2048 and the Mind

In the past couple weeks, there's been an influx of coverage on the new addicting game 2048, comparing it to other gaming sensations like Flappy Bird and Candy Crush. Thanks to my Facebook newsfeed, I had already become mildly addicted to 2048, and in doing so, realized a key ability in the game to implicitly affect how players think about real-life hierarchies.

If you haven't played the game, the goal is to combine lower numbers which double each time, to reach the number 2048 or even higher. So having a grid full of 2's and 4's can be extremely frustrating. As I played the fraternity version, something began bothering me about its structure. I found myself coveting the "higher-ranked" fraternities and irritated seeing "lower-ranked" ones on my board. Although I don't care much for Greek rankings, the more I played, the more I subconsciously valued the higher-status Greek letters. It occurred to me that this subtle effect could lead to implicit attitudes, attitudes I didn't even realize having, about Greek organizations. I immediately switched over to the standard 2048.

2048's open source nature reveals hidden biases

This wouldn't be the first time that video games have laid the foundation for implicit biases in players. Others have tried to use games as a way to reduce implicit bias. But cues for implicit attitudes come from all around us. In everyday situations, people react to implicit biases involving race, gender and appearance. These biases have been proven through Implicit Association Tests (IATs), as well as referenced frequently in behavioral books including Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.

2048 is still new enough that there isn't any sort of public research on the addictive game, so this is not exactly a data-driven observation. But 2048 itself is a game built on copies. 2048 stemmed from a game 1024, which copied the original game of Threes. Now, there are tons of similar games flooding in. In fact, there are already several sites dedicated to aggregating all the 2048 variants. So it may not be long before someone creates a variation that promotes or creates ingrained biases. Especially as the format of 2048 is perfectly suited to translate into hierarchical structures.

I don't know if any of these creators used the game purposefully, knowing how it could affect players. But it is worth noting by those who design games like 2048 and its variants as well as those who obsessively play it that even the most simple games that reel us in are also capable of affecting us in much deeper ways. 

Please comment with your experiences with 2048 or other similar games!