00:00for how much fun video games can be why
00:03is it sometimes so difficult to get
00:05ourselves to play certain games this is
00:09a question I've had for a long time but
00:11it's been on my mind even more recently
00:14we are quickly approaching the oneyear
00:17anniversary of Legend of Zelda tears of
00:19the kingdom and despite my 125 odd hours
00:24with the game this title stands
00:26unfinished in my library I don't even
00:30Ends the facts of this situation seem so
00:34simple I was really enjoying the game
00:37and I want to experience the ending so
00:40why does it feel so hard to just pick it
00:42back up every time I look over at the
00:45sizeable layer of dust that's
00:47accumulated on my switch I wonder what
00:50it is that's preventing me from jumping
00:52back in today I hope to answer that
00:57more you may be shocked to learn that
00:59this is not the first time I've found
01:01myself in this situation in fact I'm
01:04quite sure this is a challenge that many
01:06of us face so a couple months ago I set
01:09out to understand this behavior and I
01:12had thought I'd be embarking on a
01:15philosophical exploration of gaming
01:18instead my journey took me down an
01:19unexpected path one of academic papers
01:24studies through this research I actually
01:26found some compelling explanations for
01:29why this Behavior May manifest in Gamers
01:32but more importantly I discovered real
01:35strategies supported by concepts of
01:38psychology that you can use to help
01:41finish games in this video we'll learn
01:44how to get back into a game according to
01:48science before we can make sense of this
01:51reluctance to resume we need to First
01:53Look at what video games are to the
01:55human brain in mainstream culture and
01:58media video games are often portrayed as
02:01pure entertainment liken to candy for
02:05the brain but as most real Gamers know
02:08they are vastly more nuanced than that
02:11every game will fall somewhere on the
02:13spectrum of cognitive demand a virtual
02:16slot machine while technically
02:18considered a video game will be far less
02:21taxing on the human brain than playing
02:25Civilization and yet if you asked a
02:27season slots player to describe their
02:29Strat IES they would probably have a lot
02:31to say about things like payout tables
02:35percentages every kind of game is
02:37designed to challenge the player in some
02:39way from learning basic controls to
02:42mastering optimal strategies even
02:44interpreting narrative elements and
02:46investing emotionally into the
02:48characters of a game can present our
02:50brains with tangible work and in certain
02:53genres like strategy and puzzle games
02:55the compute demand placed on our CPU can
02:58be pretty substantial IAL now if video
03:02games were nothing but a constant chore
03:04for our brains Well we'd all have a
03:07different hobby but of course they're
03:09not what makes games work is the
03:11beautiful balance between Challenge and
03:14reward we want to be rewarded for our
03:17precious cognition and game designers
03:20have figured out some highly effective
03:22incentives to compensate our
03:24attention but it turns out we don't
03:26actually need a lot to feel rewarded
03:29some of the most common techniques are
03:30so Universal across game design that we
03:33barely register when we encounter them
03:36take a simple yet nearly Universal
03:39mechanic The Humble Quest log for
03:42example in sprawling open world games
03:45like tears of the Kingdom Quest logs can
03:47be an important tool to help the player
03:49keep track of activities that they
03:51haven't completed yet said in another
03:53way a quest log is basically one giant
03:55to-do list in addition to being helpful
03:58for the player how having a to-do list
04:00built into the game is also an effective
04:03way for designers to motivate you and
04:05provide a basic sense of progress for
04:09actions this idea touches on one of the
04:11core principles of self-determination
04:14Theory self-determination theory is a
04:16psychological framework that suggests
04:19all humans possess an intrinsic
04:22motivation to fulfill three critical
04:25psychological needs competence autonomy
04:31as you can probably imagine
04:32self-determination theory has a ton of
04:35implications for game design but I'll
04:37save most of that for another video if
04:40we think about this Quest log example
04:42it's clearly geared toward our need for
04:45competence as you complete more of the
04:47game The Quest log shrinks and you get
04:50the satisfaction of seeing items checked
04:52off the list this gives the impression
04:54that progress is being made it's visual
04:57proof of your accomplishments and if if
04:59you're able to check off one of the more
05:01challenging quests in a game that can
05:03provide further evidence to the brain of
05:05our growing Mastery of the
05:07experience the main takeaway for now is
05:09that video games represent a delicate
05:12balance between investment and payoff
05:15which is a concept that heavily impacts
05:17the strategies we'll be looking at later
05:19on games are much more than a simple
05:22dopamine Rush there is cognitive labor
05:24involved in most cases and this labor
05:27has to be thoughtfully offset by game
05:29design elements that offer our brains a
05:32reason to engage with them leveraging
05:34our innate drive to get better at things
05:37which is a facet of self-determination
05:39theory is just one example of how
05:41designers motivate players to stick with
05:45games so now that we have a bit of
05:48context as to what's going on in our
05:50heads when we engage with games we can
05:52start to unpack what might happen when
05:55disengage the list of possible reasons
05:58why we stop playing games is essentially
06:00endless I mean life happens we have
06:03commitments we get distracted and we
06:05forget I talked a little bit about this
06:07in a previous video but the modern
06:09gaming landscape has also played a role
06:11in my own struggle to focus on a single
06:13game and see it through to the end so
06:16I'm not going to get into that piece
06:17right now just assume you have
06:19disengaged with a game that you enjoyed
06:22for some reason it could be anything
06:25maybe you were having a lovely time with
06:30but you got a little too cocky and
06:32decided to ignore that prompt warning
06:36danger now you're stuck in an unbeatable
06:38boss battle with no option to flee and
06:41it's been over an hour since you hit a
06:42save checkpoint that would never happen
06:45to me but maybe it happened to you so
06:48you've moved on for now but part of you
06:50still thinks about octopath traveler 2
06:53part of you may be frustrated that
06:54you've taken such a long break from it
06:57and yet nothing changes you continue to
06:59play other games struggling with the
07:02thought of booting it back up the most
07:05critical factor in a situation like this
07:07is that there was an interruption event
07:10something came along and broke our habit
07:13of engaging with the game now again this
07:15Interruption could be anything as long
07:18as it was significant enough to affect
07:20the Habit we had formed so even a
07:22seemingly harmless decision like trying
07:25out a demo for a new game could be the
07:28interruption that throws the train off
07:30its tracks the event that interrupted my
07:33tears of the Kingdom playthrough was the
07:36launch of Starfield now I knew exactly
07:39when this event was coming so in a sense
07:41I signed myself up for failure but at
07:44the time what I didn't know was that
07:46starting Starfield would lead me to not
07:49finishing Zelda if I could go back I
07:52would have made a different
07:54Choice what I discovered in my research
07:56is that getting the train back on the
07:59tracks can actually be harder for us
08:01than simply finding another train to hop
08:04onto but why is this the case one
08:08potential explanation takes us right
08:10back to self-determination Theory we
08:13talked about how our need to feel
08:15competent is highly relevant to how
08:17games are designed but what happens to
08:20that sense of competence when we step
08:22away for a long time well it's not quite
08:26like riding a bike all the time we spent
08:29learning the ins and outs getting know
08:31the characters the systems training our
08:34reflexes for combat scenarios and other
08:36challenges for most of us that stuff
08:39doesn't get to live in our brains
08:41rentree when we disengage with a game
08:44those circuits go dormant and the
08:46information begins to fade away it
08:49starts to become more memory than active
08:52knowledge and the longer that break is
08:54the more we can lose suddenly we're
08:57staring at an uphill battle when we
08:59think about the idea of booting that
09:01game up again our brains seem to push
09:04back a little that resistance is a
09:07response to the potential loss of
09:10competence in that game and to the
09:12energy that would be required to regain
09:16Mastery for really competitive games
09:19like mobas and Shooters this effect can
09:22be even more pronounced and because of
09:24the time commitment needed to keep up at
09:26high levels of play it becomes extremely
09:29difficult to take extended breaks
09:33Edge so instead of running a risk like
09:36that your brain might prefer to write
09:39the game off choosing to see all that
09:42time invested for what it truly is a
09:44sunk cost by closing the door it earns
09:48the freedom to move on to the next
09:50challenge but without sacrificing any of
09:53the good feelings and memories
09:55associated with the time you did spend
09:56in the game it's basically a loss
09:59aversion strategy and I sort of get it I
10:03think for certain kinds of Gamers this
10:05is actually their default State they
10:07streak from one game to the next with a
10:10true economist's perspective of su costs
10:13and their brains are constantly
10:15motivated to move on from that
10:16unfinished game and try something new
10:19where the potential for upside seems
10:23guarantee to make that even more
10:26appealing the opening hours of most
10:28games are carefully calibrated to hook
10:32specifically so even though we're
10:34technically starting from scratch these
10:37intros sections often build some of the
10:39strongest motivation to engage because
10:41there's a very intentional sense of
10:43progression and typically more
10:45handholding which shaves off some of
10:47that cognitive load take the great Sky
10:50aisle from tears of the Kingdom this is
10:53a giant tutorial Zone that introduces
10:55the player to each of Link's new
10:57abilities and gives you some simple
10:59opportunities to practice with them I
11:02spent like s or 8 hours exploring the
11:04great Sky Isle absolutely floored at
11:07what I could do with ultran so by the
11:10time I dove down to Hyrule my brain was
11:14motivation not only had I just learned a
11:16lot of new mechanics satisfying my need
11:19for competence but I also now had access
11:21to the entire open world to go play with
11:24those abilities which satisfied my need
11:27for autonomy pair that with the virality
11:29of the game seeing all the content
11:31making its way to YouTube the
11:33conversations happening on Reddit and
11:35Twitter it struck that perfect
11:37self-determination Theory Trifecta of
11:40competence autonomy and
11:42connectedness when it comes to getting
11:44back into games stdt hits us with a
11:47double barreled shotgun the first slug
11:49demotivates us for fear that we've lost
11:52competence in something we've invested
11:54energy into and the second slug tempts
11:57us into starting a new game game
11:59entirely because our brains crave that
12:02opening segment experience of figuring
12:06work so what can we do about all this
12:10while it's certainly interesting to
12:12explore the theoretical explanations for
12:15this behavior that wasn't my main
12:17objective for this video I wanted to
12:19learn how to prevent myself from getting
12:22into these situations with games and I
12:24wanted to finish tears of the Kingdom
12:27the big question then is how do we
12:29counteract these behavioral patterns
12:32that seem to be so deeply wired into our
12:36brains well I have good news and bad
12:39news the good news is that I found a
12:42handful of different techniques that can
12:44help us overwrite our native programming
12:46and I'm going to describe two of those
12:48techniques in just a second the bad news
12:50is that these strategies are closer to
12:53supplements than painkillers which means
12:56you'll need a little bit of discipline
12:59effectively but for those of you who
13:01just want something simple and practical
13:04I have a powerful bonus strategy at the
13:06end of the video that anyone can
13:08Implement so definitely stick around for
13:10that one of the main challenges we
13:13discussed with taking long breaks from
13:15games is that we often lose that sense
13:18of familiarity and progress that we get
13:20when playing something habitually so
13:24what if we had a way to help us fill in
13:26the memory gaps that form over time
13:29keeping a gaming Journal is one really
13:31simple way to achieve this and to get
13:34started all you need is a pen and some
13:36paper or if you want to go the digital
13:38route you can also use your phone or
13:40computer to make this journal an
13:43effective tool it really just needs to
13:45accomplish two tasks it needs to tell
13:48you what you just did and what you want
13:50to do next outside of that criteria your
13:54individual entries can be as minimal or
13:56detailed as you'd like
13:59I'll admit that I was a little bit
14:01skeptical to try this at first because
14:03it seemed like a chore for someone like
14:06me who is typically gaming at night the
14:09idea of writing or typing my journal
14:11entries right before bed felt like
14:13something that could be hard to maintain
14:16so instead of going for the written
14:18entries I just started doing voice memos
14:21after I log off I pull out my phone hit
14:24record and just talk for a couple
14:26minutes I describe what I accomplished
14:29during that play session and I mentioned
14:31one or two things I'd like to do the
14:32next time I jump in here's a snippet
14:36from a recent entry that I did about
14:38valheim tonight was good I I went down
14:42to the southern end of the of the island
14:44the continent whatever and I built a new
14:47portal make it easy to get there for my
14:50base and then I just built a a tiny
14:52little dock and a new boat so I can
14:55access all of the Southern body of water
14:58what whatever it is uh so yeah for next
15:01time I'm just going to explore on my new
15:04boat and check out um that that southern
15:07body of water on my way to the second
15:10boss so yeah that's all it is just a bit
15:13of reflection and then some potential
15:15goals for the next time despite the old
15:18school nature of this approach I was
15:20honestly shocked at how much easier it
15:22made jumping back into the game it saved
15:25me from that initial period of
15:27reorientation when I had had some
15:29context as to where I was and what I was
15:32on my way to do from the psychology
15:34perspective journaling can help us avoid
15:37that fear of losing confidence by
15:40supplementing our own memory and as an
15:42added Advantage stating our own goals
15:45out loud or on the page can further
15:47enhance that motivation to keep
15:51playing the second strategy is one that
15:53I stumbled on by accident but my guess
15:56is that many people have already
15:58experienced this effect maybe without
16:01even realizing it when Halo infinite
16:04finally came out I was pretty excited
16:07but if you played this game at launch
16:09chances are you probably didn't keep up
16:11with it for more than a couple months
16:14despite the solid fundamentals of
16:15infinite the live service strategy was a
16:18total mess the content just wasn't there
16:21and there were a bunch of other annoying
16:22little things that needed work so after
16:25a few months I just stopped playing and
16:28that really bummed me out because I love
16:30Halo for a lot of the competitive games
16:33out there that probably would have been
16:34the end of the road for me but I wasn't
16:38entirely out of the loop I would still
16:41get emails about New Seasons and most
16:44importantly my YouTube algorithm would
16:46suggest videos about big updates that
16:48the game was getting one channel in
16:51particular shout out to Mint Blitz would
16:54post regular news and reaction videos
16:56about the game every so often I would
16:59get curious and check out one of these
17:00videos and hearing about the exciting
17:04progress that the game was making or how
17:06much fun people were having with the new
17:08content that exposure actually
17:10replenished my motivation to log in so
17:14that's the second strategy seek out
17:17positive exposure related to the game
17:19you're trying to get back into in
17:21whatever medium works best for you this
17:25can also be customized depending on what
17:27kind of game it is for mult mul player
17:29and live service games watching
17:31competitive gameplay or following new
17:33content updates might be effective for
17:35single player titles you might find it
17:37more impactful to read through fan
17:40Praise on the game subreddit or maybe
17:42have a conversation with a friend who
17:46game my personal go-to method is to read
17:50or watch positive reviews of the game
17:53these reviews remind me of many of the
17:55reasons that caused me to like the game
17:57in the first place making it much easier
17:59to build up motivation to experience it
18:02again the additional benefit of positive
18:05exposure seeking is it can trigger that
18:07third component of self-determination
18:09Theory our need to feel related or
18:12connected to others seeing other people
18:16especially those We Trust talk
18:18positively about a game is a powerful
18:21motivator because we want to be able to
18:23connect on that experience
18:27together all right all right bonus
18:29strategy time this one is the most crude
18:32but also by far the easiest to implement
18:35it's called the two-minute Rule and it's
18:37something that James Clear outlined in
18:39his book Atomic habits the two-minute
18:41rule is deceptively simple if you're
18:44struggling to start a task commit to
18:46doing it for just 2 minutes this rule
18:50works wonders on the positive habits
18:51that we'd like to build in our lives but
18:54it could just as easily be applied to
18:55video games sometimes the hardest part
18:58about getting back into a game isn't
19:00actually the time you'll spend
19:01relearning mechanics or sorting out the
19:04story it's just taking the first step to
19:07start the game up again that small
19:10amount of friction can be enough to
19:12repel us so here's how you use the
19:15two-minute rule to break through this
19:17barrier tell yourself you'll play the
19:20game for Just 2 minutes that's it boot
19:23up the game and commit to a couple
19:26minutes of gameplay you can do whatever
19:28ever you want in those 2 minutes it
19:30doesn't matter as long as you make it
19:32past the title screen after 2 minutes
19:36the choice is yours if it was really
19:38unpleasant to experience then by all
19:40means move on but chances are you'll
19:43keep playing for a while that's the
19:46beauty of this strategy by reducing your
19:49commitment to something so minimal you
19:51effectively lower that mental barrier to
19:54entry once you've started the inertia
19:56that was keeping you from the game has
19:58already lost most of its power before
20:01you realize those 2 minutes will turn
20:03into an hour and just like that you're
20:05fully re-engaged and the train is back
20:09tracks this 2-minute rule is what
20:12finally got me back into Zelda so if you
20:14only try one strategy from this video I
20:17hope that you'll give this one a try in
20:19fact let me know in the comments what
20:21game you would use the two-minute rule
20:23on I'd be curious to see if there are
20:29getting back into a game especially one
20:31that you put on pause for a while can
20:33feel like a daunting task it's a
20:36situation that is all too common for
20:38gamers and I don't see it becoming any
20:40less prevalent in the future thankfully
20:43there are super smart people out there
20:45who study why humans behave the way we
20:48do and how our brain circuitry actually
20:51works and by exploring some of these
20:53behavioral principles like
20:55self-determination Theory we can work
20:58around around them to overcome this
21:00reluctance to resume so the next time
21:04you find yourself staring down that game
21:06you've been avoiding try to remember
21:08these strategies whether it's journaling
21:10to keep your progress and goals on track
21:13seeking out positive exposure to boost
21:15your excitement for a game or just
21:18committing to a quick 2 minutes of
21:20gameplay there's always a way to get the
21:24tracks the last point I'll make is that
21:26while each of these strategies can be
21:28effective on their own combining them
21:31together will yield the strongest
21:33results starting with the two-minute
21:35rule will get you over that initial
21:37obstacle but if you also build in a
21:39journaling habit and regular positive
21:41exposure that will be a hard game to put
21:44down this combo approach is the one I
21:47have ultimately adopted and I couldn't
21:49be happier at this point I can confirm
21:52that these aren't just theories they're
21:55practical steps that have fundamentally
21:57transformed my gaming habits and I
22:00believe they can do the same for
22:05you thanks for watching if you found
22:08this video helpful or insightful leaving
22:10a like or comment will really help my
22:12small Channel grow and if you're
22:14interested to see more videos like this
22:16in the future consider subscribing to
22:18the channel I would love to have you on
22:19board take care y'all
