PAX AUSTRALIA: Playing On Hard Mode: The Psychology Of Dark Souls

The one thing everyone knows about the Dark Souls series is that it’s difficult. This game is brutal, and the world you find yourself in wants to kill you, but the game itself desperately wants you to succeed. It knows that you are better than you think you are. That you can do this.

There is no way to tailor difficulty, except for weapon and armour choices, so everyone has the same starting point. You learn to play the game by, well, playing the game. Hiding, avoidance, protecting yourself isn’t at all frowned upon, it may be the only way you can get through a section.

The thing that the Dark Souls franchise does well is that it doesn’t offer quick rewards for minimal effort in quick succession. It makes you earn it.

There are such long stretches between safe points, the world is dark and hard. It’s bleak but it’s real – there’s no mini map, no pause. For all your hard work though, the rewards are great. In game and without. The huge level of fulfilment and knowledge of your accomplishments provides this wonderful level of positive feedback that is so important to being human.

This game doesn’t hold your hand; it doesn’t insult your intelligence. It lets you explore and grow on your own. You start at a safe space and explore until need to return to regroup, heal, and reset your mind. And it encourages you go further and further until you feel free to move forward to the next point.

All the while it’s teaching you about yourself. It tells you failure – because you will die multiple times – is okay, it normalises it. It tells you that frustration is a part of life, that just because you overcame one challenge doesn’t mean there isn’t another one ahead. It gives you beautiful small moments, just as life does, of hope and of brightness that it wants you to hold onto and run with. That getting through the next challenge, through the darkness will hold a reward, making the slog worthwhile.

Amazingly, there’s such beautiful connection within this series. You can summon other players – phantoms – to assist you. You can leave messages for other players and if they find the information useful, or just funny, they can rate it. And those rates give you health. The more that you can assist other players, the more you assist yourself. It might mean the difference between a win or a loss against a boss.

These games should be a part of your life. They should be something you go to to learn about yourself, about who you are in this world and what you can overcome. It should be a way to access flow – being in the zone – so you get this amazing way to practice quick decision making, complete focus, an engagement of senses. It’s all incredibly beneficial.

So go out and get a Dark Souls game. Learn the lore and take on the narrative. They have a lot to say. Be patient with it, take it slow and enjoy what it has to offer and to teach you.

As Havel says, “You have a heart of gold, don’t let them take it from you.”

Playing On Hard Mode: The Psychology Of Dark Souls was presented as part of PAX Australia 2016 by panellists:
Josh Muller [Psychologist, MCRI]
Shell Osborne [Department Coordinator – Games Programming, CG Spectrum],
Jane Cocks [PhD Candidate, University Sunshine Coast],
Jennifer Hazel [Psychiatry Registrar, Prescription Pixel]