have poor performance (such as suspension from games for heavy violations or longer matchmaking for lighter violations) while they reward those who perform well.

The abovementioned game features are how the video games trigger you and encourage you to be more immersed with the game. However, there’s actually more to it than that. Video games may also affect your psychological functioning, as well as psychological tricks to keep you playing. 

Immersion

Game developers invest so much in ensuring that the game experience of players is immersive. With that, they strive hard to build a top-tier gaming environment through good audio, visuals, and graphics, and make sure to provide upgrades from time to time. In essence, it’s believed that the best way to achieve a high level of immersion is to develop a game that’s as believable and as realistic as possible.

So, if you’re completely wrapped up in the game you’re playing and the virtual experience it offers, the game developers did a really good job in making the game immersive.

Fascination

Some of the well-played video games don’t focus too much on the blades of grass and other nonessential aesthetics of the game but the graphics of explosions, good combos, and astounding movements from the characters. These are usually used by two-player action games and they rely heavily on the wow factor for players to keep coming back. 

But there are video games that are built more on the fascination factor that didn’t intend you to spend hours playing - although they do want you to get the next version with your friends. That’s the reason why they focus on providing short-term fun by giving you extravagant graphics and basic yet addictive gameplay.

Progression

This can be among the top strategies that game developers design the games with. This is usually what players look for in games, something that will challenge them and keep them achieving certain levels. Hence, regardless of the genre, developers put progression elements in every game, which is most common in role-playing games (RPG).

In that respect, many gamers would spend hours fighting and killing the same enemies in order to increase their levels or ranks. Through this, the player’s immersion within the game also increases. The more a player is trying to reach a certain rank, the more likely he’s going to keep playing.

Fairness

Video games also appeal to players by giving the thought that as long as you follow the basic rules, you’ll be able to reach higher levels. A direct correlation between a video game’s effort and the rewards system is clear. 

For example, if you’re serious with the game and are willing to spend hours learning and mastering the techniques, you’ll surely improve your gameplay. In fact, video games today (especially those played online) aren’t just for fun anymore as some even professionalize them.

Certainly, that’s the reason why world tournaments for esports are being held. Esports betting has now even dominated the gambling arena where it wasn’t even a thing decades ago.

If once in your life you’ve played a video game, you’ll understand the level of entertainment that video games can offer. If you’re a certified gamer, you should play mindfully and avoid being addicted to it given that it’s built to keep you playing.

You should clearly draw the line between the virtual world and reality.!

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Abi Fawcus is a freelance UX Consultant, Website Designer, Logo Designer and Graphic Designer based in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Contact me for more information.