Video games and the primitive brain

A man named Charles Darwin said something that relays the underlying fabric of what video gaming is all about, “Survival of the Fittest.”  The human brain is wired to release the neurotransmitter dopamine, which gives us a natural pleasure feeling, through a reward and exploration type system.  This is called the “seeking circuitry” of the brain in that humans that are wired to search their environment for food, shelter, and mates are the most likely to survive and pass on their genes.



A look at dopamine pathways in the brain.



The all-powerful video game gods have created just this in a virtual setting so that these primitive desires can be attained in an imaginative way.  I used to play a game called World of Warcraft and in this game was a virtual world that in reality took me months upon months to explore.  It was a fascinating experience to be so deeply involved in this world which took me to exotic landscapes filled with magnificent art designs of huge colorful trees and castles.  In one area it would have a fall time theme with the sounds of the leaves falling to the ground and in the next area would be a vast murky swamp where treasure chests could be hidden anywhere.  I remember when I was in an region, where it was winter time and snow was falling, I could almost feel the cold wind rush upon me when the sound effect was made bringing about chills to my body.  That chilling feeling did not stop me from playing, it made everything all the more real.  When I ventured even further, I came about a large treasure chest with an extremely rare item.  The feeling that brought me was an extreme head rush of an amazing sensation which emanated throughout my body.  Today I now know that it was the dopamine that was released upon finding that treasure chest.

When playing a video game such as World of Warcraft, you are not just playing as some regular old character; you are connected emotionally with your character to the point where you want nothing but the best as if it were you or your new born child.  Knowing this, video games are set up as hybrids of reward and exploration where you enter the virtual world and set off on a path to find treasure chests full of goodies, new weapons, and special privileges.  By using a reward system, such as this, dopamine is triggered in the brain thus the human will come back for more.  

Whether video games will ever have an addiction tag next to their name is still up for debate.  Humans do not ingest video games as you would say we ingest cocaine to release the neurotransmitter dopamine.  A good analogy would be video games are to dopamine as exercising is to endorphins.  Both of these examples produce natural highs except one of these is much less productive towards real life experiences.  We as a human species still have much to learn, especially when it comes to the working cognitive brain. 

Citation:

Willis, L. (2010, n.d.) The Addictive Qualities of Video Games Are Not a Problem. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Retrieved from Opposing Viewpoints December 11, 2010.

Picture of brain obtained December 11, 2010 from the World Wide Web. http://www.drugdevelopment-technology.com/projects/bifeprunox/images/brain_cross.jpg