> The delay between the sacrifice and the gratification ... in real life is often on the order of years or even decades. > In video games the delay is often on

> The delay between the sacrifice and the gratification ... in real life is often on the order of years or even decades. > In video games the delay is often on the order of minutes or hours. Regarding the education component of the original comment, there can be just as much immediate gratification in education as there can be in games (note that the topic here is gratification, not how long it takes to really learn some topic). E.g. solving a problem that takes a minute to solve - whether there's the intrinsic gratification, or some sort of gamified element like getting points that will work towards you leveling up in some sort of scheme.