Betty Ford for Gamers
The BBC reports that another has opened in the Netherlands. From the article:"I lived in my room. I have 4 televisions around me, with one X-Box 360, PlayStation 2, X-Box 1 and a Game Cube and a lap-top, where I can play online games," said Tim, a 21 year old who has received treatment at the clinic.
Tim played games for up to 17 hours a day.
"I have no social life, I have no friends - only cyber-friends"
There's no doubt that much of what the "language of videogames", as popularized recently by David Jaffe's blog post earlier, feeds the compulsiveness of gamers. Games reward you for being OCD, for playing long hours, for repetitive behavior. But again I protest the idea that "cyberfriends" are somehow not "real". I'm not sure that meetings in the flesh make friendships and relationships more meaningful. In fact I'm sure they don't. That's not to say that a cyber-relationship is the same as a physical one, because I think they're very different. But we all have many different kinds of friendships, all of which are valuable, some of which happen nearly entirely online.
So, people probably shouldn't play games for 36 hours straight; but I say they should feel free to count their fellow-gamer compatriots as friends, as real as anyone.
Posted by jane at July 18, 2006 12:33 PM
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36hrs is alot of time. I don't want to do anything for 36 constant hours. Before I was in my car accident I didn't game all that much. After my car accident I was forced to spend time doing something so gaming was an easy fill in. Since my recovery I go on a gaming bender on the weekend once and a while but 36hrs, I think I would go crazy.
The funny thing is I don't want a social life. People only annoy me. Ever since my girlfriend dumped me:( I've been a terribly anti social man. I prefer to be alone. People only cause you pain in the long run. I just don't know anymore if I want to allow myself to be subjected to pain. So I stay in on a Friday and play games.
People=shit.
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