The Secret Psychology of Video Games
Introduction:
Since the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1983, which allowed video games to move from their infinite, arcade-style formula and towards more linear, progression based gameplay, video games have proven to not be a fad or a toy but a legitimate new medium, akin to the introduction of photography or cinema as an artform, developing into an entirely new way to engage and express oneself.
Being incredibly engaging, video games were the first medium were the audience could actively participate in the artform, combining the imagery of art, theater, novels, and film with the participation and involvement of physical games. Instead of reading about the story of Link, one lives through the experience of the 'Hero's Journey', saving Princess Zelda by their own accord, through their own inputs, and in their own way.
Video games have proved to be quite the invention, and as they evolved, offered even more perspectives, stories, and freedom for the player, developing from arcade cabinets and the platformers of 80's home consoles towards free to play games with a non-linear progression, where the player can complete the story in a way that is unique for each individual (evident in the groundbreaking work Breath of The Wild).
Sport vs. Story Based Video Games
While there are many different types of video games (puzzle-based, simulators, etc.), this essay is taking a psychoanalytical approach to video games, so for my purposes I will categorize only two different types of video games: Sport-Based Video Games and Story-Based Video Games.
Sport-based Video Games are those that mimic real-life sports, where an individual is on a team positioned against other players in order to achieve victory over their respective opponents. Examples of sport-based video games include:
Counter Strike
Fortnite
Overwatch
Quake
Rocket League
Battlefield
All of these video games are predicated on sports such as soccer or football, which themselves can be seen as simulated war, evident through the myriad of sport-based video games that are based on warfare and combat. Working together as a team, honing ones skill, practice and discipline, and countless hours all put forth in order to secure the victory is common throughout all sport-based video games.
Story-Based video games, however, are markedly different. While all video games include aspect of sport and creativity, story-based video games obviously follow a story full of lore, either told through soft or hard worldbuilding, and typically follow a "Hero's adventure". Examples of such games include:
The Legend of Zelda Series
Hollow Knight
Elden Ring
Uncharted Series
Although some of these games can be quite difficult, especially the Dark Souls-type games, these video games are different as they focus on the individual player instead of a team. Thus, story-based games are more akin to non-linear films than they are to sporting events, and within these story based games we see representations of the archetypes, predominately that of the Hero.
As such, it should come as no surprise why the modern adolescent boy is so attracted to story-based video games. Instead of playing cops and robbers or pretending to be knights with his friends, they envelop themselves in the mythological world of story-based video games.
The creators of The Legend of Zelda series made the conscious decision to make Link, the main playable character, mute throughout every video game, allowing the player to further immerse themselves into the world and actively engage in their re-telling of the Hero's journey. Instead of being explained what every river or mountain looks like along the path towards Mordor, the individual experiences it in their own unique way.
Consequently, video games have become the primary way younger generations explore mythological motifs, moving away from the novel and even the cinema and towards the interactive realm of the video game.
The Shadow of Video Games
As with all things, video games have their shadow.
When the adolescent boy grows up and is confronted with the reality of manhood - the beginning of the true Hero's journey, he can either choose to face reality head on or retreat into the realm of fantasy. It would not be inaccurate to view the generalized modern puer as a "porn, weed, and video game addict", where he can retreat into the realm of video games and where he can feel like the hero but not actually become the hero. Thus, video games become an escape from the reality and harshness that comes with actually becoming an integrated adult man.
All to often, men will live out fantasy day in and day out online, playing incredibly difficult video games like Elden Ring in order to conquer their fallen kingdom. They spend their days wasting away at home because they never learn the lessons of the stories their video games tell. They simply like to reveal in their imagination that they could be that knight while in reality they are pale, weak, incapable and dysfunctional in reality. They funnel all of their masculine energy into video games and refuse to allow that energy to manifest in reality, becoming soft and weak while their video game avatar grows stronger and stronger. Consequently, they forgo life and soley live in fantasy, completely blind to the fact that they are unconsciously living out their fantasy to be their own knight (the hero) in reality, hoping one day to save the princess (the anima). But that day will never come unless he does something in the real world. In this way, video games become a trap of the devouring mother, giving the illusion that a man is developing while in reality he is regressing.
It's incredibly interesting how some men will spend countless hours attempting to beat the most difficult and honestly hair-pulling bosses in Elden Ring, being incredibly disciplined towards accomplishing their virtual goals, yet find it impossible to go for a run or complete an exercise routine. The outsider would correctly see that the man has so much potential in his shadow - a profound masculinity - that he is not allowing to exist in reality, thus remaining unintegrated and outside of his conscious control. If the individual under this spell where to expend this energy on their own lives, on developing their own careers, bodies, relationships, and more, they would cease to see a need to spend so much time online. If this can be mended, video games can then become what a novel is to a layman: something to enjoy, explore, and learn from.
Another aspect that can characterize the video game addicted man is an inability to integrate aggression. No better is this seen in the competitive scene of Super Smash Bros, an incredibly complex fighting game. The sheer amounts of discipline, intensity, competitiveness, practice, and other aspects one would attribute to a warrior are all characteristic of top players. However, just a cursory glance at the top players of this game reveals individuals who are quite reserved, anxious, sometimes pale, and severely out of shape. Without attempting to diminish their honestly impressive and inspiring achievements in the game, which are genuinely very impressive and engaging to watch, it so fascinating to see the dichotomy between their physical bodies and personas, which scream anything but a warrior, and the individuals they turn into when they start playing the game: a bonified warrior.
However, the archetype of the warrior permeates throughout the entirety of one's life, not only through the video game. At the dismissal of their lives and with great intensity and concentration they pour their unintegrated aggression and masculinity into their video game characters. There, on their pixels and in the competitive arena, they are the warrior and the hero. Outside of that, however, they are unintegrated (of course, I am speaking generally, and individuals are individuals; there are many top players who do not fit this description, but there are much more that do).
The Light of Video Games
Video games are not to blame (although there are some worrying psychological techniques employed in many video games which attempt to play on our primitive reward systems, but I digress), as the same thing could be said about an ancient man who spends all his time reading novels of heroes, indoors and safe from the world.
There is so much value that psychoanalysis could offer video games. Personally and subjectively, there have been video games that I have only played through once that have left an everlasting effect on my life in a similar way a novel would. For me, this video game was Hollow Knight. I had never been a fan of metroidvania games and in fact detested them until I encountered Hollow Knight. The absolutely wonderful art style, the subliminally captivating storytelling and worldbuilding, the characters, the non-linear form of exploration and above all the soundtrack has left an everlasting impression on my life and has colored my perspective like no other video game has.
Additionally, my childhood will forever be colored by countless nights playing Warioware: Smooth Moves on the Wii with my brothers and sisters. Some of the greatest bonding experiences between my siblings has been as a consequence of video games.
There is quite an advantage to this art form if done, well, artfully. It has the capacity to combine the instructiveness and participation of sports, the story telling of a film or animation (precisely film and animation and not the novel, as the two forms of story telling are quite different), and the music of the opera, and with this amalgamation comes an entirely new way to tell stories. The only thing that video games lack are the structure of a novel, which is an entirely unique method of story telling that a video game cannot really replicate. And, of course, video games are not replacements of these other artforms but rather complementary.
Conclusion
All artforms can be analyzed from the psychoanalytical perspective, and video games are no exception. There is much to be learned from applying a psychoanalytical perspective, and there's much more work to be done on a topic. Unfortunately, video games of the caliber of Breath of the Wild and Hollow Knight were not yet created before the time of the great psychoanalysts, which means that it's modern man's turn to pick up the slack.
Video games can be positive, a way to experience mythological motifs in a novel way (and of course, to have fun), and they can be negative, creating a hyper-addictive way for individuals to escape their reality and forgo the development of their character. It is up to the individual to analyze their own relationship with video games to realize if they are a net positive or negative in regards to the development of their character.
