Are Video Games Merely Distractions?

The thought popped into my head the other day... Can video games be detrimental distractions in the grand scheme of things?

As a gamer myself, I can obviously recognize the benefits of gaming. It's a wonderful way to de-stress, escape from reality, and get immersed in unlimited creativity. It grants you the ability to enact things that you otherwise couldn't experience in real life (murder) -- without consequence. It allows you to explore worlds and characters that otherwise could not exist in our timeline.

So as a little downtime, playing for a few hours a day, I believe that is healthy 👍

The problem begins, I believe, when someone's entire life -- their purpose -- revolves around video games. As a hobby, a career, a social life, etc. When video games are incorporated into important faucets of life, it's a recipe for disaster.

(Image created using an AI art generator on Night Cafe)

Like, I watch two popular video game streamers, Asmongold and penguinz0. I mean, Asmongold is just a given because he's fucking disgusting and chronically online (and as someone who also "didn't think they were gonna be here this long," I'm not going to delve into why it's not an excuse lol).

But penguinz0 had an interesting reaction to fellow gamer, Elon Musk, being mediocre at Path Of Exile 2 or whatever the fuck. This 30-year-old man was having a conniption, literally blue in the face over the fact a billionaire CEO of multiple companies and projects, wasn't spot on with the mechanics of the game.

How can Charlie get so offended by the fact Musk is a busy guy who doesn't have all of the time in the world to devote to video games, like, say, Charlie can? and has for the past decade?

Well, that's when it clued in: Charlie has attached his value as a person to being good at video games. Of course he's offended; one of the greatest players of our generation (Charlie) isn't getting the recognition he so desperately lives off of! 😱

Meanwhile, let's change perspective: do you truly think Musk is offended that there are better players than him? Or worse, that people critique his abilities? No, because Musk's identity isn't inherently tied to gaming.

Now, again, it wouldn't be such a terrible thing if video games were like anything else, if they still allowed you to engage in real-life, but they don't -- your reality becomes a screen, your environment a finite space with four walls. In a way, you become subhuman.

Take my sister, for another example. My sister dedicates 8 hours/day to her job at Walmart; after that, it is nothing but video games. My sister does not participate in any other activities: walking, cooking, drawing, music -- nothing. She doesn't hang out with friends; her entire social life is online. Trying to engage with my sister during gaming is like pulling teeth; you'll be met with nothing but annoyance and hostility.

The worst part? my sister does not "get anything" out of gaming. She doesn't stream, she isn't a professional gamer, she's not making money from it. She has made laying in bed all day her hobby of her own volition. What's more, my sister abandoned her family here in Canada to live with her gaming boyfriend in England.

So we have obviously been witnesses to how detrimental focusing on video games can be. This is what makes me nervous for the arrival of more artificial intelligence and virtual realities.

We are going to see more and more people, large percentages of populations, dedicating their lives to the online world, where there is no place for reality, and people will refuse to take off the headsets and participate in life.