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A buddy of mine plays a popular MMORPG ( massively multiplayer online role-playing game ) nearly 24/7. He's been doing this for over a year. During this time he's gained weight, his grades have fallen significantly, and his social life is in ruins. His justification is that he's developing meaningful relationships on the internet with people from all over the world. He would argue that the relationships he's developing in his virtual world will help him deal with people in real life. But are those online relationships real?
I would argue that they are not. Will his virtual friends be there for him when his car breaks down and he needs a ride at 1 A.M. ? Will his virtual friends go out with him for a burger and a drink on Friday nights? Is his virtual girlfriend really anything deeper than a glorified pen pal?
What about his relationships with women? Part of developing your personality and character involves social interaction with members of the opposite sex. People need to date, fall in love, and have their hearts broken. This process enables both men and woman to mature and to figure out what their likes and dislikes are. You need to learn through experience what types of people you're compatible with.
Some gamers would argue that the people that lock themselves in their rooms and play games 24/7 are a small minority. They would argue that most gamers limit themselves to playing only a few hours a week and that they lead rich lives outside of their game worlds. They would state that those addicted to MMORPG's are a small minority.
But is that really the truth? MMORPG's are designed to reward people for investing time into the game. Playing more enables them to rise to higher levels and gain better equipment. At the highest levels "Raids" take place where groups of players attempt to take out high level boss monsters. These raids can take many hours to complete.
There was a popular story published recently about a group of Final Fantasy Online players that spent 18 hours attempting to defeat a boss monster. They finally gave up when members of the group began to get physically ill in real life. Eighteen hours of playing a game non-stop! Does that sound healthy to you?
Players in most MMORPG's must devote significant amounts of time to rise to the highest levels. Imagine if you spent all of those hours learning a skill, or studying for a degree? I know someone that spent over 700 hours in six months playing an MMORPG. That's over 29 DAYS of playing a video game. Imagine if he'd spent those 700 hours playing a musical instrument, learning a programming language, or writing a novel? There are a lot of very worthwhile skills that you could master if you spent 700 hours doing them.
My advice to young people would be to stay away from online games that require huge investments of time in order to accomplish anything worthwhile in the game. Instead use that time to better yourself and enrich your life. Get out there and meet interesting people, develop a rich social life, and date!
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Friday, September 12, 2008 View other articles written by Cordell Wallace(117)
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