What is it about work that is so boring? Moreover, what is it about video games that are so enthralling? From office workers engrossed with Spider Solitaire to college students that find everything from corny flash games to Halo 2 infinitely preferable to actual productivity, people would rather play games than work.

The most obvious explanation is that humans, college students, and their professional contemporaries are... lazy.

Why Video Games?

However, when it comes down to it, what is so enthralling about digital, interactive entertainment? What makes it so much more appealing than what needs to be done? A case could be made for the deteriorating moral standards of American society just as readily as it could be made for a fundamental level of sloth that is the result of something in the water supply.

I'm sure there are deep seated psychological explanations for this, but the bottom line is that video games are more stimulating.

Even the simplest of today's video games require high level problem solving, fine tuned visual observation skills, and fairly precise motor control (depending on your sensitivity settings). That is for the least complicated of games. The more complex ones involve auditory stimuli, tactile feedback in the form of vibration, and usually emotional involvement (ever been angry when your character died?).

Any 100 level psychology course will teach you that each one of those functions requires a different part of your brain. Despite how it may seem come finals week, the brain LIKES to be used.

While destroying the curve on a multi-variable calculus test theoretically provides a certain rush of pleasure (I'm just assuming here), a similar feeling can be achieved following a round of Ragdoll Avalanche II. The point is that video games provide more concentrated stimulus than most tasks in the real world, despite comparable rewards .

The Big [60" HDTV] Picture

It is no small wonder that the first symptoms of stimulus addiction are beginning to show through (ADD?). Like a drug that can be taken in through any of the senses, excessive stimulus can distort reality and make the "user" long for just one more round, one more instant message, or one more email.

We live in the Information Age. Stimulus is everywhere, and when it isn't we experience withdrawal on some level. How many hours can you go without checking your email or cell phone? Stimulus addiction is not a problem limited to gamers. We may have the most advanced form of this addiction, but it is by no means an isolated problem.

As society continues to move faster, the information deluge will intensify. More stimuli in shorter and more concentrated doses will be required until some breaking point. Whether it’s the societal version of the point of diminishing returns or some other catastrophe; productivity will not be able to compete with stimulus unless productivity becomes more stimulating.

What do you think?