For me, this issue is a fairly personal one. So, part of this post will be my opinions on the subject, and part on my experience with video game addiction. As many of you who know me probably know that I started gaming fairly young; around age 5, or so. My parents introduced me to gaming when they bought me my first gaming console (NES). Since then they have been very supportive, and, at times, patient with my passion/past-time. No matter what phases I went through in my adolescence (and there were a lot), video games have been one of the few that have lasted.
Something else people know about me is that I am very much an introvert. Even the one period of my life when I would go out "partying", and was heavily social I needed alcohol just to tolerate it all. I'd much rather just hang out with a small group of friends, or spend a nice, quiet day alone than to be in heavily crowded placed. Why is any of this relevant to the topic at hand? I'm getting there.
Video games help to fill a crucial void in my life. This may come as a shock to some of you reading, but I have a fairly large ego. I sometimes question whether I may actually be a narcissist, or not. With my inflated ego (which I'm working on) comes with an overwhelming sense of atychiphobia, or a fear of failure. Most people that fear failure simply never attempt anything they may feel they would fail at. This is where video games step in.
See, there are many differences between video games, and the real world. For this post I will only focus on two. As many reading this are aware, people are pretty shitty by nature. It's nothing new, really. For a species so dependent on validation, we seem to crush it whenever, and wherever we can. From the day most children start school, all the way into adulthood we constantly have someone reminding us that our best could always be better. Be it grades, job evaluations, social standings, etc. Video games, however, offer a means to fulfill this validation that most people seek. No video game ever intends on making the player feel utterly worthless (though a few seem to). They offer us a sense of accomplishment, worth, and meaning.
Another serious difference between video games, and the real world is guidance. Life does not come with instructions. It's pretty much just a series of trial and error up until the day you die. Trust me, no one has ever completely figured out this whole living business. If they claim to they are either lying, or extremely delusional. Video games, however, offer a clear means of guidance through instructions, objectives, quests, etc. Want to save the world? Well here's what you have to do. That's pretty much been the successful video game formula thus far. Even the Civilization games follow this primary mechanic.
The only game who's instruction manual rivals that of War and Peace in complexity.
As I stated before, video game addiction, or compulsion, is something I've dealt with personally. It wasn't really a problem for me until about middle school. There wasn't a single video game that spurred it, but could mostly be contributed to outside forces. See, I wasn't what you could call a popular kid in school. I was short, fat, really into video games comics, and DnD, and I had as much grace with talking to girls as a goldfish has survival skills outside of a fish bowl. I was what you could call a nerd. The few friends I had were all into the same shit I was. So, I rarely ever ventured from that group. The time I was supposed to spend in school on school work, or studying was dedicated to video games. Thinking about them, strategizing how I would beat a certain level/quest/dungeon, drawing my favorite characters, etc. My grades began to reflect this as well.
After me, and my parents moved to another state I decided to put my comics, video games, and the such on the back burner. Not abandon them completely, but I decided to give this real world thing a try. Come to find out it wasn't as bad as I thought. People, for the most part, actually liked me. I was considered one of the funny kids in school which is always a good thing. My grades started improving as well. Hell, I even got a really for real girlfriend. One that actually liked me, and didn't just turn her nose up to me when I stumbled on my words like a doofus.
By the time I made it to high school I was fairly popular. I learned that no matter what you look like, or what your into, everyone loves to laugh. Making people laugh is something I'm fairly good at. It was also in high school that I met a very good friend of mine, Michael. Through Michael, I discovered there was a whole group of people who loved video games just as much as I did. The only difference is they didn't let them rule their lives. Rather, we integrated our love for not only video games, but other nerdy shit into our lives, and managed to balance them in a mesh of nerd feng shui that worked out well for us all.
Today I am still very much an introvert, but mostly because I'm just more comfortable living that way. I also have a stable job (more or less), that, by most standards, pays decent. I have a stable relationship (again, more or less). I have my small group of friends. To be honest, as much as I do like to bitch about my current situation, I do have it pretty good. See, I was lucky, and broke out of this cycle pretty early.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who never did. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell anyone how to live. Trust me, no one should take life advice from me. However, shutting yourself off in a fictional world, though satisfying as it may be, is unhealthy in more ways than one. Not only are you alienating people that actually care about you, but your missing out on so much the real world has to offer. I know life is shitty. Believe me. But the world does have some genuine good to it, and when you cut yourself off completely you miss out on all the good aspects of life there are to have. I'm not guaranteeing that everything is sunshine and rainbows in the real world, but it is real. You can see it. You can touch it. Most importantly, it is all yours. All you have to do is look for it.
As always, thanks for listening.
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