More than 20 years have passed since the release of the first games, but scientists, various committees and just moralists are still trying to convince people that games are harmful and all the troubles come from them.
Children draw a lot of cruelty from them and do not learn anything new, they lose precious time from their lives that no one will make up for and other arguments that this organization cites.
In fact, the gaming industry has a number of serious differences and advantages, and addiction problems are more of a temporary phenomenon that ends as soon as a person goes through a difficult life stage and not every gamer is addicted to games.
He can safely play FIFA 23, buy fut coins and spend a whole month on it, and then exit the game and never enter it again.
While for other players it may be a more serious infatuation that needs to be addressed if there are signs of a real addiction that outgrows a simple infatuation.
In this guide, we will try to list all the main pros and cons of the gaming industry and determine what is the difference between addiction and passion when it comes to computer games.
Advantages of computer games
Games are as much an entertainment industry as films, theaters and books, which carry an exclusively entertaining message than other forms that various committees so love to argue.
The main advantages of online games:
- They have a relaxing effect – no matter what games a person prefers to play. Even the most cruel forms are just a way to relax the psyche in one of the forms, and a gamer can simply test one of the scenarios of behavior that he cannot afford in society, and if such behavior does not go beyond games, then you should not worry.
- Games train vision – there is an old trick for eye muscle tone and this exercise is closer, middle distance, farther. You need to focus your attention on near objects, at short distances and at long distances. Most games have the location of objects and enemies at different distances, which gives a constant training of the eyes in a playful and inconspicuous way.
- Games allow you to adapt in society – not every child and adult has harmony with himself and society, and can often hide from other people in various games. If you play social projects like World of Warcraft, where all the gameplay and the most interesting episodes require communication with other players, then gradually you will begin to communicate and remove the barriers of constraint, gradually transferring the accumulated experience to the real world.
- Reaction is an important life skill that can and should be developed mechanically. The reaction is not only a timely attention to a change in the situation, but also the correct and, most importantly, quick decision-making to change what is happening. Most games require you to react to events as quickly as possible, and survival and further passage will depend on their outcome. Gradually, the level of difficulty will increase, and with it your general reaction skill, which will be applied in real life – it develops especially actively in competitive shooters.
Cons of computer games
Games can also be harmful to health and mental state, but each case must be considered separately and decided with a psychologist if the situation cannot be helped and the person is already too deeply rooted in games, replacing reality with them.
Since the gaming industry is entertainment, and not a replacement for real life, decisions and actions must be taken in this format.
The main disadvantages of the gaming industry:
They can take too much time – it’s worth remembering that if a player replaces reality with a fictional world, then there are social aspects or life experiences that brought him into this state and now there are two potential outcomes – either the gamer just plays enough, returning to reality and leaves games as a hobby, or the situation worsens and then you need to seek psychological help. Aggravation can be understood as harm to health – sacrificing sleep, poor nutrition, unwillingness to go out.
As you have already understood, the main idea of this chapter is that each case must be considered separately and good games are created with an eye on the long passage and you should not sound the alarm until you really see signs of dependence on a simple hobby and the desire to just go through the game to its final.
Passion vs Addiction
Passion is a healthy attitude towards everything new and interesting, and a desire to learn and absorb new knowledge and master it before moving on to something new.
There are ingenious projects in the gaming industry that take days and months to complete and are comparable to the world’s masterpieces of cinema and book authorship. A good example is The Witcher 3 – an adaptation of the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, or rather a continuation of his completed Witcher saga and the developers’ interpretation of potentially further events.
Players have spent and continue to spend a lot of time on the passage of such an interesting project, where there is a full choice of events and outcome depending on the situation and the decisions made.
Let’s look at an example of dependence and passion on this project.
The addicted player will play sacrificing sleep, food, physical activity and may even miss work.
An enthusiastic player will take care of their health, eat well, sleep well, but completely dedicate themselves to the game for a long period of time, but once they pass it, complete the main and additional storylines, complete quests and explore territories, they will simply exit the game and return to normal life – and such players are the majority, just many of them may neglect one of the listed points of their health, but this does not make him addicted, at least not at this stage.
Conclusions
Addicted players are gamers who are completely out of touch with reality and replace their real world with a fictional one – such people need qualified psychological help and an analysis of all the factors and details that led to such a situation.
Most gamers are quite mentally healthy people who simply tend to get carried away with game worlds like a good movie or book, and it’s not worth dramatizing the gaming industry a lot, just because many accusers simply don’t even allow themselves to try this genre, due to limitations, or personal experiences, as well as attempts to shift more global things to games, as a niche they don’t understand.
Just play for your own pleasure, but do not replace your reality with game worlds – it is much more interesting than any even the most interesting game and treat gaming only as a hobby.
