"Reality" Response

I enjoy an escape from the pressures of our day-to-day lives as much as the next person.  I am a TV and movie junkie and I indulge in playing the Wii and online games like Solitaire or Bejeweled.  However, I feel that there must be a balance between life and gaming.  I consider it an addiction when you spend more time plugged in to the virtual world playing games to the point where it affects your job or home life. That said, I do think that there is a slight difference to online gamers and console gamers.

I think that to offer the idea that the "gamer reality" is more motivating than the real world is false.  Maybe this is because I don't play MMGs like World of Warcraft, but I like being in the real world and interacting with real people.  I do agree that games are a good escape and distraction from some of the hard realities we face, but when you spend 40+ hours a week dedicated to game play, i think you have an addiction.  I disagree with her opinion that gaming fulfills genuine human needs; if anything it gives people a false sense of reality of the reality that they think they have.  Meaning that people have all of these friends and connections in the virtual game world but then what happens in the real world? how do they react?

I do like her concepts of games and rules and how having rules that put limits on how to achieve your goal allows for creative thinking.  I also agree that games do add fun to life and can enhance the values of teamwork and creativeness and learning however I feel that this doesn't necessarily apply to virtual gaming.  And again I suppose I feel this way because I don't play W.o.W or have a Second Life so I can say that I don't really understand them but I do agree that games add more than just an escape.  On page 33, Tal Ben-Shahar says "We're much more happier enlivening time rather than killing time" and I think this drives home the point that we like being productive and I think that this slightly contradicts virtual gaming.  For instance, games like puzzles, help with mental stimulation and i support her opinion in that games are important but when she stated that people dedicated practically a work week to playing that seems more like a waste of time rather than enlivening time.