0.1% Ideas: The Network Razor, Young Jeff Bezos Habits, Sunshine Hours

George Mack

It's a thought loop that has been in my head for a while...

The laziest people I know can focus on a video game for 12 hours straight. Are they lazy? Or is reality just a badly designed video game?

Here are some thoughts I've put together from rabbit holes on this topic.

10 Thoughts On The Video Game Industry

  1. The video game industry is worth more than TV, Movie, and Music industry combined.
  2. The average young person plays 10,000 hours of video games before they turn 21.
  3. The biggest difference between reality and video games:In video games, there are constant mini-wins (e.g. Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc)In real life, humans frame goals as one-off big wins (e.g. 6 Pack Abs, $1 million, Graduation, etc)Regular small and easy wins hijack the human brain.If you want to make reality more like a video game, focus on regular, small, and easy wins.
  4. The number one country for video games: Philippines. 95.8% of Filipino internet users play video games.
  5. Stated video games: Fortnight, PUBG, World of WarcraftHidden video games: LinkedIn, Slack, TinderThe people in the hidden video game crowd often look down on video games – without realizing they are also playing a game.
  6. The 3 things video game designers spend a lot of time thinking about:Fun, Flow State, and Frustration.The average to-do list, Calendar app, or goal-setting session completely neglects these principles.
  7. Human beings would rather watch 2 flawed human beings compete against one another than 2 super AIs compete against one another. Why?
  8. Mobile gaming accounts for more than 50% of all global gaming revenue.
  9. The gaming cave: Some of the most successful people I know were addicted to video games growing up and reference the powerful lessons learned.But there’s another % who are still addicted and never managed to transcend.
  10. I’m convinced video game designers know more about human psychology than 99% of psychologists.

Best Thing I've Read This Week

The first leak from Walter Isaacson's upcoming book on Elon Musk - a passage on him acquiring Twitter.

If you enjoyed this -- forward it to a friend or share the video game essay on Twitter below.

Table of contents

It's a thought loop that has been in my head for a while...

The laziest people I know can focus on a video game for 12 hours straight. Are they lazy? Or is reality just a badly designed video game?

Here are some thoughts I've put together from rabbit holes on this topic.

10 Thoughts On The Video Game Industry

  1. The video game industry is worth more than TV, Movie, and Music industry combined.
  2. The average young person plays 10,000 hours of video games before they turn 21.
  3. The biggest difference between reality and video games:In video games, there are constant mini-wins (e.g. Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc)In real life, humans frame goals as one-off big wins (e.g. 6 Pack Abs, $1 million, Graduation, etc)Regular small and easy wins hijack the human brain.If you want to make reality more like a video game, focus on regular, small, and easy wins.
  4. The number one country for video games: Philippines. 95.8% of Filipino internet users play video games.
  5. Stated video games: Fortnight, PUBG, World of WarcraftHidden video games: LinkedIn, Slack, TinderThe people in the hidden video game crowd often look down on video games – without realizing they are also playing a game.
  6. The 3 things video game designers spend a lot of time thinking about:Fun, Flow State, and Frustration.The average to-do list, Calendar app, or goal-setting session completely neglects these principles.
  7. Human beings would rather watch 2 flawed human beings compete against one another than 2 super AIs compete against one another. Why?
  8. Mobile gaming accounts for more than 50% of all global gaming revenue.
  9. The gaming cave: Some of the most successful people I know were addicted to video games growing up and reference the powerful lessons learned.But there’s another % who are still addicted and never managed to transcend.
  10. I’m convinced video game designers know more about human psychology than 99% of psychologists.

Best Thing I've Read This Week

The first leak from Walter Isaacson's upcoming book on Elon Musk - a passage on him acquiring Twitter.

If you enjoyed this -- forward it to a friend or share the video game essay on Twitter below.

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