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While looking through my iPhone apps, attempting to delete old games to make room for new music, I began to think about the difference in the popular games from when I was in grade school, to the popular games now. The one major difference in the games from these two time periods is the new addition of limited energy, or lives. The old, classic iPhone games such as Fruit Ninja, Tiny Wings, and Cube Runner all shared the same format. You would continuously play, as much as you desire, until you beat your personal high score. Over the past year, incredibly popular games like Candy Crush, Deer Hunter, and Injustice all force you to either wait the required amount of time, or buy a full set of lives/energy when your original set is used up. I believe this phenomenon goes deeper than just the greediness of application manufacturers, but extends to the impatience and need for immediate gratification of America's youth. Game makers are banking on the impatience of children (and possibly adults) who feel they must play immediately, so they spend 99 cents instead of waiting the 10-30 minutes needed for new lives. Have Americans become so snobby that they must have exactly what they want, when they want it? Well according to iTunes top grossing chart, Americans are that impatient. Although free, Candy Crush Saga is the #1 top grossing game. The immediate need for gratification is a problem in the U.S, and App manufacturers are not the first to utilize it for themselves. Skipping advertisements on a video by clicking a pop-up ad is another example of a company banking on the fact the user will be too impatient to watch a 15 second ad, and will therefore direct themselves to a whole new website, [usually] close that new tab, and proceed to watch their initial video. That sounds like so much work compared to just sitting patiently for a fraction of a minute, yet most Americans go through the tedious action to save themselves a few seconds. I can only assume that more and more games will take on the format of a pre-set number of lives before having to buy new ones, or test ones patience. Betting on American's to be patient, especially with each generation's attention span becoming shorter and shorter, is not a bet I would make.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Immediate Game Gratification
While looking through my iPhone apps, attempting to delete old games to make room for new music, I began to think about the difference in the popular games from when I was in grade school, to the popular games now. The one major difference in the games from these two time periods is the new addition of limited energy, or lives. The old, classic iPhone games such as Fruit Ninja, Tiny Wings, and Cube Runner all shared the same format. You would continuously play, as much as you desire, until you beat your personal high score. Over the past year, incredibly popular games like Candy Crush, Deer Hunter, and Injustice all force you to either wait the required amount of time, or buy a full set of lives/energy when your original set is used up. I believe this phenomenon goes deeper than just the greediness of application manufacturers, but extends to the impatience and need for immediate gratification of America's youth. Game makers are banking on the impatience of children (and possibly adults) who feel they must play immediately, so they spend 99 cents instead of waiting the 10-30 minutes needed for new lives. Have Americans become so snobby that they must have exactly what they want, when they want it? Well according to iTunes top grossing chart, Americans are that impatient. Although free, Candy Crush Saga is the #1 top grossing game. The immediate need for gratification is a problem in the U.S, and App manufacturers are not the first to utilize it for themselves. Skipping advertisements on a video by clicking a pop-up ad is another example of a company banking on the fact the user will be too impatient to watch a 15 second ad, and will therefore direct themselves to a whole new website, [usually] close that new tab, and proceed to watch their initial video. That sounds like so much work compared to just sitting patiently for a fraction of a minute, yet most Americans go through the tedious action to save themselves a few seconds. I can only assume that more and more games will take on the format of a pre-set number of lives before having to buy new ones, or test ones patience. Betting on American's to be patient, especially with each generation's attention span becoming shorter and shorter, is not a bet I would make.
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Noah: nice job. I could not agree with you more about the loss of patience and the need for immediate gratification in not only youth, but adults as well. We all would flunk the marshmallow test these days. We need more forced pauses and mindful moments. Then, perhaps, we can turn our attention to things a tad more important than video games. Thanks for the thoughtful post, Noah.
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