Pride or Prejudice: The Real Deal with an Imaginary Existence

In my post two weeks ago, "Digital Existence", Dr. Scott left an intruiging question for me that I've been ducking until I could come up with an answer. Here's his question...

"...I wonder: if your brother was addicted to, say, reading, would it be any better. Reading is a solitary activity. It means you're not outside playing ball.... Or what about TV? I watched something on the order of eight hours per day growing up -- zero today. In retrospect I'm not sure it was really so bad for me. One reason I have a large vocabulary, for example, is that I'd watch news programs at an early age blah blah blah. So is it the unfamiliarity of video games which scares us, or is it really "different" from other activities altogether?"

Like I said in my post, my brother's lifestyle scared me but I didn't know why. In my post and in Dr. Scott's analysis of it, video games (and TV) were proven to be valuable educational tools. Is it really just the unfamiliarity of this new virtual universe that turned me apprehensive, or is there solid evidence that living a digital existence has negative consequences that outweigh its benefits? My thoughts on the subject are far from complete or adamant, but after mulling over these questions for about a week now, I think I've finally come up with an answer.

First, understand I recognize many benefits to video games. Also, I don't have a concrete opinion one way or the other. All I've figured out is why video games scare me so much, and why I think addiction to these video games is far, far worse and more frequent than addiction to say, books or even television.

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As living beings, we have needs. Many of the things we need are necessary for survival like air, food, water, heat... We also have social and mental needs. Our minds need to be challenged and stimulated. On some degree, we have a need to set goals and fufill them. We need to feel loved and wanted and accomplished. If these are taken away or not adequately met, our life spans are shortened, our mental sanity is comprimised, and generally we don't turn out to be "healthy" individuals. For the purposes of argument, lets simplify all needs into physical or intellectual needs.

First and foremost, our physical needs have to be met. If we're starving and shivering in some ditch in a desolate pasture, we're not really in a position to be "bored" because our lot in life consists solely of finding food. In our well-off society today, however, it can be argued that our physical needs are pretty well met. Since we're talking about education here, let's look specifically at students.

Our concern of the day isn't making that long pilgrimage to the pantry to hunt for the last Snickers bar. Once we find that Snickers bar, are we then content to relax on the couch, feeling that we've accomplished enough for one sunrise? No, we pursue other things. We go to school to study and try to get good grades. We aim for that promotion or that bonus at work. We dress well to catch the eye of that girl or boy in our English class.

This may all seem like I'm beating around the bush and skirting the issue. What the heck does any of this have to do with video games??? My belief is that video games, in excess, is destroying what sums up all these needs into one word: MOTIVATION.

As sober individuals with our basic physical needs more or less met, we are motivated by accomplishment rather than desperation. I want a promotion not just to pay for that extra packet of Ramen noodles from Costco, but also because I'm making something of myself. I'm moving forward in life. As a motivated individual, that feeling of progression is really important to me. I'm sure most of you can relate if you're in this seminar, after all you're all honors students.

But video games are like a drug. They can give you that feeling without giving you anything at all. In a virtual universe, your social needs can be met in a way that just might not be possible in the real world. You're a reputable commander. You've managed to find the biggest, baddest looking sword in the whole game. You've got all the friends that you could want, fighting dragons and ogres beside you, and they all recognize you as the greatest warrior that's ever lived. You've got riches beyond your wildest dreams, and the citizens of the country look up to you while your enemies fear you.

What's important to you now is getting that next level, scoring that new piece of equipment, exploring that cave you've never explored before. What a rush to be rapidly advancing in the ranks, cutting down all manner of mythical creatures in your path while real live players watch you do it from their own screens.

As you progress through the game you achieve and make gains in a manner most undoubtedly more exciting than, say, waiting for a promotion at a desk like the one I'm sitting at now. The way video games are now, they fufill the majority (if not all) of young children's social needs. Why do your agonizing homework for .01 more points in your grade point average, when you can be running cold steel through scantily clad sirens to find a mystical goblet? Why run all those laps to get 3rd place in the track meet when you have one more quest to turn in until you move up a level? Do you want friends? Make them online. Have relationships? The carefully drawn and fully mobile 3-D characters in video games these days probably surpass even the hottest of L.A. 10's, and you've already got a lot in common because you're doing the same quests and playing the same game.

Speaking only from personal experience, students have a remarkably hard time doing "what's better for them in the long run". This is exacerbated when your short term motivational thresholds are being met in some other, more pleasurable way. Like books and television, video games have collateral benefits. They will definately boost your speed reading. They will train you to preform moderately complex calculations in your head. They will improve your motor skills, your typing skills, maybe even your social skills and vocabulary. But kids aren't addicted to games because they're learning from them. Kids are addicted to them because in a stroke of their designers' genius, video games have managed to ENGAGE and MOTIVATE kids in a way that instructors in their schools and bosses at their jobs have never been able to. Go ask my little brother what's more important to him, his next 10 point math quiz or 100 imaginary gold pieces in his game's local currency? Video games punish us mildly for our flaws while rewarding us immensley and immediately for our achievements. Unfortunately, all those gold pieces and magical sets of armor instantly dissolve into static with the gentle push of a power button.