Virtual Addiction
Uploaded by guardianbooya on Dec 29, 2001
There are certain things that cause addiction. Computer games are electronic games that are addictive. Played on a computer or on a console system such as the Sony Playstation, these games can occupy a person for countless hours. Through computer gaming, people escape their reality which includes school and work. Video games also present people with challenges they can overcome so they can feel a sense of accomplishment. In a virtual world, mistakes can be undone and time can renew itself with the push of a few buttons. Through gaming, a person can experience his or her fantasies that he or she cannot experience in real life. In a commercial world of advancing technology and electronic entertainment, people become obsessed over these games. Computer games are addictive because they allow people to escape reality, offer challenges, provide a world where mistakes can be undone and allow people to experience their dreams which they cannot experience in real life.
The fact that video games allow people to escape reality makes them addictive. Video games allow people to get away from certain things that cause them stress such as schoolwork. “I’d rather play Half-Life or Goldeneye than do my physics. School is the same everyday. Video games are fun no matter when you play them” (Personal Interview). For many students, school can be seen as a source of stress because of the intense workload they are faced with daily. Video games direct their minds away from education and veer them towards the virtual world.
According to Doctor Cairn of the University of Texas, people, especially male children, are spending too much time on video games and not enough time on schoolwork or with their family (“Music, Television, Video Games and Their Effect on Children” 5). Computer game companies have proven that people under eighteen years of age play video games to a point of addiction because they want to evade pressures in their lives (“The Fantasy World ” 3). People often consider a job or their family life to be boring and tedious. A video game takes away that feeling by giving gamers a feeling of excitement. “Many people who are video game addicts are those who feel they have boring, mundane lives. Through gaming, they can experience the excitement that they feel they are lacking in their real lives” (Geggis 1). However, the idea of escaping the reality of work or...