On Gaming And Other Diseases

I have been reading blogs again after a short hiatus and in catching up with the material I missed I have encountered several entries regarding gaming. The question that seems to arise from all of them is: why do men get so drawn into these video games? I believe Halo 2 was the primary example used in most of them.

This is something that is a puzzle as well and requires a better answer than, “Because it is fun!”

I think it is important to note that men are not the only ones who do this. I know plenty of women that are way more hardcore into gaming than I am. And, while I was not present, some of my more fanatical friends who lined up for the midnight release (it was using a movie theatre for its initial tournaments) said there were quite a few women there who were just as eager to play. Admittedly, there appear to be more men in this obsession than women but I wanted to clear that this is just a male thing from the table.

Speaking from a personal level, what gets me caught up in a game is the storyline. I have little patience for shooting or fighting games and often stop after an hour or two even with friends. So I am at a loss for explaining the obsession with those types of games except as some sort of friendly (as in not ending in death) competitive need that I probably read in some psychology book once.

Now a good RPG with an intricate plot and well developed characters will pull me away from the world for a while. It is much like getting lost in a good book, which I also often do. Actually, I probably do too much of both to be honest.

So, I started this entry as an attempt to come up with some grand answer to this phenomena and instead have concluded that I read and game too much (reading is worse as I sacrifice sleep for that), and that I should do it less. Bah! It is too much fun!

It is sad, I know.