The Collegian

Though Internet games have never really been "our thing",we hadn't realized how often people play and how serious it is to certain individuals. After doing some research, it appears family, children, and jobs have been neglected all for the sake of a game.

Games like World of Warcraft, Madden, and Call of Duty, just to name a few, have caused many to lose their jobs, file for divorce, and even give up on their social lives. That is, providing they had a social life to begin with. Harsh, we know, but it's a sad truth.

Multi-player gaming allows gamers to be connected via networking to an entirely new world, which also allows them to make friends and connections all over the globe through a game. Not a bad set up when you think about it.

However, 1up.com has declared that the number of online gamers has risen steadily since the start of our nation's lovely recession, mostly since 2006. This is not a surprising trend in our opinion, just slightly disheartening.

Many people are under the impression that it's strictly males who are under the grips of gaming, but they are wrong. According to Educational Games Research Online, the male to female gamer ratio is at 60/40. Technically, that still gives the men a leg-up, but women over eighteen make up a larger percentage of gamers than boys under the ages of seventeen. So essentially, lady gamers are on the rise.

For some people, this gaming problem is slowing making its way to the surface and is being presented with consequences such as parental interventions and therapy. Often, parents are forced to take away the gaming systems they themselves gave to their children and are literally pushing their children outside to get sunlight.

Now don't get us wrong, not everyone who games is spiraling out of control and doomed for failure. Many people who game know how to balance their real lives with their virtual ones, while not hurting their loved ones around them or neglecting jobs and responsibilities in the process. These people are commonly known as "multi-taskers".

The extent of this problem is not limited to Americans, countries in Europe and Asia are also experiencing difficulties with online gaming. For example, China once used electroshock therapy for Internet addicted gamers. Hopefully the United States won't turn to this highly unusual and exceedingly cruel form of "therapy", but we can't say we would be totally surprised if it did occur.

In the end, we honestly believe that anything in excess can negatively affect ones life. Right now it's gaming, and tomorrow it could be scrapbooking, who knows? Whatever the case, the world needs to be able to balance actual reality with virtual reality.

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