EJO said:
How much gaming is too much.
I was listening to a radio program talk about how addictive video games are. It was interestinjg and not really suprising either.
Remember Tetris on Game Boy back in the day? How many hours I spent playing it,a dn then dreaming about it when I went to bed.
I go a bit further back than that, to Pacman, Space Invaders and the other "original" video games that cost a single quarter to play.
The games were fun and helped alleviate the stress in my life at the time. Soon I began taking some games seriously, and at one point reached the highest level on Pacman. That's when my interest in video games fell off, when (like you) I was dreaming about them. I "retired" while some of the guys I played with would play the same thing over and over for hours and hours. One guy claimed he played the same game for over 13 hours on a single quarter.
So yeah, I'd say some of these guys were addicted to video games, but the root of the addiction is in the person, not the games themselves.
What I learned about my experiences is that the only accomplishment in video games (and computer games) is "virtual." Its the same feeling I got from watching a movie like Rocky - I felt a sense of accomplishment, but I didn't actually do anything. So really video games are just a mildly active form of entertainment, not something which "defines" who I am. IMO entertainment should be used for the occasional restorative in our lives rather than be the perpetual pursuit.
At home we have an XBox, and we don't have to police the kids time on it, they moderate themselves very well. What I like about the XBox is when its played, its a social event, like playing dominoes or card games. I can join right in with the kids in multiplayer mode and we all have a good time. To my kids its really just one of several forms of entertainment.
LDG
Just teasing....
