Traffic rules and tidying up: how players drag boring habits into games

You might come to games to do crazy things you couldn't get away with in real life, but many players replicate their day-to-day habits in the virtual world

In a lot of ways - and this may come as a shock, so brace yourself - video games are not like real-life. From Final Fantasy to Grand Theft Auto, the central idea behind our favourite blockbusters is escapism. You come to these amazing, spectacular places to do crazy stuff - to battle monsters, steal treasure, crash fast cars and blow up planes - stuff you can't get away with in reality. As the classic PlayStation advert once brilliantly summed up, you come to conquer worlds.

But weirdly, as game visuals have become more realistic and more detailed, a lot of players have found themselves replicating real-life habits and routines in the virtual world, even when it serves no mechanical function. From careful parking to routine politeness, it seems we can't completely abandon ourselves to pixellated anarchy - there are standards we mustn't let go. Having tweeted about this behaviour recently, we were inundated with responses from other players who have similarly fastidious routines.