Video Games

Let me be the first to say, I'm a fan of video games. I like to sit down in front of the television with nothing but a controller in my hand and the will to survive after a long day of work. There is something primally satisfying about mercilessly slaughtering virtual characters with no real-world consequences. It can work out a lot of aggression and competitiveness. Collecting virtual objects in a make-believe world satisfies the hoarder in me as well. (Seriously, I never get rid of anything if I have enough inventory space, which is definitely the case with my favorite game, Kingdom of Loathing. Google that shit!)

I do, however, have one HUGE pet peeve associated with video games: They are sometimes TOO FUN.

"But Brandy, what ever can you possibly mean? How can something be TOO fun?!" you ask. Well, I'll tell you via a hypothetical situational experiment.

Let's say you're a guy, and you have a relatively attractive girlfriend. You are playing a game, such as World of Warcraft, or Fallout, or Rift, or Team Fortress, or some other MMO/RPG or XBox, or PS3 game, or whatever gaming platform you prefer. Your relatively attractive girlfriend propositions you for a romp. Your game does not have a 'pause' feature.
What do you do?
If you're most men past the age of puberty, you'll likely abandon your game (at least for the moment) to take advantage of your girlfriend's unusually generous mood. Regardless of how much you like that game, sex will pretty much always win out in the end.

Unless, of course, you're my boyfriend. Now, I'd like to think that I'm relatively attractive, and my boyfriend is constantly telling me how pretty I am. I'm not trying to call myself a 10 or anything, but I've never before had a problem getting a guy in bed, especially once we've started dating.

My boyfriend, however, will continue playing whatever game he's currently interested in, usually World of Warcraft. Last night, it was Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii. And usually, he claims that he doesn't even like the Wii! But, it's a new game that we just bought yesterday, so he wanted to see if it was any good. (We also bought Spyro: Eternal Night, but that's a shit game for twats. I mean, seriously, what the hell? They changed EVERYTHING! But I'll talk more about that later.)

The only reason I can think of that he would rather play a game than have sex with me (because, and I'm going to toot my own horn for a second, I'm pretty good in the sack) is that is that he is addicted, because it's TOO FUN. It's SO FUN that he simply CANNOT stop playing for any reason other than the basic necessities of living (eat, pee, sleep, and, occasionally, work).

"And what's the big deal? It's just a little sex you're not getting. Grow a pair and get over it!" you say. Well, this is where it gets a little more complicated.

It's not just my sex life that's suffering from his addiction. His pit bull, Loki (sweetest dog ever, seriously a gigantic, toothsome teddy bear), has epilepsy, and suffers from near-constant seizures. It's manageable now that he's on phenobarbital, a medication that completely suppresses his seizures. The medicine needs to be administered every 8-12 hours, or the levels of phenobarbital in Loki's system will drop below the amount needed to stop the seizures. The levels can drop in as little as 2 days, if doses are missed.

Why is this relevant? When my boyfriend is playing WoW or Monster Hunter or what have you, he often forgets his responsibilities, one of which is giving Loki his medication. And if Loki misses two (or more) doses, he will begin having seizures again. And trust me, that's not something that anyone wants to see happen. It's sad, and he pees everywhere. This doesn't seem to concern the boyfriend at all when he's playing his games. If I'm there, I'll usually step up and do it, but I can't be there 24/7.

Also, his bedroom is a complete disaster area. In fact, it got so bad a few days ago, there were actually ANTS crawling around his room and bathroom. Which are both on the SECOND FLOOR. He'll just put his dirty dishes, or open bags of chips, down on either the floor or his desk, and leave them there for DAYS. And I'm the one that ended up having to kill and clean up the ants, because he was too busy playing WoW to do it himself.

So yes, it is indeed possible for a game to be TOO fun, and there's a fine line between recreation and addiction. There are COUNTLESS news stories of people ignoring responsibilities (including their BABIES) in favor of playing a video game.* If you or someone you love is showing signs of video game addiction, you need to take DRASTIC action. Break the game disk. Hack into their on-line game account and delete all their equipment, and the entire character if possible. They may get mad now, but they'll thank you for it in the long run.

* See links below.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/korean-girl-starved-online-game
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/mother-obsessed-with-comp_n_715879.html