It”s all fun and games, until it”s all just a game.
Increasingly the civilized world is turning to virtual amusement at an alarming rate. According to an April 16 article titled “Nintendo: Playing a New Game,” in the Economist, “As a form of cheap, stay-at-home entertainment, gaming is one of the few industries to have done well during the recession.”
It”s not just for children though. Subscription games such as World of Warcraft have adults living in a true fantasy world.
There are hundreds of sites dedicated to quitting just that game. The ending advice on one of the sites is “to spend time with your real friends, if you have any.”
Cynthia Parkhill points out “Why should an avatar have all the fun, I”d rather go to an SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) event.”
I know a 10-year-old boy who recently opted out of a trip to Disneyland to spend an entire day inside of a mall arcade.
There are benefits to the games, like improved hand-eye coordination, interactive learning possibilities, the ability to challenge someone in not just another town, state or country, but even on another continent. All of this can be achieved from the comfort and security of your own home. And shoot, you don”t even have to be home.
“Multi-function ”smart phones” are proliferating, and Apple”s iPhone is becoming increasingly popular as a portable gaming device,” it states in the same article in the Economist.
While there are wonderful learning possibilities, I also wonder what the implications might be for future generations. Maybe it”s an extension of karaoke. Perhaps we all need to somehow be legends, even if it”s only in our own minds.
There are teams of adults well into biological maturity who compete with others, utilizing games like Rock Band. They seem to be the same population who once joined softball teams, participated in Master”s swimming or evening basketball leagues.
I liked pinball when I was in my single-digits; especially the Elton John, Captain Fantastic machine. Chrome orbs shot from everywhere while disco-style lights served as distractions. I could play it for awhile, but eventually I would want to go outside and have dirt clod fights with my brothers and the neighbor kids, or play baseball, kickball, catch salamanders or find huge blades of grass to whistle through.
In all fairness, video games really sucked when I was young. We started with Pong and exited my youth with Pacman or at best Frogger.
The games are amazing now, beyond the realm of anything I could have imagined.
According to Sherry Rauh, WebMD feature writer, “Compulsive video gaming is a modern-day psychological disorder.”
She says “at an addiction treatment center in Amsterdam, teenagers and young adults begin detox by admitting they are powerless over their addiction. But these addicts aren”t hooked on drugs or alcohol. They are going cold turkey to break their dependence on video games.” The addiction to gaming is classified as a parallel to gambling addiction. It”s a clinical impulse control disorder. John Suler, PhD is Professor of Psychology at Rider University. His research claims that “not many people are waving their fingers and fists in the air about video and work.” He says that some people are definitely hurting themselves, losing jobs, flunking out of school or divorcing because they cannot resist devoting all of their time to virtual lands; they are pathologically addicted. Extreme cases are clear cut. But with all addictions, the problem is where to draw the line between “normal enthusiasm and abnormal preoccupation.”
It”s my belief that pretty much anything in excess can be dangerous.
A person”s emotional well-being can be compared to a car. Think of the tires as representing physical, emotional, spiritual and educational separates. The car is still operational with the air low in the tires or even flat, but it”s more difficult and less enjoyable. It”s really tough to drive on one tire, even if it”s really inflated. It”s best if each tire is equally inflated. You know, otherwise you have a tendency to pull way right, way left or simply crash and burn and become immobile.
There are hundreds of online resources for dealing with gaming addiction. Some reputable sites include: parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/arts/worldofwarcraft.html, www.wowwiki.com/Addiction, answers.google.com/answers/threadview
Mandy Feder is the Record-Bee news editor. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 Ext. 32.
