Where HAS the time gone: A look into gaming from an ex-gamer.

When reading the articles for this weeks class, it really brought me back to the times of just sitting around all day smoking, drinking, smoking (yeah a lot of that), and playing video games for hours on end.

Why, you may ask would anyone spend hours (sometimes 12 at a time) in front of a TV screen playing video games?

Pretty much cause at the time ‘I didn’t have anything better to do’

That’s what I loved about video games; they were a time filler. I never had to wonder “what am I going to do today to pass the time?” I always know that if I was bored I could always turn on the TV and fill the time by solving puzzles in far off worlds or destroy enemies, or just drive around blowing shit up.

And this is what college took away from me.

Along with studying and homework, the idea of spending this much time in front of a machine that bought me no real accomplishment, other than in the form of bragging rights to others who played the same game, seemed somehow wrong. I found that I just couldn’t do it anymore; I would try to play a game but would end up feeling bad about it in the end. It is the same kind of feeling that you get when you want something really sweet and bad for you; then you eat it and afterwards just end up feeling bad about it and guilty.

This is when I realized that video games, like many other things, can be like an addiction. Now that I have gotten further and further away from playing, I can see even more through watching my friends that still play, that it really can be an addiction. Like any other addiction, it is brought forth to fill the void of boredom for many people with a lot of time on their hands.

But as I see it from the outside, after tearing myself away from it, playing video games, especially the way some people play, can be very hazardous to the whole socialization process and can end up making it hard for people to live adequately in the real world; instead choosing to spend all their time and energy living in these new artificial ones.

I can see why. I was there. It is way more interesting and fulfilling to be killing monsters and finishing complicated levels while getting the girl and being the hero in these artificial worlds than it is to be getting bad grades and rejected by girls in the real world. Video games, especially these new all-engaging games like World of Warcraft, give people the chance to feel empowered and to bring a sense of accomplishment along with allowing the individual to escape any real world hindrance that would make it more difficult to socialize with others; even if it is all based on artificial accomplishments.

Where I start to worry is when I see it affecting people I know and care about.

The friend who keeps working at his menial job rather than going back to school to do what he really wants to do; instead deciding to spend all his time and money on more video games and ‘things that go well with playing’.

The brother that hurt his arm and was on disability so decided to waste some time playing World of Warcraft (WOW), but has since gotten better and still spends a good portion of everyday playing and paying for an artificial reality.

The truth is though that I can’t say if this is bad or good. It really comes down to what people decide to spend their time doing. Some people watch TV, some read, some work, and some play video games. It really comes down to what makes you happy. I just hope that the people that do play these games ‘chronically’ are not doing so at the expense of activities that could make them happier in the long run.

Again I was one of the examples I gave for people I know. I used to get off work at 1 am and go to the local convenience store, pick up a slurpee and some ‘munchies’ and go home and play Tony Hawk Proskater or Golden Eye til 6 in the morning. I would fall asleep, wake up and play some more until it was time to go back to work.

It was fun. It had its time. But just like anything else it has to be put aside in order to do other things. Unfortunately some never do and really it has less to do with video games and more to do with a whole lifestyle choice. So maybe I’m blaming the wrong thing, trying to find a scapegoat (wow, writing really is therapy HA), either way, it is really a choice, one that I apparently made (NO video games). But to each their own.

Good gaming and I hope I didn’t offend anyone. That was not my intention.