Back in the day, I suppose I spent a decent amount of time playing computer games and playing role-playing games, but I never got into playing computer role-playing games — in which you become awesome by proxy:
To progress in an action game, the player has to improve, which is by no means guaranteed — but to progress in an RPG, the characters have to improve, which is inevitable.
This ties into an idea from child psychology, that those with a performance orientation see challenges as an opportunity to demonstrate their innate talent, while those with a mastery orientation see challenges as an opportunity to improve their skill:
RPGs are many things, but they are almost never hard. As I realized in childhood, the vast majority of RPG challenges can be defeated simply by putting in time. RPGs reward patience, not skill. Almost never is the player required to work hard — only the characters need improve. Failing to defeat Zeromus might mean your strategy is flawed, but it also might mean your level is too low. Guess which problem is easier to remedy?Yet while the player is mostly marking time, the characters are accomplishing epic, heroic deeds, saving lives and defeating evil. Even when the player is not explicitly praised for this, the game makes its attitude clear. “You’re awesome!” it says, in essence. “You’re so strong and noble and heroic!” The player is showered with praise for non-achievements. It’s like porn for the performance oriented.
The characters make all the effort, but the player receives all the accolades. The game doesn’t have to say “Wow, you must be smart!” to train the player to value impressiveness that was not hard-won — even when the praise is for effort rather than skill, it is a lie. The player has expended only time.
When I learned about performance and mastery orientations, I realized with growing horror just what I’d been doing for most of my life. Going through school as a “gifted” kid, most of the praise I’d received had been of the “Wow, you must be smart!” variety. I had very little ability to follow through or persevere, and my grades tended to be either A’s or F’s, as I either understood things right away (such as, say, calculus) or gave up on them completely (trigonometry). I had a serious performance orientation. And I was reinforcing it every time I played an RPG.