Squid Game: Are we playing it in real life?

Squid Game: Are we playing it in real life?

KAKALI DAS

Squid Game – a name widely known in almost every household now. It’s a Korean-language drama, a fictional series that shows desperate people, stuck in debt, playing children’s games with deadly consequences.

What starts out looking innocent quickly becomes horrifying – players are shot, stabbed, or even cremated alive.

And yet, the show is hugely popular. People all over the world watched it, talked about it, and dressed up as its characters. It kept viewers glued to their screens, anxious and excited at the same time.

Season 1 became Netflix’s most-watched show ever, with about 142 million households watching it in just the first month. Season 2 was also a hit with 68 million views in just 4 days.

Now, Season 3 has arrived, and it has already broken records again with over 60 million views in its first 3 days. Squid Game isn’t just a show anymore, it’s a global phenomenon worth nearly $1 billion.

Why has this show captured so many hearts and minds? The answer lies in its clever storytelling, unforgettable characters, dystopian theme, and shocking violence. But there’s something deeper. Underneath all the gore and games, Squid Game reflects real issues we face today, like debt, poverty, unfair systems, and human behaviour under pressure.

Let’s look at Season 1, and try to understand why it feels so real, and why we can’t stop watching it. Also, don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler for Season 3.

Why Would Anyone Enter a Death Game?

It sounds insane. Why would anyone join a game where losing means dying? The answer is something called a “scarcity mindset.” When someone is deep in debt or struggling financially, their brain starts to work differently. They focus only on short-term survival and stop thinking clearly about the long term.

In Squid Game, Gi-hun is drowning in debt. Sae-byeok needs money to reunite her family. Ali has been cheated by his employer. These characters are desperate, and desperation can cloud judgment. Behavioural economists call this “tunnelling.” People can only see one way out of their problems and ignore the dangers around them.

So, when someone offers them a chance to win billions, even if it means risking their life, they say yes. This isn’t just a made-up story. In real life, people take huge risks, like falling for scams or taking out harmful loans, because they’re desperate.

Squid Game’s creators know this. That’s why, after the first deadly game, the players are given the chance to leave. And they do. But soon, they return willingly. Why? Because of something called “loss aversion.” People fear losing more than they enjoy winning. Going back to their old, painful lives feels worse than risking death for a better future.

They also suffer from the “sunk cost fallacy.” Once they’ve started playing and seen others die, they feel they must keep going to make their pain worth something. This is similar to how people stay in bad relationships or continue gambling. They think, “I’ve already lost so much. I can’t quit now.”

Obedience Through Fear

The players in Squid Game are treated like lab rats in a psychology experiment. The rules are simple – follow them and you might win money. Break them, and you die. This is a classic example of something psychologists call a “Skinner box,” where behaviour is shaped through reward and punishment.

Even more interesting is how the game uses random rewards. The players never know when the next deadly game will start, just like gamblers don’t know when they’ll win. This kind of unpredictability creates the strongest addiction.

Every time someone dies, money drops into a giant piggy bank. The sound design makes it satisfying, linking death to reward in the players’ minds. Over time, they become more obedient and stop questioning the rules. This is how real-life authoritarian systems work, slowly removing freedom and encouraging blind obedience.

The Role of Tribes and Group Behaviour

As the game continues, players form small groups. Gi-hun’s group shares food and protects each other. Deok-su’s gang steals food and uses violence. This is human nature. When faced with danger and limited resources, people form groups to survive.

Psychologists have shown that even random group divisions can create strong loyalty. In Squid Game, players quickly become loyal to their groups and see outsiders as enemies. This leads to events like the brutal fight at midnight, where each group defends their own and attacks others.

The show makes this even more powerful by removing individual identities. Players wear the same tracksuits with numbers, and guards wear masks. This dehumanization makes it easier to harm others. It’s the same psychology seen in wars, online hate, and political divisions today.

How Good People Do Bad Things

One of the most disturbing questions Squid Game asks is – how can normal people do terrible things? The answer lies in “moral disengagement.” This is when people use mental tricks to do things that go against their values without feeling guilty.

For example, when Gi-hun tricks his old friend during the marble game, he tells himself it’s “just strategy,” not betrayal. He says the game forced him to do it and that someone had to lose anyway. These justifications help him survive without breaking down emotionally.

This happens in real life too. People in harmful systems often convince themselves that they’re just following orders, or that the victims deserved it. The show shows how easy it is to lose empathy when people are treated like numbers or entertainment.

Why Do We Enjoy Watching Others Suffer?

Let’s be honest – why do we like watching shows like Squid Game? Why do we feel a little thrill when the villain dies horribly? There’s a word for this – “schadenfreude” – which means feeling pleasure at someone else’s pain.

It’s not something to be proud of, but it’s human nature. We feel it when someone we dislike gets punished or when we compare ourselves to someone worse off. It makes us feel better about our own lives.

Squid Game also gives us a safe way to experience danger. We imagine what we would do in those deadly games. Our brains release stress hormones during the tense scenes and then give us feel-good chemicals when it ends. This is similar to why people love horror movies or roller coasters.

But the show also makes us question ourselves. Are we really any different from the VIPs in the story who watch the games for fun? When we binge-watch violent shows for entertainment, are we becoming like them?

A Mirror to Modern Society

One reason Squid Game is such a hit is because, beneath all the violence, it talks about real-life struggles. It shows how hard life can be when you’re poor, when systems fail you, or when you feel powerless.

It also taps into “social comparison theory.” We compare ourselves to others constantly. Watching Squid Game, we think, “At least I’m not that desperate.” But we also feel the unfairness when we see the rich VIPs enjoying luxury while others suffer.

The show reminds us that we’re all playing our own version of a deadly game. Competing for jobs, money, health care, respect. It makes our daily struggles feel seen, even if it exaggerates them.

In a world full of stress, inequality, and fear about the future, Squid Game gives us a way to understand and explore these feelings. It’s not just about entertainment. It’s about looking at who we are, what we’re capable of, and what kind of world we’ve built.

The Real Horror

In the end, the scariest part of Squid Game isn’t the blood. It’s the mirror it holds up to human nature. It shows how quickly we can lose our morals, become selfish, or follow cruel systems if we feel desperate enough.

But that doesn’t mean there’s no hope. Understanding how our minds work, how scarcity, loss aversion, tribalism, and moral disengagement affect us, can help us make better choices.

The most important question the show asks isn’t “Would I survive Squid Game?” It’s: “Am I already playing it?” And if yes, then: “How do I stop?”

Maybe the answer is in kindness. In standing up for others. In breaking unfair systems instead of following them. Squid Game shows the worst in people, but by recognizing it, we can aim for something better.

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking.  You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com (For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary) Images from different sources.