What is too much?

Being a video game enthusiast, I often feel defensive about how much time I spend playing video games. I honestly spend about an hour, maybe two a day, depending on how much homework I have and what else I’ve got going on. Some say any video game time is a waste, while others love playing for upwards of 6+ hours a day, so what is too much time spent on video games?

For those who don’t play many video games, the question is why would someone spend so much time on a game? The arguments about people escaping their lives and forming fantasy lives instead of real ones have all been explored, but I think part of it also has to do with the games themselves. Nutritionists talk about portion control and how restaurants serve massive amounts of food, thus making it hard to put down the fork. The same can be said for video games. Some games like Skyrim can have over 100 hours of gameplay. Between long missions, side quests, and just plain goofing around in massive game worlds, it’s hard to feel any sense of accomplishment, even after the credits roll. Other games like World of Warcraft come out with one expansion after another, expanding the gameplay even further. The fact that these games are just plain fun combine to make putting down the controller a huge challenge.

But why pick up a game then, if they’re so addictive? Rumors of people in other countries collapsing at their computers from malnutrition are accurate, and people in America have been known to lose jobs, destroy marriages, and even injure children due to neglect because the parents were too busy playing to take care of their children’s needs. These occurrences are extreme rarities, some only happening less than once a year, and varied throughout the country. Violence in children or anyone else has never been positively linked to video games, and has in fact been proven to provide cathartic release to those in high stress situations.

The real problems come when one overindulges. As the church says, participating in any activity to the exclusion of family and God is unhealthy. The idea for me is moderation in all things. Video games are fun, not in excess. I usually have one game I work on a piece at a time, a level or a quest or whatever, and I play about an hour a time, then an hour of chores or homework or whatever else needs to be done for an hour, then doing something fun for another hour, maybe a video game or something else, just whatever is fun to relax, then I do it again. I also try to add other people to my gaming, beyond just online interaction. I have a ton of fun hanging out with someone while one of us plays a video game and we just make fun of how silly these things can be. I love an evening where I have to stop a video game because I’m laughing too hard.

The idea, as I said before, is moderation and incorporating other things and people into your entertainment, as well as making sure that you get everything done before play time. So remember, not everybody who plays video games is an addict, and playing video games doesn’t have to make you an addict.

-JOE