Most of us have somewhat mixed feelings about online gaming. Though we all understand the attraction and often indulge, most people harbor some reservations. For starters, kids, in particular, tend to get captivated to an exceedingly high level, so much so that they may not pursue traditional kid stuff anymore. Rather than running around outside or playing imaginatively with toys, countless kids nowadays prefer gaming, simply because it is ever so multidimensional and utterly fascinating.

Perhaps we have focused on the negative aspects of gaming too much so. A recent study carried out at the University of Essex in the UK has produced predominantly positive findings.

What Makes Online Games so Popular

The number of hours spent gaming each week has escalated into the billions. Are we all simply recklessly addicted? Not so, researchers protest. According to Dr. Andy Przybylski, head of this particular survey, players enjoy taking on new identities and experiencing life in someone else’s shoes. Interviewing over 1’000 gamers, the researchers asked how each player was feeling subsequent to gaming. Most expressed delight at having spent a couple of hours in someone else’s guise. Dr. Przybylski further explained how gamers sought out the “ideal self” and enjoyed taking on this role. He estimated this aspect as a positive endeavor rather than a negative one.

The study confirmed that people felt better about themselves after playing as a villain or hero or even in a different gender.

Having initiated the research expected to find escapism in players, the study actually produced evidence of an entirely different phenomenon. Rather than escaping to no-man’s-land, players actually escaped to a place of a stronger sense of self and a more solid persona.

Moreover, online gaming allows people to get to meet players from all over the world. It is not just about playing the game, it is also about socializing. With multiplayer and team-based games that are privately hosted on a Rust dedicated server and the likes, making friends who might live miles away has become like second nature to gamers.

What Gaming Sites Are Doing For You

The gaming industry is now a multi-billion industry. Each and every game designer or online gaming website will do everything in their power to get you to sign up and keep you playing as frequently as possible. Apart from offering a limitless number of engaging games and clever ploys like new player bonus, gaming website designers actually apply the smartest psychological tools. When you play Candy Crush or Angry Birds, you may not be aware that all these kinds of games are designed to keep you hooked. Everything is constructed around the human psyche, even down to the choice of colors. Designers have also discovered that it is best not to make the games too exciting so as to prevent fatigue from setting in. Games also incorporate the way we make decisions in a further effort to keep us playing, and many other clever psychological tricks.

With gaming moving online, so has gambling. The gambling and gaming industries have merged so that now you can play games and win money. You can still play slots online which is a more traditional way of gambling, but its easy-to-access format makes it appealing to new players. Online gambling is also much safer than it used to be, with many countries introducing regulations to ensure that players are getting a fair game and will always get their winnings.

Similarly, with the rise of emulators and the return of classic games such as PacMan, there has been a steep rise in the number of websites that provide the iso files for these games. There are currently multiple websites that can provide us with an array of options to choose between multiple genres of games, including the ones played on specific consoles such as Xbox or a Playstation. The call-back to these famous games and their return from the dead is again a play on the human psyche by the game developers. You could check out Gamulator’s website for more information on pacman rom and other similar games.

Of course, all the psychology is wrapped in entertainment, fun, and just the right amount of excitement. We all like a bit of gaming in between some serious work tasks, simply to break the doldrums of everyday work chores.

Playing is Just Fun

Perhaps, we often forget our childish desire to play and forget, an impulse that is surely a positive impulse in the human psyche.