Oneline gaming, how far will things go until there are laws regulating it?

[SuperCyrix]

I was thinking about the recent news where this kid died from spending 10 hours everyday playing games online and a few things occured to me.

1.) There's alot more people like him whose completely absorbed into a virtual world created by games such as D2, everquest, Ultima online.

2.) People are willing to spend thousands of dollars on ebay for these virtual items so these games must be very serious to them

3.) In these online games, you can develope a personality seperate from real life. You can be a total geek in real life and still be the most popular online. Heck, just look at all the clans out there.

4.) As these vitual world becomes better and better, it will be easier and easier for people to become completely absorbed into them. Just like at World of Warcraft. You can personalize a character and interact with hundreds and thounsands of people from around the world in this vast virtual environment. Heck, it's like living in another word. Isn't this the same as drug? Escaping reality for something that's not really there?

I wonder how long it will be before another person let a game take over their life and pull a gun to his head when everything falls apart.

 

[Kelvrick]

Hmm... I'm a recovering Game addict. After years of Starcraft and Counter-strike, I've finally grown bored with them. I don't even like War3 that much. I only play every once in a while to prove I can still whoop my friends' butt's.

I figure if people will blow their brains out because they lost an ultra mega super rare item won't be able to function corrently in society. Get them outo f the gene pool I say.

 

[ElFenix]

it hasn't harmed enough people yet. there aren't even regulations on grotesquely violent games yet, something that is about elves prancing around in the woods bloodlessly killing things is way under the radar.

 

[Linflas]

<< I was thinking about the recent news where this kid died from spending 10 hours everyday playing games online and a few things occured to me. >>


He died because he took action to kill himself period. I have spent over 10 hours online in one day gaming and am still breathing, functioning, and paying my mortgage. Never once have the little pixels managed to leap out of the monitor and harm me in any way.

 

[SuperCyrix]

<< I have spent over 10 hours online in one day gaming and am still breathing, functioning, and paying my mortgage. Never once have the little pixels managed to leap out of the monitor and harm me in any way. >>



But there must be alot of people who spend 10 hours everyday online gaming. World of Warcraft is by far the most complicated online game ever created and the virtual environment is absolutely stunning. I think it's very possible that alot of people will assume the identity of the character they create and choose to live that life. Something like this has the potential of being 10X more addictive than any internet chat forum because you can now take physical form in a very realistic world. I think alot of wierd stuff are going to happen in the future.

 

[Fausto]

Um, I hate to break this to you but if you polled the wives of America and asked what the bane of their existence is, I'm guessing they'd say "golf" before they said "Warcraft". It can cost a ton ($400 for a driver, $1000+ for clubs, $50+ per round), and I know people who would play every single day if they could.

Besides, the kid who offed himself likely didn't do it as a result of the games (there was a whole thread on this). The endless gaming was just a symptom of underlying mental problems that eventually led to the suicide. It's just easier for his mom to blame it on the game rather than her own unwillingness to recognize her son's problems and try to get help for him.

Fausto

 

[LuNoTiCK]

People choose what they do. They can get off the game if they want, if they want to be stupid about it let them be. Why do we need rules and regulations?

 

[Electric Amish]

Why does it need to be regulated??

amish

 

[LaBang]

What? The should start jailing and fining people for games? That would be like jailing people for smoking pot when they get home from work! The government shouldn't protect people from themselves. Let freedom ring!

 

[Lithium381]

<<

<< I was thinking about the recent news where this kid died from spending 10 hours everyday playing games online and a few things occured to me. >>


He died because he took action to kill himself period. I have spent over 10 hours online in one day gaming and am still breathing, functioning, and paying my mortgage. Never once have the little pixels managed to leap out of the monitor and harm me in any way. >>



the only thing that games have ever hurt me in are grades

 

[slickcat]

Laws regulating video games? Do you need a law to tell you when to go to the bathroom too? The only reason that kid killed himself was because he had a mental problem that didn't get recognized and treated properly. No sane person is going to blow their head off over a video game. I don't think we need the government as a babysitter. If you can't control yourself enough to limit your own gameplay and still function in the real world then you need to seek help and stop playing video games. It's pathetic that people use video games as a scapegoat instead of confronting the real issue which is the persons own problems which are not caused by video games.

 

[Freejack2]

I don't see how I could become addicted to a game. I lose interest in all games after a period of time. Not to mention I'm at best a middling player in fps online games.
On the other hand if I let myself I could become lost in a good book for hours on end.

 

[gopunk]

no, there should be no laws regarding this issue. besides, do we really want those types of people (the type that would kill themselves over a game) around? i know it sounds harsh, but seriously, these people would just find something else to kill themselves over.

 

[FiddelStyckz]

What that article said to me was not that the games were corrupting his life, it was actually what was helping him.

This is by no means the be-all end-all definitive answer, but in my opinion, this man had serious problems both emotionally and socially. To me, what it looked like was that this game was actually complementing these problems by "making him popular," so to speak...

The game may have actually been keeping him alive. Now, im sure the game wasn't helping his social life, but it's not like he was helping himself.

If hadn't been playing, he would have already died a while ago.

 

[LH]

<< World of Warcraft is by far the most complicated online game ever created and the virtual environment is absolutely stunning. >>



Hmmm you are either

1. Not informed
2. A Blizzard Fanboi
3. A person that believes anything a PR department says

WoW is NOT the most complicated online game ever created, and its not the first online game where you can personalize your character or interact with 1000s of people. The only reason WoW will sell is because name alone, and even then its a 50/50 chance of selling "well'(well being 500,000, which is extremely good for a MMOG). Face it, its NOT going to have cutting edge graphics or cutting edge gameplay, Blizzard is known for niether, Blizzard has never done anything revolutionary, just evolutionary, they've done it well but, the point remains, WoW will sell on name, not on anything else. Atleast SWG has experianced/revolutionary people behind it at Verant Austin(Koster and Co).