Internet Gaming Addiction Essay

Computer games are software which developed with an interesting plot, amazing graphics and unreal concepts which you may only see in those games, fantasy movies or animated movies. There are many types of computer games. There are some games that are really addictive making players unhappy if they were offered just a nick of time for playing. Some computer games drive and put the player at the highest level of eagerness to finish the game and wait for the next version. These games are addicting for only a short period of time, and stops after finishing it. The bad thing here is when the player starts to look for another game similar to his previous game. This surely is a sign of addiction. These computer games have characteristics that may or may not be experienced in real life. The difference of these games from the real world is that it makes the user do virtual things that people don’t do in real life. These games are designed to entertain people and one of its objectives is to make people hooked to it. If there are more people hooked, then the producers of the games get more profit. How did these games appeal to the people? Some games may not have done its objective but there are some that greatly caught the attention and time of the people who played it. Another thing is that these games offer competition. It is the same competition that we experience in real life. If the player performs well over the other players in the game, he feels satisfaction. In order to stand among the rest, a player needs to play hard or devote more time. It is just like when we want to standout in class, we have to study harder or when we like to be the most outstanding player in our favorite sports, we have to practice more. A person gets satisfaction after achieving something that he or she wants. This achievement is easy to acquire in computer games as compared to real life. You just sit down, run the game, and enjoy yourself while achieving your goals. However, computer games are far from our real world. You may relate to them, but the real thing is really different. Sometimes, the things that happen to your character in a role playing game may resemble the exact opposite of what is happening to yourself. When your character in the game gets richer, it does not follow that it could happen to the real you. Actually, it does the other thing – you become poorer. Getting addicted to these computer games may be enjoyable but there are serious consequences. Addiction always leads to negative effects. It renders a person irresponsible and makes him forget more important things he should do, and worse, people who are close to him. Sometimes life itself could be just thrown away like a disposable item. A South Korean man was reported dead after playing online game continuously. The death was caused by heart failure due to exhaustion, lack of sleep, and not eating enough (BBC News, 2005). Not sleeping or lack of sleep leads to failure or weakens the capability of our body to resist sickness. And gamers always force themselves to play up to the point that they even lose the time for sleeping. If normal people who lack sleep do not feel good sometimes, then this fact also applies to the gamers. Playing computer games is not for free. It uses electricity, some needs Internet connection, and sometimes you have to pay the game servers to play their online game. Living our daily lives is not for free either. We need resources to support our needs. We need to work to earn resources. Lucky are those teenagers supported by their parents. And obviously those parents will not support for addiction to computer games. It is also a reality that we may earn money from playing games because there are things in a computer game especially in online games that can be traded off with real money. But this money is not enough to support our needs. Addiction to computer games, generally, will not do good effects to the people. If you want to play computer games, you can play them. But be sure to remember not to fall on its trap on becoming addict to it. It has never been good to be an addict on computer games or anything. The only problem is, sometimes, you tend to ignore things because it is being blocked by something attractive or enjoyable. Being responsible is the key to avoid addiction. You better think of yourself, your family and your future. Do not let yourself get entangled in the roots of addiction. You should balance all the things that you do. Do not forget to be happy or do necessary things for your own life. You should know and set priorities in life. You should ask yourself what is important. Think critically, responsibly and do not stop with that. Whatever might be the result of that thinking, carry that on. Just plant in your mind that being an addict to whatever is not good. References: BBC News. 2005. S Korean dies after games session. Retrieved May 1, 2007. http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/technology/4137782. stm.