In Daryl Paranada’s excerpt from his book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Paranada talks about the increasing number of gamers around the world, and the large amounts of time spent playing games and analyzes why its not all necessarily a negative trend. He argues because of this growing trend, the ways people socialize and behave in the physical world in general will see a significant change as people become more comfortable with online video games and gaming in general. He describes this new wave as
The exodus of these
people from the real world, from our normal daily life, will
create a change in social climate that makes global warming
look like a tempest in a teacup.
–edward castronova,
Exodus to the Virtual World1
Gamers have had enough of reality.
They are abandoning it in droves–a few hours here, an entire
weekend there, sometimes every spare minute of every day for stretches
at a time–in favor of simulated environments and online games. Maybe you
are one of these gamers. If not, then you definitely know some of them.
These gamers he talks about are your average people with jobs, families and other responsibilities but use online video games to fill a void that the physical world may leave them. I can attest to this because I used to play a lot of video games and its the sense of not being limited by the rules of the physical world and in a way living out your imagination without any consequences. There are also rewards you get for completing certain goals and its the sense of accomplishment that keeps people coming back for more.
The number of gamers is increasing also due to the use of mobile devices where games are more accessible and there is a lot of profit in the industry as it is an estimated $68 billion industry.
I think games like any other form of entertainment is just a way for people to escape the stresses of the real world. Video games are just one outlet to do this, movies, books, art and more are another form that people take to escape and entertain themselves, but the stigma that comes with movies and books is more accepted and not considered a waste of time like playing video games. That being said, do you think video games will every be accepted as a form of art and not a waste of time?
I agree with you that the stigma that comes with watching films or reading books is more accepted. I was actually part of the group of people that considered video gaming a waste of time. I never saw it as a way to improve reality, which is the way people need to see it, rather than an escape from it. I do believe that video games will become accepted, like many other things, it will just take some time for people to come around and see the beneficial side of video gaming.