People nowadays spend more hours playing video games than watching TV. This includes watching sporting events. Women are catching up with men on video gaming hours per week.
You’ve probably heard that video games are too attractive. People who play them are often accused of being unable to appropriately manage their time. Yet, most people have trouble managing most aspects of their lives:
How long should we stay at work every day?
How thoroughly should we clean our houses?
How severely should we discipline our children?
How many hours per week should we socialize or watch TV?
How many drinks are appropriate during a social engagement?
How much time should I spend fishing, biking, or reading books?
Moderation
Eating too much or too little is much easier than eating moderately. When mistreated, it's easier to lash out or retreat than to properly assert yourself. Healthy assertion is a difficult skill for most people. I don’t drink alcoholic beverages, but I can imagine how difficult it is to know when to stop.
Perhaps one definition of maturity is having the ability to exercise moderation in most areas of our lives.
Video games are art, too
Some video games are so immersive that when playing them, you feel as if you're in a book or movie rather than just reading or watching it. Two examples of immersive video games are Mass Effect and The Last of Us.
Unlike other kinds of art like paintings, books, sculptures, and
movies where you are the spectator, you control the outcome.
That's the most fascinating thing about video games:
You bring your imagination rather than
simply seeing the artist's imagination.
-- Julia Gabel
Watch this video showing the beginning scene of Mass Effect. It's a far cry from Pac-Man. Its editing, cinematography, musical score, and overall feel are every bit as good as the typical modern movie. Yet, for this story, you fill the central role. You determine by your judgment and skill who lives or dies.
No commercials
Purchased video games provide no annoying, disruptive, or insulting commercials that pop up just when the story gets interesting. I abhor commercials. I realize they serve a purpose, but I would rather rent a Blu-ray movie or pay for an online streaming service like Netflix or Amazon Prime than endure commercials. I have not watched a minute of commercial TV in twenty years, primarily because of its intolerable commercials. However, the problem I'm having now is that both Netflix and Amazon Prime are now showing commercials.
Honorable attractions of video gaming
Are there noble and healthy attributes of video gaming? Most modern video games have at their core a number of principles that should be better taught and understood today. Below is a list of reasons why video gaming can be attractive to good people:
Order – Responsible organizations and people are orderly. Order is a virtue. Order provides expectation, which fosters motivation, assuming the organization is honorable.
Hope – Hope is a confident expectation. Principled societies provide hope to their members by letting them know what is expected of them and what they can achieve if they complete certain requirements. Hope promotes focus on the future vs. the past.
Agency – Agency requires informed choices and knowledge of the consequences of choices. When I know what will come of my actions, I will be better able to choose properly.
Consistency – Video games dispense the same consequences whether the player is tired, sad, happy, rich, or poor. Yet, people of all demographics keep playing them without getting their feelings hurt. There is a lesson here for nearly all politicians. Once principles and skills are learned, they must be practiced consistently before mastering them. Children fare much better in households where parents consistently enforce rules.
Accomplishment – Overcoming obstacles and solving problems is healthy and provides an increased sense of self-worth.
Investment – Put off spending resources on less important possessions in order to invest in greater assets and abilities later on.
The Law of the Harvest states that you reap what you sow and get out what you put into something. Modern cultures need to emphasize these principles more often.
Compartmentalization – There is no such thing as multitasking. Read any rigorous study on multitasking, and you will find that more work is done when you focus on only one thing at a time. Having a long attention span is a blessing for anyone.
Wisdom – Life rewards the wise over the foolish. Wise choices, on average, produce superior outcomes. We need more examples of wise choices in our lives.
Power – Honorable power used wisely blesses all people.
If people extend what they learn from video games into their lives, the world would be better. People would,
Stop blaming.
Pause and think before acting.
Focus on solving problems instead of complaining.
Want to know the rules and abide by them for their benefit.
Have greater respect for choice and take greater care in making decisions.
Postpone immediate gratification for better possessions and properties later on.
Realize they have power within themselves to do good if they learn true principles.
Provide clear, discernible, orderly systems within their organizations to allow its members to advance.
If people wisely exercised proper and clear principles in their personal lives and within orderly systems, their lives would be significantly better.
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