Namaste and welcome to another posting for the Quiet Mouse Strikes Back. As you've read the title of the blog, you'll see this posting is about video games.
If you are a a gamer, then perhaps you will understand what I say here. If not, then maybe perhaps I will enlighten you on a subject you didn't previously understand. Moving on now I think that gamers are often mislabeled as antisocial geeks. This is tragic because they, like I, and other "geeks" (or other labels) are very much a functioning part of society working, participating in my community, and paying my taxes to Uncle Sam. YES, there are the stereotypical Mountain Dew drinking, Doritos eating, pimple faced people out there who are afraid of the sunlight and prefer their social interactions to be done online in a digital format with customizable interactive avatar characters.
I'm about to get the the thick of the subject, but I need you, as my readers to understand that these are strictly MY personal views, not meant to offend or trigger anyone. That being said, let's jump down the rabbit hole, Alice.
We can all pretty much agree that the world around us isn't quite the utopia our ancestors dreamt of with no hunger, social unrest, or terrorism. They dreamt of flying cars and space exploration, like Gene Roddenberry and Carl Sagan. But that's not the world we live in. Religion, skin color, geographical area where you were birthed, gender and gender identification, among other issues have kept us all divided and fighting among one another and understandably sometimes it just feels like too much for some of us to handle.
As humans we enjoy being entertained. Our brains like the stimulation of hand eye coordinated tasks. We are no longer an agrarian society, but have progressed to a new era of technological society with smart phones, big screen televisions, digital media and a world of information on every subject imaginable at the tip of a finger. I speculate that at a certain level it is sensory overload, and I KNOW that it's a contradiction to use another digital device like a video game to unplug from work or Facebook and other social media drama or even real world drama, but let's just skip past that...
Video games, at the essential root of what they are is a distraction from the real world for a short period of time where you don't have to worry about day to day drama. The video game, for the most part (some games have purposefully obnoxious characters that talk shit to or act obnoxiously toward the main playable character), is non-judgmental, which can be a huge reason why many people play and find solace in their online interactions.
Another important issue is the reality that sometimes the immersive online world of some games, especially MMORPG's, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, can be extremely addictive and time consuming. Ultimately it is up to each user to recognize their own limitations and time constraints and still participate in their life away from the video game... I bring up the online world of the video game because some of them are AMAZING! Games like Skyrim are so immersive that you can spend well over a hundred hours playing. I've heard World of Warcraft is even bigger and just keeps getting bigger. For some people, depending on socioeconomic background or standard of living, stress levels, and whatnot often find the rewarding on or off-line gaming experience more gratifying than the "REAL WORLD".
I think at the end of the day that there are different strokes for different folks. Some people choose video games to unwind and immerse themselves in an alternate reality for short periods of time. Fellas need to remember to do OTHER things besides games. Like going outside or reading a book. Just saying...
If you are a a gamer, then perhaps you will understand what I say here. If not, then maybe perhaps I will enlighten you on a subject you didn't previously understand. Moving on now I think that gamers are often mislabeled as antisocial geeks. This is tragic because they, like I, and other "geeks" (or other labels) are very much a functioning part of society working, participating in my community, and paying my taxes to Uncle Sam. YES, there are the stereotypical Mountain Dew drinking, Doritos eating, pimple faced people out there who are afraid of the sunlight and prefer their social interactions to be done online in a digital format with customizable interactive avatar characters.
I'm about to get the the thick of the subject, but I need you, as my readers to understand that these are strictly MY personal views, not meant to offend or trigger anyone. That being said, let's jump down the rabbit hole, Alice.
We can all pretty much agree that the world around us isn't quite the utopia our ancestors dreamt of with no hunger, social unrest, or terrorism. They dreamt of flying cars and space exploration, like Gene Roddenberry and Carl Sagan. But that's not the world we live in. Religion, skin color, geographical area where you were birthed, gender and gender identification, among other issues have kept us all divided and fighting among one another and understandably sometimes it just feels like too much for some of us to handle.
As humans we enjoy being entertained. Our brains like the stimulation of hand eye coordinated tasks. We are no longer an agrarian society, but have progressed to a new era of technological society with smart phones, big screen televisions, digital media and a world of information on every subject imaginable at the tip of a finger. I speculate that at a certain level it is sensory overload, and I KNOW that it's a contradiction to use another digital device like a video game to unplug from work or Facebook and other social media drama or even real world drama, but let's just skip past that...
Video games, at the essential root of what they are is a distraction from the real world for a short period of time where you don't have to worry about day to day drama. The video game, for the most part (some games have purposefully obnoxious characters that talk shit to or act obnoxiously toward the main playable character), is non-judgmental, which can be a huge reason why many people play and find solace in their online interactions.
Another important issue is the reality that sometimes the immersive online world of some games, especially MMORPG's, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, can be extremely addictive and time consuming. Ultimately it is up to each user to recognize their own limitations and time constraints and still participate in their life away from the video game... I bring up the online world of the video game because some of them are AMAZING! Games like Skyrim are so immersive that you can spend well over a hundred hours playing. I've heard World of Warcraft is even bigger and just keeps getting bigger. For some people, depending on socioeconomic background or standard of living, stress levels, and whatnot often find the rewarding on or off-line gaming experience more gratifying than the "REAL WORLD".
I think at the end of the day that there are different strokes for different folks. Some people choose video games to unwind and immerse themselves in an alternate reality for short periods of time. Fellas need to remember to do OTHER things besides games. Like going outside or reading a book. Just saying...
No comments:
Post a Comment