Games That Are Cocaine For My Brain

Published on 2023-01-20

I’ve never done any hard drugs so excuse me if the cocaine comparison is not accurate. There’s a certain kind of videogame that I find irresistible. I can spend many hours at a time playing, ignoring real-world responsibilities and when I stop, they leave me completely empty. I’d imagine most people have a kind of game that does this for them, depending on their personality, taste, etc. And there are also games that are literally designed to exploit this aspect of our brains (things like Candy Crush).

I call this kind of games “games about numbers going up”. They are generally games about resource/economy management, without a strong narrative and with basically no goals other than “make numbers go up”. They can be as simple as an idle clicker (damn you Universal Paperclips) or as sophisticated as Factorio.

My idea of FUN.

It’s worth noting that I don’t think these games are evil. All I’m saying is that they have a very negative effect on my brain that outweights any fun I have with them (which is a lot). When I was younger I had more spare time so I didn’t notice the effects. But nowadays I have so many better things to do and whenever I encounter one of this games I can’t help to fall for their siren song (lately it’s been Stacklands, which is fantastic and therefore terrible for my brain).

Someone could be wondering: “Couldn’t you just play them for a healthy amount of time?“. No, I couldn’t. I don’t think the amount of mental energy and discipline required to completely reshape my relationship with this games would be worth it. I’d much rather spend time with my wife, read a book or cut some more firewood for next winter.

I don’t have anything particularly interesting to say about this, I just want to admit this addiction out lout (I have others, don’t get me started) as a step towards avoiding them and maybe start a conversation about it. As someone who grew up with videogames I fear that all videogames will eventually feel like a waste of time. It’s really hard to let go of hobbies you’ve invested so much of your life into.

Something that has made the pointlessness of these games more evident to me is moving to the countryside and trying to live more self-sufficiently and simply in our farm. They reflect the parts of our capitalist society I hate the most: the need for infinite growth. It’s what’s destroying our planet and it’s what’s destroying my brain.

A non-exhaustive list of games that are cocaine for my brain and why I love them