Avoid this sort of “accomplishment” if you’re tired of being average
If you’ve got a smart phone, you’re probably guilty of it.
I was due for a new phone July this year. My two year contract was up on my Sony Xperia Z2. It was a good phone, but I was looking for a change.
I did my research and none of the “big” brands interested me: Samsung, iPhone, Sony. I decided to look at some other brands I hadn’t considered before.
A few clicks later, I had renewed my plan for another two years with a brand new Huawei Nexus 6P.
This phone coincided with a lot of changes in my life: new work place, new habits I was determined to keep and putting more effort into building my online presence.
I thought back to two years ago when I had just signed a contract for my Sony phone and where I was then. Granted, life had changed quite a bit between that time and now, but I wanted to be even more accomplished.
I imagined what it would be like two years into the future when it came time to update my phone again. Would people be looking me up on Google? Would I be promoted at my new company?
Two years isn’t a lot of time, but the possibilities energized and enlightened me.
I switched on my phone for the first time. After watching the Android logo dance around for a few seconds, I saw the home screen.
It was blank and pure. There were a few default apps installed, but it didn’t have the clutter that would come over time.
It was at that time that I decided that wouldn’t install any mobile games. If I had time to play mobile games, I had time to be developing myself and be productive.
It was about a month before I installed Clash Royale. I had installed it on my Sony phone, but uninstalled it, sick of how addicting it was.
I can’t even remember what made me reinstall it. I could have been bored and seen one of its many ads on TV or online. I could have been trawling through Google Play and saw it being promoted there.
It didn’t matter. The point was, I installed it on a whim and it hooked me in.
Since then, I’ve installed a handful of other mobile games. Some I’ve uninstalled after playing through once. Others I’ve kept. The sad thing is though that my home screen isn’t as pristine and pure as it was when I turned it on for the first time in July.
I read a piece by Holly Liu called, “Do this one thing to make your product sticky”. She’s the Chief Development Officer at Kabam, an interactive entertainment company with offices located all around the world. Kabam develops games not dissimilar to those you find on the App Store or Google Play.
In this article, she explains that “sticky” games draw you in with “loops” that leave you feeling unfulfilled if you don’t complete them. This could be upgrading your character, collecting items or competing against other players. The more a game/product has, the “stickier” it becomes.
Humans are programmed to seek accomplishment
When people download mobile games, on the surface it might be because they are bored and are seeking entertainment. Look under the surface and you’ll find something else that everybody is craving: accomplishment.
People keep playing these games because these games press buttons in the human psyche that haven’t been touched in a long time. You could say that the games are actually playing us — not the other way around.
You could say that the games are actually playing us — not the other way around.
Something I haven’t stooped so low to do is purchase DLCs (Downloadable Content). Typically, these range from a few dollars to anywhere in the region of hundreds of dollars.
What do they allow people to do? Take shortcuts in the game where it might usually take them hours to get a result. DLCs work surprisingly well; more and more games are jumping on the bandwagon, crafting a stellar in-game experience and making money on the back end once people are hooked.
I’d like to think that I’m still playing the game and not the other way around. However, there is one thing I’m disappointed in myself about. The amount of time that I’ve spent doing things that are truly productive has decreased.
My brain is happy every time I play these games. Every time I win a game, my brain sends out a rush of dopamine. This hormone has been linked to addiction and is released every time we desire something.
Note that it is NOT released when we’re happy (serotonin is released when we’re happy). If anything, its release makes us more frustrated. It makes us seek things that are hard to attain and while it can motivate us for long term goals, it is easily satiated by short term success too.
People who gamble, take drugs and cheat often have underdeveloped prefrontal cortices, the part of the brain that’s in charge of regulating self discipline and self control. These people can’t handle the dopamine and use their addictions of choice to get that rush.
The sad thing is that these people will never be aware of what’s happening inside their brain. The wide majority will not be.
They will play their games and feel accomplished, but one day wake up and realize that all they’ve done is play games for the last 10 years, neglecting the biggest game of all: Life.
You want to be accomplished. I know you do. You want to scale mountains, start a business, become a singer, dance on stage, run a marathon, learn a new language and help the homeless.
That’s real accomplishment — not the games we play on our handheld devices.
Average people will have average accomplishments. Extraordinary people will have extraordinary accomplishments. It’s up to you to decide what sort of person you want to be.
