Teenage zombies
January 4th, 2008The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore writes about how video games have turned his kids into mindless zombies.
The trouble began last summer when my sons started spending virtually every unsupervised hour camped out in front of the computer screen engaged in multiplayer role games like World of Warcraft and Counterstrike. At the start of this craze, I wrote it off as merely a normal phase of adolescence. I was confident that, at 14 and 16, they would soon be more interested in chasing real-life girls than virtual video hoodlums.
Boy, was I wrong. Their compulsion became steadily more destructive. They grew increasingly withdrawn, walking around like the zombies from “Night of the Living Dead.” Unless I pried them (forcibly) from the computer, they would spend five or six hours at a time absorbed in these online fantasy worlds. My wife tried to calm me down by observing that “at least they’re not out having sex or doing drugs.” But how would that be any worse?
Speaking of addictive games, anyone play(ed) Civ III?
But I am pleading that parents take this social problem seriously and intervene, as my wife and I wish we had done much earlier.
So what’s stopping him from doing that now? He cites that pulling the computer entirely could have an impact on schoolwork - so be it; actions have consequences and they abused their computer time.
The other day we saw a kid at church, in a semi-trance, going down the aisle to Holy Communion while clicking on a hand-held Game Boy.
Did this child’s parents lack two hands and/or opposable thumbs? Or did they just lack the nerve to grab the GameBoy from the kid and deal with the impending wailing and teeth-gnashing?
I’m not a parent (yet), but I do have this one insight in to children of all ages - they will keep doing something that pleases them, however detrimental it might be, until the parent steps in to stop it.
Laz -
I’ve heard some good things about Civ III, but I’ve never played it. I take it you recommend it?
Laz,
Yes! Sid Meier’s Civ games are incredibly addictive. I’d have three or four campaigns going at any given time. Broke free a couple of years ago.
Never did play Civ IV though. Was it as good as III?
Civ III is digital crack, and I broke free about a year and a half ago.
Had an inkling to hit the sticks once again over the holiday but abstained.
Leland, I heard Civ IV was far more addictive than III, I shudder to think as to what makes it more addictive…
Yes Tim I’d recommend it if one does not have a family and/or lots and lots of time to burn.
As for time to burn, if Piper is dead on that should disqualify every true Christian, no?
Hate to sound so dogmatic (Pipermatic?) but can this type of game be enjoyed unless one pours tons of hours into it?
Is investing time in Call to Duty 4 or Civ III any worse than engaging in diatribes with Cineaste here at Tim’s blog?
I use to spend 4 to 6 hours a day playing video games then I got married and started hunting and blowing up household appliances.
Speaking of addicting games, anybody ever play Age of Empires?
I have, Tim, on both the PC and Nintendo DS. I’m a little more partial to turn-based strategy games as opposed to RTS, which is why I liked the DS version a bit more. Neat series, though; LOTS of history info, too.
Have you played AOE III? If so, what did you think? I’m thinking about getting it.
So I ashamed to say that my six year old has already been bitten by the computer game bug. His favorites (introduced by me of course) are War Craft III, Comand and Conquer Gnerals, and Age of Emipers III. Most recently my mom bought me AOE III for Christmas and I haven’t even been able to play it while Connor man has already beaten half of it.
He’s downstairs now with a toy M1 shooting fanatsy GLA forces, the nefarious terrorist organization of Generals.
Anyway, it actually become a problem. The worst thing is his attitude when told to turn it off. For about twenty minutes after stopping his game he usually pouts on the couch and just can’t fathom how to entertain himself without building a digital army to crush the puny humans or blast the GLA terrorists to smithereans. I know, not exactly the most health form of entertainment for a six year old.
Anyway, he has been limited to 30 minutes of computer time right after school. It seems to be working pretty well. Now if I could just get him to talk about something else when we’re in public.
By the way, AOE III looks pretty cool I couldn’t speak from personal experience though as my wife’s patience for computer games is usually exhausted by Connor.
Tim,
AOE II was an addiction of mine (as was Zoo Tycoon) before Civ III rocked their worlds (and mine)
Starcraft also killed many a study opportunity back in college…
I only played the demo to AOE III - it was pretty cool. My main problem is RTS games require a good chunk of time when you sit down to them, so as my school and work loads increased, I just couldn’t do it. Turn-based became my alternative; I could play 5 or 6 turns of certain games in about 20 to 30 minutes and if I needed to drop it, I could just quicksave and come back later.
Bill - Wow! You nailed it!
I like the the Call of Duty/Medal of Honor series, but COD 4 is rated “M” whereas the other titles are “T”. It matters to us and so we will abstain from 4.
Bill: absolutely not.
On the subject of turn-based strategy games, I thought Nintendo’s hand-held “Advance Wars” series was addictive in its gameplay and strangely delightful in its presentation.
But I can absolutely agree that gaming can be addictive, and it’s not just the large multiplayer RPG’s: a simple game like Tetris or an online version of Sudoku can be similarly addictive even if the life cycle of addiction is shorter. Seeing the importance of real life can help, as can seeing how real life can be as enjoyable as a game: the Sims are a simulation of real life, why not treat real life a little like the greatest iteration of the Sims?
But humans crave games and will always crave games. The best we can do is to enjoy games in moderation and to seek out those games that exercise the body (i.e., sports) or are real delights in exercising the mind and one’s relationships with those around you.
I’m still trying to find the perfect card game that can last me a lifetime — as much as I like Spades, I suspect I should try once again to learn Contract Bridge — but there are two board games that I suspect will be my life-long joys.
Chess. And Settlers of Catan.
I preordered my copy of Advance Wars: Days of Ruins yesterday. It drops on 1/21.
How does God get the glory by kids becoming zombies? That’s something to think about.
I used to play video games a lot growing up. I lived for atari 2600 and c-64 games when they first came out. I’ve spent countless hours playing them. I look back now and wonder if I really learned anything from the time I spent playing them. I learned how to get frustrated and fling the controllers in disgust when the game ripped me off!
I used to long for the days when game graphics would be as good as they are now - and games would be realistic. We’re now at that point and strangely I’m not that interested anymore.
Sure, I like to sort of see what these games are about and I’ll play them when I’m over at a friends house or something. I’m just afraid of getting sucked back into that world of spending hours in front of a game console learning a complex skill that really is not applicable to anything else. These games are so complicated - they can take days to learn, and weeks and months to master.
You know, you look at scripture and you see how precious time is - and how we should be redeeming it - and then you read stories about these ‘zombie’ kids: “Video games have sucked the life out of my kids.” Does sucking the life out of someone sound like God? Is this God’s calling on their life? What spirit is behind this stuff? I don’t want to overly spiritualize this - but I don’t want to ignore the effects either. More from the article: “They ranted and raved and cursed and even threw things–almost as if demons had taken possession of them.”
It really hit me yesterday when I was over at a friends house and we were playing a new game on a ps3. He was showing it to me and I was flat out awed by its beauty and complexity. I thought, “Man, it’ll take someone months to master this!” - as we restarted the game, a logo popped up on the screen - the development company name appeared of “DemonWare“. What do demons have to do with electronics, computers, and programming? What’s up with that name?
I immediately thought of this picture from xxxchurch’s flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxxchurch/352597056/in/datetaken/
… that’s the name of a porn movie label. It’s almost like the Devil is so proud of his handiwork that he’s signing his name to it! I’m not saying that the people that are producing this stuff are the Devil, but scripture says that if we are not for Jesus, we are against Him, and that falls into doing the enemy’s work - and that’s serious stuff.
Is anybody like me in that you feel a sense of urgency these days? What’s happening to our culture? I’ve been trying to stay afloat as our culture is besieged by the free flow of porn. It’s an epidemic. Countless people, families, and ministries are being destroyed daily by it. At the same time, these game systems and the sheer number of games seem to be overcoming us like a flood as well! The effects seem to be unhealthy. Sure, most folks know porn is bad, but what about these games? I thought about the similarities and it’s stunning:
They both are marketed to younger and younger audiences.
They both can be addictive.
They both can result in people spending larger amounts of their time feeding their addiction.
They both can result in people becoming anti-social, with the consumers viewing people as objects, and not real humans with souls.
They both are packaged in colorful, attractive ways (who knows how many hours are just spent on cover boxes alone!)
They both are NOT reality.
I know they are also different in many respects as well - as games are not inherently bad whereas nothing good can ever come from porn - period. I don’t want to broadbrush games. But these effects that are seen in people and the ways the world is propogating this stuff troubles me. How many kids that have these games systems are satisfied with it in that they don’t have to get the next, “latest and greatest” game when it comes out? (Wow - I’m starting to sound like my parents! They said that stuff to me when I was playing atari!) How many people addicted to playboy type stuff are satisfied and never go on into the harder ‘hardcore’ stuff? Sounds like another way that people are filling themselves with stuff that doesn’t satisfy.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He’ll give you the desires of your heart. - Psalm 37:4
That promise beats any video game any day.
I love age of empires and Sim City! I also like the Train simulators. I also like Swat, Rainbow six Vegas is pretty good. Anyone play the Half life 2? That was great game play with and excellent story line. what about the max payne that was good to. I’m now doing the FEAR game trying to finish it as I get my 1 hour a month to play. anyone play Crysis or Bioshock? They are suppose to have stellar graphics?
Survey who prefers PC gaming and Who prefers the console gaming? I myself prefer the PC
To summarize it all up. Too much of something isn’t good. Its all about moderation. This applies to everything in life.
Like cocaine?
Only in its natural state! Any time a substance is altered the rules change. Its all in the book.
Gotta go with PC gaming
Eh, it depends. Love my DS, much easier to lug around than a laptop, it’s just a small screen; PCs do strategy and shooters best; consoles do adventure games, plus you don’t have to worry about system requirements, drivers, etc. I would have to give the slight edge to PCs, though my answer could change tomorrow if asked again.
It just seems as the culture gets darker, the temptations get more attractive.
Tim said:>Like cocaine?
Pornography is now seen as affecting the brain in ways that hard drugs do (now think about the fact that the largest group for viewing porn online is ages 12-17 ; porn is a socially accepted ‘drug’ that we are allowing children to freely partake of). It appears to affect the brain in a unique way (see the “Traffic Control” DVD for more info) - and some folks are saying its addiction characteristics are stronger than cocaine. I wouldn’t be surprised if video games aren’t now being studied in the same way that porn is to see what it does to the brain.
Roger - you’re stretching.
I have a question. If watching internet porn leads to lust/adultery etc. (remember what Jesus said about this) is playing a video game in which you kill others equal to murder?
j razz