Eight important psychological aspects in video games

That technological evolution is growing exponentially at enormous levels is no secret. In the same way, then, the video game industry is doing it, the technical characteristics of these and the money they generate are increasing. So that, we are in a period of full height of the video game industry and with this, in the face of an expansion process that is occurring at breakneck speed.

The generational technical leap is one of the most surprising factors in this industry since current video games are achieving increasing levels of graphic realism, which allows us to have a much more immersive experience and vivid. However, the most important milestone in the entire history of videogames may be the moment of consolidation of the e-Sports, which has given a great boost to the entire industry and has allowed its growth to a point difficult to imagine previously.

One of the new paths that has been opened in this industry is the entry of psychologists as active agents in the development of video games.

We will try to shed some light on this new field, still in its earliest stages but which aims to change the current paradigm.

Psychology and videogames: a possible pairing?

Psychology is responsible for the study of human behavior, its mental processes and its sensations and perceptions. Since the main objective of video games is to provide the public with a pleasant and fun experience, Why not apply psychology to them to improve their role? And even more: Given that playing video games involves explicit mental activity, do they have consequences on our levels of cognitive functioning? To make this article more understandable, we will begin by answering the second question to give rise to the first.

Gaming, a way to enhance certain cognitive skills

One of the primary characteristics of video games is their visual nature to which is added a motor component of interaction with the video game, and several secondary elements such as music or dialogues. Due to its primary visual nature, spending time playing video games can enhance players' spatial-visual skills (Alloza, Costal & Jiménez, 2016), to the point of greatly improving this ability in those people who perform this activity for many hours.

Thus, authors such as Green and Bavelier have been studying these phenomena for many years and trying to analyze all of them. visual processes that are enhanced, in addition to including processes such as attention (Alloza, Costal & Jiménez, 2016). At the level of care processes, we also see that there are substantial improvements in their basic performance and that this same improvement is translated or generalized to other activities (Wilms et al. al., 2013). All these implications in the functions of the human being could be broken down and analyzed from much more specific and complete way, in addition to analyzing many others that also have implication; but this would lead us to produce a much longer and more scientific article.

From the previous paragraph it is concluded that video games produce large (mostly beneficial) changes in people's cognitive functioning. In addition, they also produce improvements in motor skills and, increasingly, they are being used in the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered stroke (a type of syndrome that involves a sudden suspension of brain activity, accompanied by a variable degree of muscle paralysis) or to improve cognitive function in the elderly, including for the treatment of phobias For these reasons, video games can turn out to be great tools for the work of a psychologist, but the implication of this figure within the industry is not limited only to these functions.

8 aspects of a video game in which a psychologist has something to say

Psychology within videogames can be used in many ways and the truth is that, really, a psychologist can be of great help at any stage of their development or in any area within a company dedicated to video games.

Some of the elements that a psychologist can contribute are:

1. Emotions, sensations and experience linked to gaming

A psychologist could perform analysis functions of the quality of the immersion that a video game produces. Knowledge of the human mind and its behavior helps to decipher what the context should be like of the game, together with all the elements that compose it, to generate the emotions or sensations that wish.

2. Context (music, design ...)

Continuing with the previous point, a psychologist can design as well as diagnose whether an item is well designed or not. In this way, topics such as lighting or music, for example, would be key factors in certain video games that a psychologist could design appropriately.

3. Mechanics and reward systems

He could also adopt the role in charge of analyzing the game mechanics, contributing his vision expert of the human psyche, to feed them with characteristics that facilitate and contribute greater fun. Again you can also take a more active role and design the mechanics that limit the game to be able to generate certain sensations in the players. A couple of examples are the basic mechanics of positive reinforcement (rewards) to keep the player playing and thus increase user retention. Or the social part of the video game, designing a competition or social interactions to increase the engagement and motivation of the players, not being the only way to do it.

4. Character personality profile

Besides, also could easily design the personality profiles of the various characters that appear in video gamess. In certain games there are pathological characters and who better than a psychologist to specifically design the behavior patterns that they should display.

5. Level design and progress

The psychologist also plays an important role in the creation and design of video game levels., or the way they have to show the progress that the player has in it. Whether it's Candy Crush levels, side quests in a classic RPG, or different circuits in a racing game, the figure of the psychologist can contribute his bit, thus increasing the quality of the product and providing value added.

6. Economic aspect: monetization

Even economically, an expert psychologist could play a very important role in the monetization of video games for being a great connoisseur of consumer profiles, and due to the innovations that are currently being made in the way of monetizing them.

7. Psychologists in video game multinationals

Outside the product, the psychologist could also fit quite well in a company dedicated to the development of video games. In fact, there are already professional psychologists actively working in many departments of companies today, and video games are no exception. Some of the examples are figures of Community Manager, Customer Experience Designer and even in the Human Resources department.

8. Sports coaching

By last, Psychology could also be applied with professional competitive teams that participate in the e-Sports by way of sports coaching, in the same way that it is used with professional athletes to prepare their mood and mental state for certain competitions or life events.

Much to discover, much to advance

However, the role of psychology in video games is still in an early stage, although large companies such as Valve, Ubisoft or EA Games they already have psychologists on staff as designers. However, there is a lot of reluctance to what our profession can contribute to the development of video games, which is undoubtedly a lot.