Read on Medium: The Evolution Simulation Technology: Games and Play
Today, simulations exist in the form of virtual reality,advanced technology, digital games, and theoretical models. But what if I proposed that simulations have actually existed since the dawn of human history? What would we find if we unpacked simulations as a form of imaginative play?
In this sense, games and play may be considered humanity’s oldestsimulation technology; as a tool that we have used to learn, grow, and evolve since the beginning of culture, communication, and community.
A Rehearsal for Life
Could civilisation itself have emerged partly through play? Someresearchers have proposed this theory as early humans were known to practice hunting tactics, warfare strategy, story telling, and rituals through structured games and ceremonies long before they were needed in real conflicts and real life.
Looking back centuries, games have been used by humans to explore ideasof leadership, failure, strategic thinking, and planning. As philosopher Karl Groos argued in the late 19th century; play functions as preparation for life, and modern research in developmental psychology supports the concept. Research undertaken in the early 2000s suggest that play allows individuals to develop adaptive strategies and experiment with behaviours in low-risk environments and, “innovative behaviours developed in play in response to environmental
novelty may influence subsequent evolutionary processes.” (Developmental Review, 2026)
Today, we can see the developmental benefits of games and play throughthe concept of the Rapid Feedback Learning Loop, as one example. This has been found as one of the most powerful ways in which games have helped humans develop neural pathways. It works by 4 main parts:
- Action: you try something
- Feedback: the game tells you what has happened as a result almost instantly.
- Adjustment: you analyse your moves and change your strategy based on what you think will get you the desired outcome.
- Retry: you test the new approach.
Then the loop repeats over and over.
This loop helps the brain refine mental prediction models as mistakes areimmediately visible in games. Here, outcomes are also generally clear, experimentation is encouraged, and the cost of risk and failure is low. So, the practice strengthens neural pathways related to pattern recognition and strategy, and also amplifies learning for the developing mind.
The Cognitive Training Ground
Games may no longer prepare us directly for survival in the way they oncedid. First world children today are unlikely to rehearse hunting, sparring, or foraging through play, and have their learnings determine life or death situations. However, games still continue to serve an important function: they provide a cognitive training ground where we can practice navigating the different challenges of life.
Through board games and video games in particular, we can develop ourneural pathways in understanding systems thinking, learning how to function in the face of losses, and communicating within a group of individuals. Strategic games like Chess, Settlers of Catan, and Age of Empires teach us about interconnected problems and solutions. They help us notice patterns, that in turn, aid in forming strategies. Playing tactical games with other people also helps us navigate relationships and builds on our communication skills.
Communication skills are also developed when playing games throughnavigating group dynamics and managing conflict, which further expands our capabilities of reasoning and receptiveness towards alternative perspectives and goals.
The losses that are experienced in long, drawn out games like Risk teach us how to deal with losses, fair and unfair play, how to handle frustration and/or delayed success, all whilst teaching risk management and highlighting the role of chance and luck in our actions, and zooming out, in our day to day lives. As quoted by neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp; “Play is one of the primary processes through which the brain develops flexibility and resilience.”
These benefits that we gain from engaging in modern-day play allows us torehearse for the challenges of life, and equip ourselves with a neural network
that understands them, navigates them, and allows us to live well with them.
The Identity Laboratory of Play
Beyond sharpening how we think and respond to the world, games also giveus a space to experiment with who we are, not only with the external part of our lives, but also with our internal relationship to our individual selves.
Within the space of a game, we are provided with a safe, virtual environment where we
can explore, construct, and experiment with different facets of identity, community, and personality without the risks that come with real life experimentation. According to social scientist Nick Yee who pioneers research on the psychology of online games and virtual worlds, his research has found that in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, players often use their avatars to experiment with identity, explore social roles, and test moral
decisions. Games like Sims, World of Warcraft, or the more traditional table top role-playing game of Dungeons and Dragons are examples of games that people use to experiment aspects of the self that they are unable to find expression for in the real/physical world.
With this perspective, games become more than spaces of escape andpast-time joy. They become spaces of reflection, where players can rehearse not only what they do, but who they are. The choices made within these simulated worlds has the ability to subtly shape how we see ourselves, relate to others, and move through the real world.
What Happens When Play Evolves Faster Than We Do?
If games and play have long served as a tool for adaptation, growth, exploration,and self-discovery, what happens when the environments we play in change dramatically?
Once crafted to determine life from death, then evolved into a tool torehearse for daily challenges, do our games today still provide the same benefits as they did before? Some might go so far as to say that modern digital environments actually create a space that detaches us from the very skills that games were supposed to provide us with; that we require to survive.
The concept that games today have become ‘too optimised’ for our brain’sreward system is explored and discussed by evolutionary psychologist David Buss. He suggests that the infinite reward loops, instant gratification, constant novelty, and hyper-stimulating environments of games have hindered our brain’s ability to extract developmental benefits. The reason for this may lie within the purpose of our current games.
A large number of the games we have today, predominantly video games, arenot exactly produced with the purpose of helping people learn. Today, games are often built purely for entertainment, to distract, and consume the player by using reward schedules, loot boxes, progression systems, and daily streak mechanics. These aspects of games constantly keep us coming back for more as it triggers dopamine-driven engagement, and as a result, weaponises the rapid feedback learning loop. So the question now becomes, when games are engineered
for engagement, does play still serve its evolutionary purpose?
Historically, play was open-ended exploration. Kids invented games andplayed make-believe. Modern games now often involve pre-made optimised strategies, algorithmic matchmaking, and highly structured progression systems. Instead of allowing us to experiment freely, we are often pressured to followed a specific format, strategy, or route to success. This raises a question against the concept of games as spaces for experimentation. Have they instead,
become systems of productivity to maximise satisfaction?
Modern games are a US$200+ billion dollar industry, with video gamesdominating about 90% of that market. Designed for retention and monetisation on a massive scale, does this ‘product’ still function as a developmental tool? Does it still provide the same type of benefits as historically communal games? As educational teachings? Or as a practice that is culturally embedded?
If play has evolved to prepare us for the real world, what happens when the worlds we play in become more compelling than reality itself?
- Kayli Wouters
Read on Medium: The Evolution Simulation Technology: Games and Play