Free Write Blog #4--Video Games

            Video games were made as a distraction from the real world, a place where you could be whoever you chose and live a life with no regrets and no consequences. But it seems as though this world has gone to far. No longer is the video game world a place for relaxation, but instead it has become a false identity for some. Those who spend hour upon hour, day after day creating and creating their perfect dream world, all while neglecting the real world, their real life. Their real lives have been completely consumed by the life that they wish to have, and because of this they fail to live life to its fullest.

            The film watched on video gaming gave an in dept explanation by video-gamers as to why what they do is not only acceptable, but also necessary. One of the arguments by a video-gamer was that it took him to a place where he could never be. He uses the explanation of a peasant never being able to become a king, but in the video game world he could. This mentality in modern day America through me off. I was taught as a young child that as long as I put in effort I am not constraint by the limitations of my birth on the social hierarchy, instead I can move up and down this ladder as I chose.  To me it sounds like this video-gamer’s response is a give up attitude. Why should I slave away at real life when I can be what I want on this TV screen?

            It is also argued that videogaming is a social network, but is it really? Although these people speak to each other every day, they have a weak tie relationship. Their relationship is built upon one common theme and if that theme were to be taken away these people would have never met. Where as in real life if you were to meet someone you would stumble upon more than one common interest. These weak ties are sometimes made into something more such as marriage, as one may argue. But of all of those who meet and get married playing MMORPG’s, how many do not meet the love of their lives while fighting a dragon. Those are the ones that continue to play with no eventual reward.

            Videogames in turn, bring no real reward to the table. They allow for some entertainment, but do not give anything back to the player that is useful. If someone commits so much time and money to something, then their should be some kind of benefit. The benefits of videogames are very low as compared to the risk that they entail. Lives have been lost due to dramatic game playing. When lives are lost we need to step back and look at what we are doing and see how it is affecting our health.

            Videogames are meant to be a way to relax and enjoy ones spare time and should not turn into something that we feel obliged to do to a point where it takes over our lives.