World Builders Guild: Identify and Level Up Your Passive Play Habits
Aug 29, 2023 11:51 am
World Builders,
Passive play leaves us feeling empty—like dopamine slaves—with nothing to show for our time or energy. Cravings for this crack hit of digital smack lead to gaming addiction. We can crush the urge in three easy steps.
Identify your passive play habits.
Do you play games that feel good in the moment, but leave you without a sense of accomplishment? You know the types: mobile apps that badger you to shell out hard cash to keep playing. Games that lock you into the "grind" for just one more useless digital trinket.
Active play involves intent. Is your intent to waste time or to learn something? Achieve a new level of skill or just hear that cheap "ding" for the 6000th time?
Example: In Rocket League, you pilot rocket powered cars that play soccer in a wild 3D cage. There are no powerups, no cheats, no pay-to-win mechanics. It's you versus the opponent. The better team wins every time.
Choose your games, and partners, wisely.
MMOs are notorious for the endless grind style of gameplay. There's always one more drop, more more raid, one more badge of honor. However, they can encourage social behaviors that help you stay in touch with friends and family. Few game feats beat the rush of teaming up with a close group of folks and obliterating the beefiest monster in sight.
Example: The Monster Hunter series suffers from an item drop gameplay loop—short story, rare things are painfully rare—and yet betrays the prerequisite of mindless play. Big dinosaurs put up a fight. It takes a smart team to kill the kings of the beasts.
Use mindfulness to extract meaning from all aspects of the game.
Do you ever stop and look at the scenery in Red Dead Redemption? Do you drink in the beautiful soundscapes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Have you ever set your controller down, slackjawed, when you crest the climax of a Suda51 game?
Soak in the lore of the world. Talk to the random NPC (that is, "non player character"). Chew on the puzzle for the puzzle's sake. Be one with the game. Ask yourself why they designed it that way and not the other way. Pull all the juice from every moment of your presence inside the game world.
There's a saying:
You must consume to create.
Mindless consumption drains your creative cup.
Active consumption will leave it overflowing with brilliance.
Find ways to engage yourself in the deepest possible way every time. This is mostly a symptom of digital games. It's hard to go on "autopilot" for a live tabletop roleplaying session or board game night.
We'll cover more of those types of games soon and how they can power up your brain, your relationships, and even your public speaking chops (!!!)
To future worlds,
Matt Ventre
In the meantime, get your creative juices flowing with the action-packed tabletop roleplaying games Legacy of the Cage: The Gauntlet and SpaceSport. Jump in today for the lowest prices yet at DriveThruRPG. My thanks to you for being a member of the World Builders Guild!
