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You mention playing video games as a rewards and I immediately wonder: how much of your problem is the fact that video games made you get used to fast and easy

You mention playing video games as a rewards and I immediately wonder: how much of your problem is the fact that video games made you get used to fast and easy rewards? How much did you desensitize your innate reward system by video games? I'm probably going to get down voted for this remark but I encourage every gamer feeling the urge to down vote to take a critical look at themselves before doing so, be honest, my interest in this is also honest. In the digital world nowadays many things are optimized for fast rewards, real life is not. Gamers often tell me "it's just for relaxation" but often I feel that the time invested by them in games makes it more like a lifestyle. That said, a tip would be: What do you like about work? What are the things that do motivate you? Try to make a list and try the make the items on said list as big a part of your day and tasks as possible.

Vadoff 9y ago
I would say most video games do not have fast/easy rewards. There may be numerous small wins scattered throughout the completion of most games, but I would argue it's not much different from the distribution of small wins you could find at work (completing a small function, finding/fixing a bug, getting a large subtask done, etc). Most video games are decently challenging on a whole, and requires some persistence. I would argue browsing reddit/HN/facebook/checking email/notifications are loaded with a ton more fast/easy rewards that give instant gratification than most video games.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  That second paragraph is exactly what he is talking about. Your first paragraph is more of a semantic argument. I'm a huge gamer, my twin brother is not. When we both try to make a 'game' out of cleaning the house, I think it is easier for him. My bar for being entertained is just much much higher than his, because I get super high quality entertainment from video games. I want to finish the dishes so I can get back to killing all the orcs in Mordor. He wants to finish the dishes so he can go meditate... The result is he does the dishes a bit better than I do. (Although I often complete the same task more quickly) I definitely still prefer my choice to his, I am aware that my decisions changing the reward centers of my brain. Mowing the lawn will never be a fun game to me, because I have actual fun games to play.
baby 9y ago
I think it's not just a gaming problem. The social networking fastfoods and TV is also about short instant busts of reward.
herbst 9y ago
I am one of the very few people in my circle who doesn't game. I always wondered about these things myself. Especially the instant reward expectations seem to grow a lot with abusive gaming behaviour.
Bjorkbat 9y ago
I would argue it's not so much the rewards, but rather the feeling of progression towards a reward. I used to have a terrible problem where I would just waste entire weekends playing a Civilization game, not because I was being rewarded, but because I could tell I was progressing towards some form of in-game victory. As soon as I felt like this wasn't the case the game just lost it's zeal. It's still a reward, but with more subtlety. Ironically enough I'm actually a game developer myself and have used insights such as these to create a web app that turns business development and customer validation into a game. Seems to be working, albeit by my own admission it's a tad strange.

Vadoff 9y ago

I would say most video games do not have fast/easy rewards. There may be numerous small wins scattered throughout the completion of most games, but I would argue it's not much different from the distribution of small wins you could find at work (completing a small function, finding/fixing a bug, getting a large subtask done, etc). Most video games are decently challenging on a whole, and requires some persistence. I would argue browsing reddit/HN/facebook/checking email/notifications are loaded with a ton more fast/easy rewards that give instant gratification than most video games.

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
That second paragraph is exactly what he is talking about. Your first paragraph is more of a semantic argument. I'm a huge gamer, my twin brother is not. When we both try to make a 'game' out of cleaning the house, I think it is easier for him. My bar for being entertained is just much much higher than his, because I get super high quality entertainment from video games. I want to finish the dishes so I can get back to killing all the orcs in Mordor. He wants to finish the dishes so he can go meditate... The result is he does the dishes a bit better than I do. (Although I often complete the same task more quickly) I definitely still prefer my choice to his, I am aware that my decisions changing the reward centers of my brain. Mowing the lawn will never be a fun game to me, because I have actual fun games to play.

baby 9y ago

I think it's not just a gaming problem. The social networking fastfoods and TV is also about short instant busts of reward.

herbst 9y ago

I am one of the very few people in my circle who doesn't game. I always wondered about these things myself. Especially the instant reward expectations seem to grow a lot with abusive gaming behaviour.

Bjorkbat 9y ago

I would argue it's not so much the rewards, but rather the feeling of progression towards a reward. I used to have a terrible problem where I would just waste entire weekends playing a Civilization game, not because I was being rewarded, but because I could tell I was progressing towards some form of in-game victory. As soon as I felt like this wasn't the case the game just lost it's zeal. It's still a reward, but with more subtlety. Ironically enough I'm actually a game developer myself and have used insights such as these to create a web app that turns business development and customer validation into a game. Seems to be working, albeit by my own admission it's a tad strange.