Hiding in a computer game? Computer games are a great place to escape. It’s what makes them fun. Quite similar to reading a good book, actually. Although you don’t hear about to many people addicted to books.

The thing is, computer games are hella-fun. It’s also easy to get lost in them. This site is about helping people to find some kind of balance with computer games. It’s an individual thing, that each gamer needs to figure out for themselves.

This may be more of a counter question than a reply, but I’m curious Bill as to how you feel about communities like Second Life? On one hand, I feel like it’s all too easy to say that our baseline for ‘balanced’ and ‘normal’ is along the lines of healthy social interaction, being able to function in daily life, etc. Then on the other, I wonder what really is a valid or invalid form of a balanced life. Bit of a philisophical thing I know, do think it’s possible to make a case for someone actual leading a more social life having found a community (despite its immediate visible artifice [or is it truly artificial??]) in being involved in a simulated game/life mimic world?

This may be more of a counter question than a reply, but I’m curious Bill as to how you feel about communities like Second Life? On one hand, I feel like it’s all too easy to say that our baseline for ‘balanced’ and ‘normal’ is along the lines of healthy social interaction, being able to function in daily life, etc. Then on the other, I wonder what really is a valid or invalid form of a balanced life. Bit of a philisophical thing I know, do think it’s possible to make a case for someone actual leading a more social life having found a community (despite its immediate visible artifice [or is it truly artificial??]) in being involved in a simulated game/life mimic world?

Your question goes to the heart of what is new about social interaction in 2009. Simply put, we didn’t have ANYTHING like virtual worlds twenty years ago. Virtual worlds are getting more massive, more rich, and more immersive. I’ve formed meaningful relationships in virtual spaces, but they have a different quality than my real relationships.

To directly answer your question, I think places like second life are secondary social interactions.  I don’t think an hour in second life equates with an hour in meatspace.

I think people can genuinely connect in virtual worlds, but it’s not the same thing.  I don’t mean to be crass, but we can look at sex as an example; virtual sex is very different than real sex. Or eating a meal with someone is different virtually than real world (I’ve had virtual dinners!).

So, in the spirit of being balanced about computer games and computer game playing, we need to understand that there’s actually nothing wrong with virtual worlds - there’s a lot of good stuff about them. Things become “off” when people forget what is real and what is virtual - or get those 2 things confused in their minds.

Did I answer your question?

YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!

*goes back to the wonderful world of EVE*

I dunno what rock you’ve been hiding under *smirk*, but I’ve known SEVERAL people who would qualify for what I would call some sort of (at least mild) literary addiction… if you don’t find them reading a book, it’s because they’re carrying it to a better, quieter location so they CAN read.

Seriously, though, there are a great many similarities between losing oneself in a good novel and losing oneself in a good computer game, the primary difference being that the latter is fully interactive…

... and now I’ll (re-)introduce this notion:

We are on the brink of fully interactive 3-D movies… I don’t know what specific format it will emerge in, but it will be an interconnection (somewhat like cross-breeding closely related animals) between the dynamic virtual world concept of graphical computer gaming and the static virtual world of a fixed story ala the movie theater. One obvious link point (if it had been a snake it would have already bitten you) has already been used in some TV commercials and a few movies, wherein the actor/actress puts on all the skin sensors and plays their part… while the computer generates a (better than was done in the movie Heavy Metal) lifelike cartoon image of that person. Roll this cart over next to the one which has the holographic monitor demo on display (right next to the holographic goggles) and you’re less than a stone’s throw away from the holodeck on Star Trek The Next Generation.

So, if you’re concerned about “immersion addiction” (that’s what this is, whether it’s in books, flatscreen games, or holographic simulations) NOW, just wait til the REALLY good stuff hits the market.