We all know the the warnings about playing video games for long periods at a time without breaks. Seizures may occur after extended play, blackouts from flashing lights and overall terror, ok maybe not the last one but can games really be dangerous or even worse lethal? In the news the past few days have been events that triggered me to write this and get users, who here are the root of the industry, opinion on this problem that may be the next hurdle in the industry.
In the front of every game manual you purchase is a warning, something along the lines of this:
A very small percentage of individuals may experience epileptic seizures when exposed to certain light patterns or flashing lights. Exposure to certain patterns or backgrounds on a television screen or while playing video games,including games played on the PlayStation 2 console, may induce an epileptic seizure in these individuals. Certain conditions may induce previously undetected epileptic symptoms even in persons who have no history of prior
seizures or epilepsy. If you, or anyone in your family, has an epileptic condition, consult your physician prior to playing. If you experience any of the following symptoms while playing a video game—dizziness, altered vision, eye or muscle twitches, loss of awareness, disorientation, any involuntary movement, or convulsions—IMMEDIATELY
discontinue use and consult your physician before resuming play. ~ From a Playstation 2 Manual
Nothing in there does it talk about what happened in my first case to support my thoughts. I saw on the news a few days ago about a boy in Virginia who for whatever reason missed the bus that day for school. No problem, I will just take the parents car today and it will make a quicker trip then usual, right? Well the boy made it around 6 miles, running of the road a few times, passing some other cars before he smoked a bank and took a pole with him. This didn't phase him as he decided to start walking the mile to school. Did I mention to you the kid was 6 years old? When asked where he learned to drive he said GTA IV and Monster Truck Jam. The kids' parents were asleep and are being charged with child endangerment but for what? Letting him play the highly Mature rated GTA or for letting him take a joyride that probably should have killed him. Now who do we blame for this the parents or the kid? He was trying to do the right thing by going to school, but should have known better not to take the parents car. My blame goes directly to the parents. First off, who lets their 6 year old get ready for school while you sleep? Then the other question of how the boy got GTA IV when he is 6 and his brother is 4. Maybe the parents play it but how could you let a child of that age play? In this case the boy was uninjured but he or someone else could have been seriously injured or killed.
That story made me cringe when thinking of how many people were on the same road as this little guy when he was tearing it up through the rural road. My next examples of how games could be dangers, comes from rumors or stories we have heard ever since the creation of MMORPGs. This time the award winning game, World of Warcraft, which has recently reached the 11 million mark for users. You could say it is rather popular. I saw a story out of Ohio about a 17 year old boy who was talking with a WoW staffer and became upset. He then went on to say this: "he was suicidal and that the game is the only thing he has to live for". So the only thing this kid had going for him was his WoW account, is this a sad reality to what may be going on everywhere or is this an isolated incident? Well he learned the hard way as the staff called authorities and he was handcuffed and put in a police car. Now who is to say if his claims were true or not but do games really have these effects on kids? Where are the parents to help this boy? We as parents need to be responsible for our children and need to pay attention to what our kids are playing, just as if they were out in public!
The final example is an older story from not to far from me. It happened in 2001, when I was a senior in High School and the popular MMORPG Everquest was in full swing. Shawn Woolley was hooked on Everquest. His mother talks about how he had some learning disabilities as well as some psychological issues that hurt him in school. He found a refuge on EQ and eventually was involved in some sort of "special relationship" on one of the servers. She also talks about how he eventually quit his job at a pizza place and bought a gun, playing EQ over 12 hours a day, which by todays standards doesn't seem an extreme amount. When she went to pick him up for the family Thanksgiving she found the door locked where she found Shawn dead of a lethal gun shot wound. She found him sitting at his computer desk with the game still playing where he had created an account named "ILUVYOU". For whatever reason he became so engrossed the game and his relationship whatever it was he decided to take his life.
Now these three examples show extreme cases of how games can really alter how we approach life. But everyday cases occur daily in many places throughout the world. I love video games and have been playing them for many years. I don't want to come out and say games are dangerous but we need to take some responsibility for what us and our kids are playing. Many of us Gamespotters take our games very serious and even to the next level of casual gamers. Seeing that is part of our life, we choose to take a responsible way of playing games.
If you or someone you know is having trouble with games, either addicted or playing games they shouldn't please get them some help. It may sound cheesy but it may save their life or someone elses.
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