Internet-Obsessed Couple Let Kids Starve

[Kevin]

[Kevin]

[cmoon]

[Kevin]

yes, but I also ask, are more videogames now designed to force you to sit there forever just to play? It seems to be, I remember growing up with Sega Genesis, and I could play a videogame for 2 hours, and then turn it off. I'd either win the game or die by that time.

But nowdays, any videogame I pick up requires me to sit at the computer fo 8 hours straight just to do 1 simple quest!

Yes, videogames can be addictive, an no, I am not denying child neglect, but I wonder is the situation is made worse by newer videogames!

I am thinking of cancelling my WoW account because it's impossible for me to do anything without sitting at the computer for 2 hours to get a group together to take 4-5 more hours to run a dungeon. I do not think I am addicted I hope not! But even then, I know I would spend much less time playing this stupid videogame if I didn't have to sit at the computer for HOURS and HOURS just to complete 1 simple dungeon.

There are no save spots either.

I think also that videogame programmers make games longer and cause more problems for people like me who don't always care to sit down for forever just to play a simple stupid game to have fun.


These parents though, they are not parents, they are horrible people.

I cannot stand child abuse. It makes me so angry. If I had the Force I'd go over to the darkside from killing these people.

Makes me so angry...

...and so very sad

[cmoon]

Personally I think your blame is wrongly pointed at video games. You are right in stating that many of us grew up on video games which were essentially arcade style and were essentially short and skill-based, but RPGs actually preceded all but the earliest video games (mid 70's?) and these were as much time sinks as any video game today. The real difference as that RPGs involved multiple people, but even by the early 80's there were computer RPGs which might take dozens of hours to finish (Wizardry anyone? Ultima?)

I'm not ready to condemn the whole video game industry, nor do I think the 'time-sink' style of gameplay is particularly new (its certainly as old as the first consoles/home computers).

And then there's the whole issue of whether those kinds of games are to blame at all. Online worlds/rpgs etc. are clearly the most addictive (I had to quit this business in the mid-90's) because I found them too addictive, but that's what free choice is about.

If parents are bad enough to forget their kids for video games, they're clearly bad parents. I wouldn't blame video games for this.

[Potato]

I'm scared now.

[Kevin]

oh I am not blaming videogames for what these people did.

But I also think the industry has changed so much.

It is not just RPGs that become time sinks. Have you tried to play any of the new sonic games? It takes me forever to play them!

omg I do not like what videogames have become

I also do not like the mentality of addiction that is so easy to develop and left unchecked as it is, it is ruining lives.

PEOPLE MUST TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR LIVES!

[putrocca]

Yes, videogames are in many ways the easiest "nerd" activity to fall into and wind up wasting lots of time. Watching or reading things, even tabletop gaming, can't eat as much time because they're much more finite, while videogames are designed to take as much time to play as possible. I like them, but I have two dear friends whom I have watched degenerate since they got married so now it's impossible to talk to them for 10 minutes without them wanting to tell you about the latest videogame they're playing. Now with me it would be 10 minutes before I wanted to tell you about the latest Tezuka manga, but at least I would let the topic move on afterwards. It's a tricky thing; the important thing, I think, is if you have friends that that seems to be happening to, to keep inviting them to other activities.

[Potato]

[cmoon]

[Potato]

[Kevin]

[cmoon]

[strobe_z]

[putrocca]