Monster Hunter, described as a game where you kill beasts that rival mountains and make clothing out of them, is great. It’s loosely based on an old Norse belief from the Berserks, as they believed that wearing the pelt of a bear granted them the power of Odin. Monster Hunter also hints toward a cannibalistic belief that eating your enemies will grant you some of their power (with some of the items in the menu). When put into these terms the MH series is very metal. It is in fact so metal, that there is nothing quite like the feeling of wearing a monster’s pelt (also weapon), and beating it with its own family tree (extended family included). Can you guys tell from there, that I love the game?

I became a huge fan of the series starting with the third one on the Nintendo Wii console (I was on my first deployment when it came out). I was  extremely excited when I heard the premise of the game, and while the learning curve was steep it slowly became engrossing for me. The game has a very slow start-up and only after you get through the tutorial will the game become enjoyable (it is the curse of each game). But, with a couple of friends, some veteran hunters, and a ton of information available on the internet you too can become an elite hunter (which will then be torn apart by the sheer amount of elitist that plague the community).  Yes, Monster Hunter currently in its 4th edition in the series is very fun, if you like the feeling of mounting a monster into the ground (it makes sense in context), only to later prance on his corpse after carving his drops, then it is the game for you. But, as with every good game that has come along; there is a chance of addiction, and the Monster Hunter games (as well as many others) are designed to enslave you almost as if it were a drug.

You heard me right folks a drug, as in cocaine to be more specific. Now, Monster Hunter is definitely not as destructive as cocaine (Don’t sue me, Capcom), but you have to take into account that it does act in a similar fashion. How does it do that? The answer is simple: chemical responses of the brain that are released when pleasure is experienced or a dopamine rush. You see dopamine as explained by Dr. McCauley tells the brain when a reward is better than expected, and Monster Hunter is all about better than expected rewards.

The system that Monster Hunter utilizes to reward players for hunting is randomized. At the end of each battle you either carve the slayed monster (and proceed to the reward screen) or capture said beast heading directly to the reward box. But, as simple as it sounds it can be extremely infuriating when a battle that took 30 minutes did not reward the player with any items they required for their next armor set. It becomes so ridiculous at times that I have heard of players seeking an item with a 1% reward/carve rate for over 40 battles with no luck. On the contrary I’ve experienced finding those very same items within my first 3 battles of those same fights (with those very same players for that matter). At this point in the series’ life, players have created this fictitious entity known as the “desire sensor” which is directly in charge of not dropping the items that you are looking for. This is what causes the dopamine fluctuations in your brain.

The video provided in this link will explain more:

For those of you who didn’t watch the video, let me explain. Think of Dopamine as a feel good drug, players get small dosages of the chemical when they kill a monster without getting any rare drops. But, one day you’re hunting the same monster and it drops a jewel with the 1 in a 100 chance of dropping; you’re suddenly you’re rewarded with a surge of Dopamine in the brain. In your mind this experience becomes something you crave, you want to feel good. What is the response? The brain actively seeks more of it via a different chemical response of Glutamate. Glutamate basically gives your brain the green light to seek more of this pleasurable activity. This in turn causes Monster Hunter to act as a very small acting drug.

As this video explains the example in an easier to digest fashion:

Watch Video 6 for this reference.

Drugs as well as Monster Hunter seek to attack this system directly. In the case of drugs though it can be extremely devastating to the brain, Monster Hunter, not so much. But, if you want a more elaborate explanation then look at it this way. Monster Hunter is an extremely elaborate slot machine. It is a slot machine in which the player, puts in his effort (as a stand-in for the money) in order to obtain a reward (or more specifically a rare). When you get that item you were seeking for an extended period of time, your brain will experience a dopamine rush, this in turn will let it imprint in the memory as an extremely pleasurable experience.

It is at this time that it becomes the most dangerous because Monster Hunter is not a game that you play for 10 hours and quit. At 10 hours players would be barely scratching the surface of the game. No, it is a game in which you can easily put into over a 1000 hours (trust me, I have over 2000 if you add up all 3 of mine). You often see boards dedicated to this game with players bragging about the insane amount of hours that they’ve put into it. There are conventions, clicks, groups, guilds, and even a theme park dedicated to this series. In any of these that you participate in you will find players telling stories of their conquest, showing off their dedication by cosplaying or even simply demonstrating the amount of time they’ve played the current generation of the game.

Players don’t realize this though, all they care about in a subconscious level is that dopamine rush they get, when they finally complete the armor set that they spent 10 (100?) hours working towards. The game had to be designed with this in mind because the earlier itinerations were even more stingy in giving away drops. Back in the original version there wasn’t even a reward screen after a battle (don’t quote me on this). You literally had to carve the monster, and hope that the 1% drop chance fell in your favor otherwise there go another 10-20 minutes while you hunted this beast alone. Players put themselves through hours of grinding in order to complete their favorite sets just so they can dress up their virtual paper doll. There can’t be any other explanation, sure players might argue that they like the challenge the games provide, but even a challenge can become tiresome if there isn’t a reward involved. This game was built-in order to capitalize on the weaknesses of our reptilian brain. Wake up people! We are being utilized as cash cows. This game is built upon a system that only exists to exploit us, and allows us to become addicted in a subconscious manner. While it is not as damaging as a foreign chemical exploiting our brains? Where do we draw the line of us owning the game, from the game owning us?

*Disclaimer* This is not the only game that exploits this mechanism in us. There are plenty of games that utilize the same type of system to enslave players each day. I mean look at most MMO’s where people practically have a second job playing them. It’s not an easy fact to accept because a lot of us cherish this pastime, but we must be aware of the abuse that is going on right under our noses.

*Disclaimer* Images belong to their respective owners. The examples provided in the summary of the video were part of Dr. McCauley’s Pleasure Unwoven (it’s a really good video for those studying on Drug and Substance abuse in college). The article belongs to the respective creator.

Dash The Bomber

Dash The Bomber is a sailor is his 20's with a penchant for goofy, yet deep thoughts. An avid gamer for generations he has played everything from the Atari 2600 to the PC in which he writes his work on. He currently lives in the middle of the ocean and appreciates donations in order to buy goodies from Amazon while deployed (makes his life slightly better). You can help the guy out by donating here: paypal.me/dashthebomber.