Why do some nerds end up programming while others playing videogames?
As a nerd myself (outgoing but nerd at the end of the day), this question has always stroke me hard.
I like to think of nerds as individuals with a genuine deep thirst of abstraction and imagination. This can explain the usual early adoption of videogames as hobbies within this "group of population".
What is so appealing about videogames?
When we think of gaming industries, one of the core goals is delivering to the customer the so called "inmersive experience". In common english, that could be named as "feeling like real life".
Some games are fun but are not very inmersive though, but those kind of games are not the same kind nerds play anyways (games like tetris or platform games etc).
When we talk about excitement, we are forced to understand dopamine regulation system
By combining almost-real experience with rewards that in normal life would take greater amounts of time and effort to be achieved, games are basically bypassing the dopamine reward system of our brain.
The dissappointment: A videogame is just a program
My personal theory trying to explain this behavioural divergence within this group of population is based on the understanding of the underlying nature of gaming: programming.
For some reason that is still not clear to me, many young gamers end up frustrated with gaming as a result of the ultimate gamer dilema: freedom of choice. Every gamer will eventually experience the barriers of the program -which is nothing more than a limited combination of code strings-.
By acknowledging this fact, many realise that any game is doomed to become a disapointment. There is just nothing more real than life itself.
However, we all like playing gods.
Programming as a god-like experience
Some dissappointed nerds may end up programming by learning to delay the reward. Programming is not easy , but is fun, a LOT of fun.
Thing is, as you code, you are no longer constraned by limitations. The only limitation is your own creatitivy. It is barrier free. Therefore, the individual discovers a new dimension within the virtual experience.
You become the Master of the Dungeons, you do not play the Hero anymore.
For many, this is reason enough to give up completely or at least partially hardcore gaming and become programmers. Needless to say, programming is economically a more productive activity as well.
Disclaimer: I still think games can have a positive impact on society.
Do you think the universe is just the program ? And whoever created it it's just another level programmer ?
I find that theory fascinating and scary at the same time.
Turns out, that in some real life physics experiments scientists found reality to somehow behave in the way a game graphic engine works; as you zoom in, quality of details drop down reaching ultimately the pixel level.
In reality we have fractals; structures which complexity and order paterns seems to be endless as you zoom in. However, like I mentioned before, in certain specific scenarios, reality seems to behaves like a software.
sometimes it feels like so... but the definition of that Program might differ depending on your religion (or the lack of).
I like the both worlds... the act to create your own world from imagination (Dungeon Master) and the act of exploring according to someone's else imagination (Hero)...
While I always loved both, I never thought of this from this angel. Thanks for the post!!
Bueno algunos nerds, mezclan la programación y el juego, es decir, se convierten en programadores de juegos. La verdad he estado practicando en Unreal Engine y Unity 5, y me parece muy divertido. Pero solo programar App's me parece un poco más aburrido jejeje
Cada quien tiene su pasión, no? a ti que te gusta más?
Saludos hermano!.
A mi me gustan ambos...pero aveces no tengo la paciencia para esperar los resultados de un projecto de programacion. Los juegos te permiten obtener una recompensa o satisfaccion de manera mucho mas rapida. Por otro lado ,la satisfaccion de terminar un programa es muy superior a la satisfaccion que pueda aportarme cualquier juego.
However, I also had to make the experience: As soon as I started to be interested in programming, I stopped playing video games more or less. I think that people are just striving for more control over something, and it may be because of this. Recently, I've been dealing with game development more and more and I have to say that I enjoy creating my own levels more (from design to logic), than playing finished levels. Thanks for your post!
By far the best game I have EVER played was Tenchu 2 on the PS1.
I completed the entire game in about a 3 days or so and then I started building levels in the included level editor. My friend and I would fill up an entire memory card with custom levels then swap cards. Complete the levels and fill up the card with new ones and swap back.
Eventually we ended up having days long sleep overs (love it when public holidays fall around weekends ) and while one of us designs a level the other was reading a comic or doing something to keep himself busy. Then we changed states where the comic book reader would become the player and the designer would become the spectator/cheerleader until we changed states again. At that pint the player would become the designer and the spectator would go read a comic or watch TV or something.
Completed the game in 3 days then spent 6 months doing nothing but level design with all our free time (and I do mean ALL our spare time). We pushed that system to the brink and even found ways to do things the game developers probably didn't even know about.
For example aiming at a wall that has nothing for you to land on and is a guaranteed game over but... if you jump at the wall at that 45% angle, and you are at the right height offset, and at just the right time do a wall jump you could actually do a mid jump 90 degree direction change and land on platforms that are otherwise out of reach because it was obstructed by a wall. We discovered that hanging from a platform that falls if you stand on it would not cause it to drop so we had entire stretches of nothing with just those platforms and to make sure you are lined up correctly for the next jump you had to land on the falling platform, roll off of it backwards so you can grab on, climb up and do a quick jump to get to the end before doing an ACTUAL jump to land on the next one ready to repeat... and you had to be quick because you still had to retrace your steps on the same dropping platforms...
I think these were more bugs than anything but we considered them features and built our levels around what could be done and we pushed that level editor to the extreme! Let me repeat, 3 days to complete the game and 6 months of nothing but level design with ALL our spare time.
Till this day I want to build a Tenchu clone with modern graphics but with a decent level editor (which has been sorely lacking in every release since). Never before or since has there been a game more fun than Tenchu 2 and it was all due to the ability to design your own levels. So when you say you enjoy creating your own levels, I absolutely get that... I absolutely do! 👍🐱👤
Great article! Helps with my thnking.
I'll keep that in mind.