Interference

It's a hobby right? This little obsession the majority of us have? Just something to do in our spare time? Whittle away a few minutes playing our current favourite piece of electronic entertainment, and watch those minutes turn into hours with a smile on our faces? But how many of us have found this past time eat into our every day lives? How many of you have pulled the odd all nighter just to see that fancy end cut scene and sit smugly as the end credits roll, just to go into work or whatever it is you do in the day, with blood shot eyes and a can of Red Bull permanently affixed to your lips? I know I've done it, and on countless occasions. I've gone into seminars with only two braincells still functioning thanks to the miracle of caffeine, just because I needed to see a game through to the end.

This hobby we all enjoy really eats into our time, with games usually running up to the 20 hour mark, or longer if like myself you enjoy the odd RPG and their scary cousin, the JRPG. But does it affect our day to day lives? I know myself that I've decided that a few runs on Call of Duty 4 are far more important than preparing myself for a lecture or essay that is most likely due to be handed in a few days, leaving myself a last minute panic to pull everything together in the hopes that my attempt at a degree wont be in vain. I've turned up at work and pulled through by operating on automatic, hoping that my tiredness and addiction goes unnoticed.

With the games industry continuing to grow and the number of good quality 'must have' titles being released, we seem to be being sucked in to a nasty habit that appears to be consuming, at least in my case, all of my disposable income (of which I have very little nowadays). Is it becoming too much? Should we all take a step back and admit that we have a problem? I know that it's not really comparable to other guilty pleasures in life such as alcohol and smoking (guilty), and no where near as devastating as the addictive effects of something like illegal drug use, but there are similarities. Many of the games we enjoy seem to be turning us into obsessive compulsive's; we must find the right coloured key to continue, or collect x amount of a certain object. When this need does become obsessive, and we find that these little side quests that are basically errands to collect objects are becoming just as important as finishing the game, is that not similar to that need to have another cigarette, rather than just the one? I can't help but feel that Microsoft, and the subsequent copying by Sony, have become the cigarette company of our happy little indulgence by adding achievements. Whilst I've managed to avoid the temptation to play games just for this purpose (I know I don't have the time to), I know that there exist so called 'achievement whores' who play games with the intention of adding to their gamer score and have these little badges displayed proudly on their gamer card. Has this jump turned the few into fully fledged obsessives, who's only drive to play the game is to obtain these achievements, rather than just do what was intended and play the game?

Please take this as food for thought, I don't mean to make this a statement of fact that those who enjoy video games have an addiction comparable to those who can't say no to a drink and other more socially frowned upon substance abuse. But I do think that we do need to look closely at our own gaming habits, and determine; "is this really healthy for me?".

Feel free to let me know how you feel by commenting on this post.