Blog Post 1 - Motivation and Games

Stephanie McSwain

Motivation Blog #1

Motivation to play video game… or my complete lack thereof. I have a younger brother who loves video games, some of his and my friends do the same, and it shows because they tend to beat whatever new game they buy within the week (at the longest sometimes). I have never completed a game on my own, the only time I’ve ever won is when my friends where intoxicated. There is a huge lack in my motivation to play video games (I only do so in a mildly social context or when my brother asks… repeatedly) which in turn effects my performance of the task (I don’t win against non-intoxicated friends, and I’ve never completed a game). The same principle can be applied to my brother, he has motivation to play games (he does so often) and his performance (he wins at them quickly).

My motive, or “…a person’s internal disposition to be concerned with and approach positive incentives and avoid negative incentives.” (Deckers, “Motivation, Biological, Psychological, and Environmental”) factors in so as to indicate that I have a low motive (for my example, low indicates low concern for the consequences of performing or not performing this task). Whereas my brother would have a high motive to perform the task. The incentive, or “the anticipated reward or punishment available in the environment” would be the satisfaction of completing the game. For me, sitting in front of a game system for who knows how many hours would not be worth the positive outcome of completing the game, and as the punishment for not completing the games is being laughed at and losing. However, I am motivated in social circumstances to make a fool of myself in a video game because it tends to make my friends and brother laugh. The motive then is concerned with enjoying time with friends and family, the incentive reward would be the laughter of my peers.

I am not motivated to play video games for the same reason my brother is, instead I am motivated to play and have poor performance of the task because the reward of performing poorly. Another instance involving motivation and video games are those who compete for monetary rewards in competitions. In every situation, there are multiple reasons for an individual to be motivated to perform a task in a certain way, each rewarding the individual, in spite of the fact that the incentives differ.