Whenever a loading screen or cutscene flashes up, I’m glued to my second screen. But all it does is ruin the experience and make me a worse gamer.
My monkey brain is impatient. If there’s even a slight waiting time while I game, I immediately need stimulation. As a result, I don’t read game tips on loading screens, don’t follow dialogue in cutscenes and don’t strategise in multiplayer lobbies.
Instead, I squint at my second screen and let myself be entertained by YouTube – no matter whether I find the video interesting at all. The only thing I care about is brain stimulation. Here a video about the visual effects in the latest Spider-Man film, there a compilation of embarrassing football goals, even a short documentary about Billy the Kid. Anything’s better than the rigor mortis of a frozen loading screen. But since these only last a short time, I often watch ten-minute videos divided into thirty-second segments.
Every time I turn my head slightly to the right towards my second screen, I’m mentally torn out of my game world. Under these circumstances, it’s difficult to achieve the state I always chase after when gaming: immersion. Every sideways glance reminds me that I don’t live in a world of generals and magic scrolls, but one of e-scooters and tax returns. How am I supposed to immerse myself in a fantasy setting when DJ Khaled is eating extra-hot chicken wings for Hot Ones in the corner of my eye?
This distraction breaks my concentration, which I feel most clearly in multiplayer games. If my second monitor is on, I clearly play worse and make more mistakes. The second screen doesn’t even have to be playing a video, clickbait thumbnails alone attract my attention – and my team suffers as a result.
This often births a vicious circle, for example in the MOBA Smite. If my character dies, I have to wait up to a minute to respawn, depending on the game phase. I could use this time to buy items, analyse the play styles of my teammates and enemies and get an overview of the map. But what do I do instead?
After the respawn timer ends, I run haphazardly across the map, throw myself into a hopeless fight and wonder why I died again after such a short time. Ah well, back to my funny little films. They don’t care how badly I play and how much my team (rightly) insults me in the chat. And so I tumble down the spiral step by step.
The worst thing about it: I know I’m ruining the game for myself as well as for my team with my behaviour. And yet, I can’t stop constantly glancing over at the other screen.
It’s why I’m increasingly resorting to radical measures, forcing myself to concentrate. It’s simple, admittedly: I just switch off the second screen. After all, the only thing more boring than a loading screen is a completely black screen. In the best-case scenario, my cell phone is also out of reach and I’m forced to devote my attention to the action during downtime.
This compulsion keeps me in the game. Both with my eyes and mentally. Instead of thinking about recent voting results, I learn about the political background of the Warhammer universe. I prefer devoting my attention entirely to one medium instead of splitting it between several and not really enjoying any of them. After all, my monkey brain is definitely too stupid for multitasking.
Do you have a second (or third) screen? What plays on it?
The competition has ended.
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My retreats have names like Middle Earth, Skyrim and Azeroth. If I have to part from them due to IRL commitments, their epic soundtracks accompany me through everyday life, to a LAN party or to my D&D session.
