Disclaimer: I am not native English speaker, so please, do not judge me.
Those who have approached, at least once in their life, the vast world of the video game industry, will surely have seen how video games are a strong attraction for both adults and children. Leaving aside the always heated social debates on the subject, and the quarrels between those in favor and those against the "virtual world", what I want to report here is a pure personal experience that helped me to develop a possible answer to one of the most debated questions ever: Does money make you happy? Let's try to understand it together!
Video gamers, do you remember GTA San Andreas? Of course you do! For the most forgetful, it was an action-adventure and "open world" game,
developed by RockStar Games back in 2004. Well, this particular game was the first one to help me to elaborate my answer to the famous question.
OK, but now let's get to the point. How did video games help me understand that money doesn't make you happy?
The answer, actually, is very simple. Follow me in the explanation. We have to start from the assumption that video games represent an alternative world, where the same social aspirations of the real world apply. The only difference is that achieving our goals in the "virtual" world is much easier!
When we start our new game (be it GTA San Andreas, GTA V, or Red Dead Redemption, or any other) we usually start from scratch. Little money, poor clothes, maybe no weapons. So we are excited to start the social climb to success. We want to quickly accomplish missions, we want to make money to unlock better clothes or better weapons that, in turn, will allow us to win more difficult missions and be more and more successful.
Just like in real life, aspirations point to the same main goals: money, admiration of others, and success.
Good. But what happens when we reach our goals?
We imagine that we own everything. Oh, in a video game it's very simple, but in real life it certainly isn't. By playing, in fact, after enough hours, we will have enough money to be able to buy, unlock, and perform any activity that the game itself offers us. Beautiful! Finally we have reached our goal! Hurray! Well, now we should be happy and enjoy everything we have achieved.
And instead we are not. What do we do instead?
The most hardened video gamers may have already answered for themselves: let's start over. At least, most of us do. When the game gets too easy, then we get bored. At that point we press "start", "new game", (referring to the gameboy color and one of the most timeless classics), because when everything is within reach and easy to own, then we almost don't like it anymore.
Where is that excitement, that desire for social climbing?
Where is that flame that pushed us to reach our goals? We all want to find that feeling again, and to do so, either we change the game or we start it all over again.
Having said that, aren't video games, as already postulated, a small alternative and virtual reality of our lives?
Don't we have the same goals both online and offline? If this is true, then perhaps it is justified to think that this feeling of dissatisfaction could also extend to real life, when everything becomes easily achievable:
imagine owning anything. I know, it's difficult. You will probably tell me that it is not the same thing to own everything inside a video game and own everything in real life. But I answer you: are we sure it's so much different?
To you the final answer. This was just a personal elaboration, the reflection that video games have given me. I hope it may have amused you and prompted you to create your own answer to the question.
So, do you agree or do you think differently? Please, share this article and write it in the comments section. Let's talk about it together!
