Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy User Manual
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Trigger Happy
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Trivial Pursuit, Risk, tennis, dominoes, chess or
football, your increased sense of power and selfrespect
is the only reward on offer. The game remains the
same. (The transaction of capital in the coin-op arcade
game seems to be a positive if still strictly extrinsic
phenomenon. The psychologist authors of Mind at
Play, Geoffrey and Elizabeth Loftus, wrote that paying
money for a videogame actually increases the pleasure
one derives from it. This is due to “cognitive
dissonance”: faced with incompatible beliefs, the brain
acts so as to reduce the conflict. Videogames take your
money and give you nothing tangible in return . . . they
must really be fun!)
But whereas chess or football remains the same
kind of game no matter how good you are, modern
videogames, as Richard Darling points out, change as
you get better. Attaining a new level in Tomb Raider III
means having a whole new virtual world to explore,
moving from India to the rain-soaked rooftops of
London. Collect enough coins in Ape Escape and you
can play an entirely new mini-game on skis. Many
videogames even keep something back after you have
finished them, in order to encourage you to play the
game again, only this time under new rules. Metal Gear
Solid, for example, rewards the player with a