Mind Games #2: Hard Times

Gaming is an interactive experience. We play games -- but at the same time, games play us. In this column, psychologist Nicholaus Noles explores how video games manipulate our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, all in the name of fun.



Here Comes A New Challenger

Human beings are fundamentally lazy. In general, we seek and follow the path of least resistance unless something -- usually sex or food -- motivates us to abandon our lazy ways. This being the case, we engage in some surprisingly stressful and work-intensive leisure activities. People go mountain biking, rock climbing, running... and some few brave souls even invest their time in challenging video games, such as the Ninja Gaiden series or Demon's Souls. Of course, not every gamer finds challenging video games rewarding, which leads us to the topic of this month's column: Why do some people enjoy challenging games, while others don't?

Let me make myself clear. I am not talking about games that are difficult because they have technical problems. E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 was hard because it was a buggy, poorly constructed mess. Luckily, publisher supervision, post-launch patches, and the rising cost of game development are making truly broken games less and less common, but many games are still released in rough shape (I'm looking at you, Fallout: New Vegas). Similarly, I am not focusing on games that feel difficult because they fail -- through developer oversight or player inattention -- to convey basic game mechanics to players. Imagine trying to finish Assassin's Creed without countering, or playing Halo multiplayer without using melee attacks. Either of these tasks would be difficult, but this kind of difficulty is artificial, and not intentionally built into a game's design. Almost no one "likes" a game because it's broken or poorly designed.

Challenging games give you the tools that you need to be successful, but they require you to invest both time and effort in order to master these tools. Some people find this kind of gaming experience fun and rewarding, but others find difficult games to be supremely frustrating. The contrast between these two groups of people is not a mere difference in opinion. Instead, these groups hold dramatically different beliefs about themselves and their personal qualities. They have different "Mindsets."


Mindset is a concept that was formulated by psychologist Carol Dweck. Dweck presented children with different challenges, such as completing math problems. Some of these challenges were relatively simple, and others were very difficult. Dweck noticed two kinds of children in most classrooms. Some children liked to push their boundaries; these children worked diligently on tasks that strained their abilities, and some of them even described these tasks as "fun." The remaining children preferred to repeatedly complete tasks that were well within their capabilities, rather than work on difficult tasks -- and they often quit attempting difficult tasks. These two groups of children characterize the two groups that most people fall within: people with Growth Mindsets and people with Fixed Mindsets.

People with a Growth Mindset believe that their personal skills and attributes are malleable. They hold the fundamental belief that they, like heroes from a role-playing game, can enhance their skills if they work hard and challenge themselves. This belief sounds very basic and obvious; after all, everyone knows that if you work a muscle, it becomes stronger, right? Well, people with a Growth Mindset don't just know that this is true, they believe it to be true. And they believe it to be true about a whole host of personal qualities, such as intelligence, gaming skill, interpersonal relationships, and basically any other trait that can be enhanced with practice. The consequence of this worldview is that people with a Growth Mindset see failures as meaningful, positive experiences that are necessary for self-improvement.

In contrast, people with a Fixed Mindset fundamentally believe that personal attributes are fixed values. They believe that people are like characters in fighting games: They have specific positive and negative qualities that define them and that do not change. This worldview is not totally misinformed; genetic factors contribute heavily to traits such as intelligence, attractiveness, and height. No amount of practice can make someone who is short become tall, or someone born with a very low IQ become a genius. The problem with having a Fixed Mindset is that it reduces your motivation to overcome obstacles and it changes how you interpret failures. For example, if a person with a Fixed Mindset believes themselves to be a skillful gamer, then they expect to be good at most video games. They may not be motivated to enhance their gaming skills because they believe that they are already accomplished gamers. Furthermore, encountering a difficult game forces them to either admit that they are not skilled or create a response that preserves their ego, such as suggesting that the game is simply too hard for anyone. The result of this kind of thinking is that a Fixed Mindset gamer will avoid games that test their limitations, and they will rarely improve their skills or enjoy a challenging game. Does this sound familiar?


For gaming, and more specifically for game designers, Mindset may also be leveraged as a motivational tool. Mindset can be manipulated locally using praise. For example, if a game emphasizes how your efforts -- even your failures -- are increasing your overall skills within the context of a game, then you will evaluate the challenges presented in the game in a more Growth-based manner. This tactic won't make a person with a Fixed Mindset suddenly fall in love with punishingly difficult games, but it may help them to stick with a game that challenges their abilities. In practical terms, this kind of targeted praise might increase in the number of people playing a game until completion, or ease players into more challenging (and perhaps more rewarding) experiences.

People with a Growth Mindset enjoy challenging games because they understand that failure is the path to success. In contrast, people with a Fixed Mindset view failure as a demonstration of ineptitude, something to be avoided at all costs. The good news is that it's never too late to transition from a Fixed to a Growth Mindset. You can learn to conceptualize difficult experiences, both inside and outside of gaming, as valuable opportunities to learn and grow. They key is to pay close attention to your thoughts and correct yourself when you start to evaluate yourself in Fixed terms. I think that John Popper of Blues Traveler said it best: "There's no such thing as a failure who keeps trying."

To go deeper, read Dr. Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.



Nicholaus Noles is a dad and avid gamer. He writes about psychology, games, and the psychology of games. Nicholaus received a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Yale University, and works as a developmental psychologist at the University of Michigan, but he learned the most important lesson in life early: Don't play Contra with your older brother, because he'll jump in a pit just to make you angry.