What do online games do to our brains?

You may really like playing online games, or you may only play once in a while. Either way, you must have noticed that recently, game manufacturers have strengthened their anti-addiction systems. Specifically, in accordance with the requirements of the State Administration of Press and Publication, all online game companies can only provide one hour of service to minors from 20:00 to 21:00 every day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays, and are not allowed to provide online game services to minors in any form at other times.

"It's just a game, why make such a fuss?" You must have thought so, right? Then, do you know what online games do to your brain? What is the reason why you can't let go of it?

1. “I want”

Let's think about how you first got to know it - initially, you realized its existence through some channel; then, you opened the website or app market and found it; then, you had to download, install, and register an account before you could enter the game. That's not all, before you officially play, you always have to have a rough understanding of the game mechanism, what characters there are, what key props there are, how to judge winning and losing, and so on.

In contrast, if you want to watch TV, you just need to sit on the sofa and press the remote control. Why didn't you choose to watch TV at that time? Because your friends were playing games; because in the game, you might be able to defeat the enemy; or, the game manufacturers promised us that they provided an unprecedented fictional world.

There is an instrument in modern laboratories called a positron emission tomography scanner. It can detect the activity of proteins and the level of glucose consumption in the brain. In other words, through it, we can find the busiest area in the brain. If you use it to detect you while doing the above activities, you will find that a large area from the back of your forehead to the base of your head is shining like a firefly.

Dopaminergic neurons are hidden in this area. The so-called dopaminergic neurons are neurons that can be awakened by dopamine. When we usually talk about the brain, we always think of the brain as a whole. In fact, the brain is more like glued together, containing tens of billions of neurons. There is not even direct contact between neurons, but there is a narrow gap. So the question is, what keeps them together? Relying on neurotransmitters, such as dopamine. When encountering a specific event, the upper-level neurons release dopamine, and dopamine swims through the shallow gap to reach the next-level neurons, causing them to become excited. From this, it is transmitted downward one level at a time, prompting the neurons to reach a consensus.

As for the so-called "specific events", we can look at an experiment: Scientists used genetic technology to create mice that were born without dopamine. As a result, after these mice were born, they neither knew how to eat nor drink, and they even didn't know that they could move and needed sleep, and they soon died one after another.

This shows that dopamine neurons are the managers of our various desires. This is why game manufacturers often associate games with certain specific and ancient needs when promoting them, such as social interaction, winning or losing, and novelty.

2. “I can”

Okay, now that you have entered the game, you will find that, hey, this game doesn't seem difficult.

Most games now have a tutorial section for beginners, which allows players to understand basic operations through a series of extremely simple tasks. After new players officially enter the game, some kind of protection mechanism is usually set up, such as matching opponents according to winning rate and not allowing players with too low attack levels to be attacked. For horizontal comparison, we can look at the number of operations per minute of different games. When "StarCraft 1" was the most popular, top players had to perform more than 200 operations per minute. In "DOTA", it was only more than 100 times. As for mobile games, it is even lower.

The game is getting easier! Why?

The reason is very simple, and it was discovered by scientists half a century ago. In the late 1960s, American scholars Martin Seligman and Steven Meier designed an experiment that had a far-reaching impact. They found a group of dogs and divided them into two groups. For the first group, they installed an electric shock device and then set a pedal. As long as they stepped on the pedal, the electric shock would stop. For the second group, they also installed an electric shock device and set a pedal, but their pedal was broken. No matter how they stepped on it, the electric shock would not stop.

Then, they applied electric shocks to the puppies. As expected, both groups of dogs struggled violently, after all, electric shocks are not pleasant. Surprisingly, the first group of dogs became more and more courageous, while the second group of dogs gave up struggling after being stepped on many times in vain. Later, even if the latter were placed in an environment where they could escape the electric shock, they would not struggle.

The second group of dogs were placed in a box with an electric shock on one side and no electric shock on the other side. They simply could not escape. Image source: Psychology OpenStax

Many scholars have repeated this experiment, and the results are basically the same. Under normal circumstances, animals have the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm. However, if they encounter setbacks many times in the process, the animals may feel an insurmountable sense of helplessness and then "lie down." People call this phenomenon "learned helplessness."

Recent studies have shown that learned helplessness can cause a decrease in dopamine levels. The principle is actually very simple. Dopamine and the corresponding neurons are responsible for regulating our desires, and they must find those desires that are most useful for survival. If something doesn't work no matter how many times we try, dopamine secretion will decrease, reducing our desire for it to avoid wasting effort.

Why are games getting easier and easier? Because only when players have at least one successful attempt will they move on to the next step.

3. “I Win”

After completing the tutorial, you officially start the game.

You smash a stone and get a prop; you kill a monster and get a little gold; you play a card and cause a little damage to the enemy...

During this process, two changes will occur in your brain: on the one hand, the joy center in your brain lights up. It is very small, only as big as a fingernail, but it is the key to your appreciation of food, books, and games. On the other hand, the entire dopamine system lights up again.

As mentioned earlier, the brain is a combination of many neurons. In fact, from an evolutionary perspective, this combination has occurred three times. The earliest one gave birth to tissues such as the brainstem, which are responsible for the most basic activities of life such as breathing and heartbeat; the most recent one gave us the cerebral cortex, allowing us to read, write, solve problems, and perform complex mental activities. The dopamine system lies between the two. For the former, it is responsible for maintaining basic desires, eating when hungry, drinking water when thirsty, and finding friends when lonely; for the latter, it provides new clues.

Did something happen recently that made me happy? If so, the dopamine system will record it, "it equals happiness", forming a new neural pathway. The next time you encounter the same or similar thing, it will become active and encourage us to try again. Because of this feature, the dopamine system is also called the reward system.

The most interesting research on the reward system appeared more than 80 years ago. At that time, American scholar Skinner designed a special box with a mechanism in it. Pressing the lever might cause food to fall. He put various animals into the box and adjusted the conditions for the food to fall, such as whether it would definitely fall or only fall occasionally. It turned out that the former would make the animals stay in front of the lever, but the latter would make the animals more enthusiastic. This means that random rewards have a stronger effect on the reward system.

Have you ever ignored old friends in order to please new friends? If so, don't blame yourself, because new friends mean new experiences and new opportunities, and old friends are more likely to forgive us. Therefore, from the perspective of maximizing benefits, there is nothing wrong with your approach. Food and socializing are of course different in nature, but the reward system only talks about the winning rate - fixed rewards are like old friends, they are there anyway, chasing random rewards is like pleasing new friends, which is more conducive to survival.

Game manufacturers often use this principle to design a random system in the game. For example, the items dropped by monsters are different every time, or the results of drawing cards are sometimes good and sometimes bad. In some games, props and buffs are crucial to winning or losing, so let them appear randomly...

4. Play One More Time

So far, everything is fine. Games promise us that we can get a sense of freshness, accomplishment, and belonging from them, so we start playing games, and after a while, we do get happiness and satisfaction. Playing is a child's nature and a very normal demand. Why not?

The problem is that if this process is repeated too many times, or if the game manufacturer deliberately sets strong rewards, the reward system will change.

As mentioned earlier, dopamine released by neurons at the previous level passes through the gaps between neurons and activates neurons at the next level. So, how is it activated? Where does the dopamine go after activation? The answer lies in proteins.

Protein is the basis of all life and exists in every species and every cell. When dopamine reaches the next level of neurons, it will bind to certain proteins on the surface of the neurons, causing the neurons to become excited. These proteins seem to be waiting for dopamine to arrive, so they are called receptors. On the other hand, under normal circumstances, the brain is very cautious about dopamine and only secretes a little at a time. Once the effect is achieved, another batch of proteins will be sent immediately to break down the dopamine to prevent the neurons from falling into long-term excitement.

As the intensity and frequency of stimulation increase, the receptors may become less sensitive to dopamine, which means that more dopamine is needed to excite the corresponding neurons. What's more, drugs such as cocaine can directly block the decomposition of dopamine, allowing the corresponding neurons to continue to be excited. For the brain, this is equivalent to a very simple multiple-choice question: either carry out normal activities like others and get the corresponding little dopamine; or repeat the things that activate the reward system and immediately get a huge amount of dopamine. Less on one side, more on the other side, mice know how to choose, right?

Yes, mice know how to choose. In 1954, American scholars James Olds and Peter Milner placed electrodes in the reward system of mice, and then gave the mice a switch to activate the electrodes, such as setting up a rolling wheel. As long as the mouse turned the rolling wheel, the electrode would turn on and activate the reward system. As a result, the mouse fell into a frenzy and turned the rolling wheel without sleep or food. This phenomenon is what we often call addiction.

5. “I can beat it”

At this point, you may think that game manufacturers are terrible, as they can design games based on our weaknesses. But this is not the case.

Our understanding of the reward system is still very primitive, and there are many controversies about online game addiction. For example, traditionally, many people believed that dopamine meant pleasure. It was not until 1983 that American scholar Kent proposed that dopamine was more likely to be a carrier of desire. Since then, a large number of studies have emerged, gradually forming the current mainstream theory.

Game manufacturers can use reward systems, so can we. Since reward systems are so important, we can use some methods to keep them running normally. After reading this, you might as well think about whether there is a way to use the characteristics of reward systems in learning? In fact, some mobile phone applications are also using reward systems to help people form a healthy lifestyle. As for the attempt to apply game concepts to classroom education, it is not uncommon.

Teenagers' brains are not mature enough and their self-control ability is poor, so it is necessary to regulate online games to a certain extent. However, it is more important to learn to manage yourself than to be controlled by others. Look around you, there are more and more people who overeat, who are obsessed with short videos, and who panic when their mobile phones are low on battery. We live in an age with more and more temptations. How can we make people happy without getting addicted?

The final answer must come from someone who is addicted to learning, and that could be you.