Video Games Taught Me That Money is Everywhere

Hit all the barrels and get rich

Mario has to collect so many coins. Super Mario Bros. screenshot captured by the author. The game is available as part of the Switch Online service.

The ever-present grind of capitalism and growth is baked into the very soul of game design.

Everything in gaming is about progress. They’re built around Pavlovian reward structures so that your brain stays engaged and entertained even during dull moments. Games have immense power to tell interactive and visually arresting stories that directly involve the player, drawing people in like no other medium can — but the need to keep you hooked until the ending comes with some unfortunate side effects.

In the world of video games, money pours out of literally everything. Hit a barrel? Money comes out! Fight a random animal in the woods? They might drop some money! Find an abandoned box on a street corner? Congrats, it’s full of cash! Want to improve your character with some much-needed gear or abilities? You can probably pay some random merchant for those— as long as you’ve bashed enough things to get their gold out first.

Almost every single video game ever produced is about accumulating money, or points, or other valuable items. Collecting things is a direct shortcut to the pleasure center of the brain. It makes no logical sense for stuff like gold coins or food or interesting items to pop out of every single environmental object, yet…