The first things that went through my mind when I thought of common internet problems were typical – poker, porn, and instant messaging. As I was thinking about all of this, I was in the midst of playing Bejeweled for my third hour in a row. Bejeweled is an online interactive puzzle that challenges the user to figure out combinations and patterns to put animated jewels in. The game takes place within a 10 by 10 box, and as the user moves jewels one at a time to connect similar colors and clear the board, the increment of points you get for each combination increases. Eventually, despite the perpetual life of the board, the game ends when the user can no longer move a single jewel to make a combination to further clear the board.
Bejeweled’s concept is relatively simple to understand and easy to pick up the rules to. Unlike some of my peers, I don’t enjoy complicated interactive games, so figuring out how to play Bejeweled was both very doable and rewarding.
Bejeweled has an addictive nature, with its flashy colors, nice plinky-plunky sounds effects, and the variable rewards schedule. With some game boards, the user gets boards with very few moves available, and sometimes the user get boards with a ton of moves available that lets you advance very far in the game. As I can attest to this, it is very easy to lose track of time while playing this game, especially if you’re playing it to procrastinate. Because the user plays this game in a synchronous time space, the variable schedule is ever the more potent. For all of these reasons, I believe that this online psychosocial space leads to PIU.
The Caplan model does not apply to Bejeweled. With Bejeweled, (at least with the version I play), you don’t play against anybody or chat with anybody within the game. There is no text based communication with Bejeweled; it is a purely individual game. The only medium you interact with is the computer program, and your interaction with this medium is strictly based on moving animated jewels around.
I believe the Caplan model applies to this psychosocial medium. This medium not only increases procrastination, but it detracts from time spent doing more valuable activities, such as going to the gym, hanging out with your friends, and doing work. Bejeweled can be an escape from social activities for more introverted people because of its nature as a distraction. In this sense, Bejeweled can lead to more isolation of the user from the real world in place of social interaction, which can eventually lead to compulsive use of the Internet, and a continuance of the cycle of psychosocial problems. However, I think that using Bejeweled, even compulsively, doesn’t necessarily detract from one’s social competence, it just has features that make the user want to play it. It is still possible to chat and talk at the same time as playing Bejeweled. Bejeweled is a PIU when playing it gets out of control. Of Wallace’s four factors, which I alluded to before, the operant conditioning is extremely present on Bejeweled. With the variable schedule, it becomes challenging to stop playing Bejeweled, since you never know when you’re going to get to a higher level, which leads to a higher overall score.
1 comment:
Rachel, great post on an interesting subject. I've never really thought about Flash games in this context, but it strikes me now that you are right and that there are some elements of PIU found in the repeated playing of games like Bejeweled, Bookworm, and others.
My mother, for instance, is always playing a flash game called "Text Twist" - it gives you 6 letters with which to try and create as many words as possible. It's fun at first, but then it gets repetitive, and even after that, you begin getting REPEAT puzzles. I noticed this even after playing the game for just 1 hour. It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and then immediately tearing it apart and starting all over again. PIU, in my opinion.
As for your analysis, I think that you're spot on. You do a good job of differentiating your experience from the Caplan model and at the same time, argued your point very well.
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