"I want it now"

[This was originally posted on my personal blog http://www.reachingperfection.com/]

In my last post I talked about how humans are naturally impatient. At the very end of the post I pointed out that little details can stem from that fact that can be used for or against the player to give the experience that the designers want the players to have. A quick rewards system happens to be one of the many tools that designers use take advantage of your lack of patience. Turns out I won't be covering quick reward systems today, maybe tomorrow. First I want to lay down the basis of quick reward systems. It's time for everyone to start seeing when this happens.

Instant Gratification

Admit it when I state that you want to be rewarded as soon as possible when you put in some sort of effort. There is no denying that. Have you ever taken the time to think about how powerful that feeling is? Let's go into an example that we all understand completely; Money. Mom: Jimmy you should save up your $10 allowance that you receive every weekend to buy that new "Halo: Reach" game that you keep saying you want. It's obvious that if you are patient you will get what you truly want. So why do you buy Burger King when you are out with friends at the food court? Why do you buy gum, chocolate, and other candies when you are at a grocery store? Why do you go to the movies to see "Clash of the Titans" when you could easily rent it and see how bad it is when it comes out? Because spending that money right now makes you happy right now.

The Power of not Waiting

Take the time to think about how powerful that instant gratification really is. You just bought Burger King that you just devoured and digested the next day. Well you could have used that money to buy Halo: Reach which you could have spent years playing. You just bought a cone of ice cream that ended up melting all over your hands and leaving them sticky and disgusting. Well that money could have gone towards Gears of War 3 in the future. You just watched a movie that turned out to be horrible and leaving you wishing you could get your 1.5+ hours back (to be honest I haven't watched Clash of the Titans yet, but I have read some pretty bad reviews on it). Instead you could have used that money to make memories with friends that last forever while playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2.

Reward vs Wait Time

So now you see how powerful instant gratification is. Even if you suffered consequences, you were made happy right now. We all measure how valuable something is right now at this instant. But how many of us actually take the time to see if the wait in time is worth the reward you get at the end? And if you do weigh that situation, do you really do it for every little detail? Are you really going to spend that time wondering if the 2 hours spent playing on Halo 3 could have been spent building a video game? You'll probably look back and regret that, but taking the time upfront to realize the true value of things just doesn't happen as often as we would like. Kind of depressing, huh?

Knowing your Weakness

This want for instant gratification is a weakness for all of us that we have to try to overcome. How does it make you feel to know that companies are taking advantage of this weakness just so you will dish out money? There are some companies out there that do take the time to cater to you as their customer, they aren't all bad. Those companies that design their games so you don't spend too much time on their game, or so that you get the most out of the time you invest are truly worth supporting. Have you taken the time to see how valuable the time you are spending with games is? Have you taken the time to see if the company that made the game actually cares about you or not? These are things to consider.

If people are taking advantage of your weakness, I figured you would want to know it will help you make more educated decisions about your life. Again we bring ourselves one step closer to Reaching Perfection. I leave you with one final question for today: What other examples of today's topics have you experienced?