A Repeat Performance
If the desire to be original is the match that lights the fire for creativity, what does the match of repetition ignite?
Let me put it another way:
If the desire to be original is the match that lights the fire for creativity, what does the match of repetition ignite?
A screenshot shows a scene from the extremely popular videogame, Assassin's Creed, which many online gamers name as one of the most repetitive videogames in existence. The game gives rise to a question: Do we find repetitiveness to be enjoyable? (AP Photo/Ubisoft)
That’s entertainment
Right. There isn’t much that’s unique about repetition, and yet millions of us spend hour after hour doing the exact same thing we’ve been doing over and over, and we call it entertainment.
It is, in fact, online gaming.
What are some of the most repetitive of these games? Does the fact that these games are so repetitive act as a turnoff for video gamers? Here are some comments from the ardent souls so loyal to these games:
• Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions: By the time I got to the final level, I was just about ready to throw my controller out the window. (Deadpool Stage was A NIGHTMARE) I seriously can’t think of a more repetitive game. Except maybe the Katamari games. But they had their own charm.
* Show me a game that isn’t repetitive. Every single game in existence, good or bad, will fit this description. All that matters is if you can find it enjoyable.
• EVERY game is repetitive by nature. It’s not like you go from shooting and free roam to platforming to stealth to puzzle gameplay in Grand Theft Auto. There’s a huge difference between FEELING repetitive and BEING repetitive.
• A more repetitive game? Let’s just use this generation. I’ll also only list a couple of the games I played and loved: Resident Evil 5 – aim gun, pull trigger; Assassin’s Creed – track down the same 6 clues that lead you to each of the bosses; Gears of War (1 & 2) – aim gun, pull trigger, hide behind wall.
• Oh, yeah. Put Web of Shadows in the repetitive list as well. Still fun, but still a repetitive mess.
• Show me a game that isn’t repetitive, and I shall give you Jesus.
• True. EVERY game is repetitive by nature. It’s not like you go from shooting and free roam to platforming to stealth to puzzle gameplay in Grand Theft Auto. There’s a huge difference between FEELING repetitive and BEING repetitive.
Actually, I’d love a little explanation on this last post. Sounds like there’s something provocative in the thought about feeling repetitive vs. being repetitive, but sorry: I can’t quite see it.
Repetition as fun
What becomes quickly apparent, given the huge popularity of the games mentioned and of three of these comments explicitly, is that repetition strikes us — not as boring — but as enjoyable. (And I’ll have to include myself in that because I spend a lot of time on the game, TextTwist.)
So what might all this time with repetitive games be doing to our pursuit of originality and creativity?
One obvious answer is that these games are diverting our time and attention from other original pursuits ranging from building a better light bulb, to writing the next life-changing book, to finding a cure for cancer.
Wasting time?
We’re wasting a lot of time with these repetitive games, folks, and we’re not getting much to show for it.
Having made this assertion, however, I should tell you that I once spent half of a college lecture in an ethics class discussing some important things I had learned in all the time I used to spend playing Pacman. I must admit I’ve forgotten most of those lessons, however, so they must not have been so significant after all.
A numb world
We do enter a mental vacuum upon playing repetitive games, and that can give our mind a rest from the otherwise busy and complex world we must navigate. Aside from that, however, I’m not sure there’s much usefulness in repetitiveness.
And having made this argument, let me qualify it to the world of entertainment and not to the world of professions or even athletics. There is, in fact, a lot of benefit to hiring a professional to do a job that he/she has done over and over and over again.
For example, I would rather have my wisdom teeth extracted by a dentist who had done that procedure a few hundred times at least.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is hit by San Diego Chargers linebacker shawne Merriman after barely getting a pass off in an AFC Division playoff football game. In sports, repetitions in practice and in actual games are vital to establishing a player's quality. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
A sporting caveat
And another example: A quarterback on a football team – or any other position player for that matter – becomes infinitely better at his position if he runs that play over and over again. In fact, we often rate the quality of football players on the number of “reps” they have taken, with “reps” being short for repetitions.
Back to entertainment, though, is there any research that supports the idea that we enjoy repetitiveness? Turns out there is. Like this, for example, from a trio of researchers:
The spice of variety
“The dictum ‘variety is the spice of life’ notwithstanding, people seem to show a surprising tolerance, even preference, for repetition. Whether a favorite snack, pop song, or piece of art, people routinely expose themselves to the same liked stimulus repeatedly.
“Indeed, prior work has shown that people even surprise themselves with this preference; research on the “diversification bias” has consistently shown that people predict a greater preference for variety (and aversion to repetition) than they show in their online, immediate preferences.”
Another research study points out that, while repetition and drills have been debunked by many new-age educators who say quality teaching is found in originality and creativity, that may not be the case at all.
Not so fast
“Compare the attitudes and approaches to drill and practice by many academic teachers with the attitudes of educators who are held accountable for the competence of their students.
“The basketball coach or the music teacher needs no convincing regarding the value of drill and practice on fundamental skills. No one questions the basketball coach’s insistence that his players shoot 100 free throws every day or wonders why the piano teacher has her pupils play scales over and over.
“It is well understood that these skills are critical to future performance and that systematic practice is required to master them to the desired levels of automaticity and fluency. We would question the competence of the coach or music teacher who did not include drill and practice as a major component of his or her teaching.”
Applying common sense
There are, of course, some common-sense answers to why many of us find repetition enjoyable. For one thing, repetition connotes familiarity and that is a concept most of us find appealing. Familiarity is comfortable; we know the signposts and context, so navigating the territory is easier.
Don’t you find it more enjoyable to return to a big city years later and remember how to get around and find places than getting frustrated at the wheel and arriving at your destination with that emotional baggage (and possibly a wife who isn’t talking to you?)
Newness and cost
As for entertainment, given the high cost of a movie outing ($25 or more with popcorn and a drink), don’t you want to have some sense that the film you’re seeing will be worth all that? Is it any wonder that movie channels like AMC or TNT have a select group of movies that seem to be playing over and over again? How many times have you seen Godfather I or II? How about Goodfellas, or a Dirty Harry movie?
So whether you find repetition a curse or a blessing, the fact remains that – in the world of online games – it goes with the territory, and millions of us must find that territory fun to navigate.
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Comments
The issue with repetition seems to be whether or not it is a serviceable way to spend ones time. My argument would be that as individuals in an advancing society in the 21st Century, we have become much more efficient in conducting business and leisure.
What
The issue with repetition seems to be whether or not it is a serviceable way to spend ones time. My argument would be that as individuals in an advancing society in the 21st Century, we have become much more efficient in conducting business and leisure. Because of our ability to connect with others almost immediately, as well as our attitudes toward accepting new mediums of communication we are left with far more downtime.
For the most part, I believe that people search for easy, mindless activities to feel their free time. Just look at the advent of reality television which boasts a wide array of rather thoughtless characters. The repetition of any medium provides a much less engaged audience and as a result seems more popular with a more efficient culture.
I do believe that repetition is very key to the success of show or game. As much as we hate to admit it, we as humans crave structure and when we get thrown off our path, than we become irritable and uneasy. That’s why it is important when producing a sequel to a successful game or movie to not go overboard, but capitalize on what was built before. I believe the new Batman movies have done a great job of building upon their success and not trying to do too much, but sticking with the original storyline.
Always a balancing act, Brandon, between striving for new territory while presenting the familiar that people are accustomed to.
It is absolutely true. American entertainment is all about repetition. Take TV shows for instance, Jersey Shore is just repetitive bickering and fighting over drama. Monk is about solving repetitive cases, and Glee is repetitive singing. However, somewhere in the repetitiveness, we find entertainment. I believe that humans are creatures of habit, that is why once we get adapted to something that entertains us, we stick to it.
Alan,
There is something about our psyche that warms up to repetition, especially in games and athletic contests. I was thinking about this the other day in watching an NBA game. Not too much difference from one of the court to the other: dribble, pass, shoot, rebound. Then we watch it again on the other end of the court.
I think that we find forms of repetition interesting. With games like Assassin’s Creed, it has spanned multiple games all essentially finding one’s target and then eliminating them usually resulting in a cutscene that gives the player more insight into furthering the game. Some may ask how can this be fun? Let’s look at a simpler earlier game like Tetris. This game has to be one of the most repetitious but addicting games that anyone has ever played. Why? In Tetris the player stacks bricks and tries to elimnate rows as more bricks fall from the top of the screen and to add, everybody always loses. The thing that I think makes repetition interesting is the increased added difficulty and subtle factors that make similar situations significantly different. With Tetris, after each level, it gets more difficult as the bricks fall faster. However, it’s not so hard that we lose the desire to play. The fact that we eliminate bricks, get little beeping sounds and visual satisfaction when the lines disappear all help to make repetition interesting. With Assassin’s Creed, subtle differences make the game interesting like increased difficulty, or even play style. One can play as stealthy as they wish or even bum rush to the target if the parameters allow for it.
In life, repetition happens all the time, but the things that keep it interesting are the subtle changes that make it different.
I agree with this article. I have been playing so many different games and almost every game I played is repetition. However, they are still fun to play because the games are become more and more difficult to play. It is the fun part because humans like challenge. People always like to try the thing that is difficult and challenge to us. Even they are repetition. For example, the Resident Evil is the game that you need to follow the story and try to pick up the ammo, recover the life, and kill the zombies or enemy. You have to repetition the same thing again and again to finish the game. However, the fun part is the challenge part because we believe we can finish the game, so we will keep trying until we finish the game. In our life is the same thing, repetition is happens all the time. However, we are still doing the thing that is repetition because they are keeping us in interesting. The reason why it keeps us interesting because we can feel the challenge inside it and when we finish the challenge, we will feel so much successful inside it.
I think that people often get used to doing something so often that it becomes almost like a routine. That is not to say that the routine is not enjoyable, because I’m sure that it still is. But this habit has become comfortable, and I believe people take pleasure in doing things that they’re accustomed to doing. Using the example of video games, people have learned what games are popular, and those games have grown on them. It doesn’t matter that they’re repetitive. The fact is that people like them. If humans need variety, they can attain it in other areas of their lives. However, I agree that repetition is sometimes necessary to achieve greatness in things such as sports and music. I think there is a time and place for repetition and it is up to the discretion of the person who is engaging in the activity to decide whether or not much good will come out of what they are doing.