Some of the developmental milestones at this point are effectively continuations of those seen at the age of 12 on. The differentiation in physical characteristics, especially those pertaining to sex and transition to adulthood continue and often leave the child feeling awkward as their minds also are moving from adolescence to adulthood. At 13-15, teens begin to question more, especially authority and structures of rules. They still retain thinking in absolutes while also believing bad things happen to others with some sort of personal exemption for them. This dovetails with the belief that they’re the center of the universe (for good or ill). Emotionally this has the teen vacillate between independence and reliance on caregivers, which can lead to frustration and inner turmoil as these are issues stemming from a search of personal identity. The teen will want to spend more and more time with friends and develop a social network, but will also have time where family takes precedent.
From 15-18, there’s more confidence in the teen, but there also comes a bit of hesitancy as well. The teen is able to use more sophisticated techniques to problem solve, but they cannot apply these tools consistently. Teens at this stage are learning to organize their lives and establish school/work/life balances, but they are still exploring these concepts as part of the continued search for identity. Because this often runs up against established authority, teens often question rules and procedures. Concerns with appearance often go hand-in-hand with identity and growing sexual desires on top of stress and excitement from decisions about a teen’s future. Thus, there’s a lot of emotion ups and downs for the teen, which can lead to emotional turmoil. The desire to spend less time with family and more with their social network means teens are subject to peer pressure, but they are more likely to resist as their identities are firmer than in their younger years.
These aspects of development help lead teens to the styles of games that cater to exploration, especially ones where player agency has primacy. Such games often have a strong social component as well, which contributes to the interactivity in the game and adds another method for exploration. While not all will gravitate to 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) games like Civilization, most of the games that are of interest do contribute to expression and exploration of identity. The sociability of the games may transfer to online play or a group crowding around a screen to watch, but the conceptual space to find one’s sense of self is still there, albeit in a manner that may have little to do with the game.
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Tools, Games, Interaction, and Play for 18+