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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 3644493" data-attributes="member: 13966">But then by your arguments, it seems that we should ban everything that is potentially addictive.  Video games are but one thing that people with addictive tendencies could focus on.  We'd have to ban everything fun, everything interesting, everything exciting, everything intriguing, everything gossip-worthy, everything tasty, everything and anything that elicits an emotional or biological response.We'd have to force everyone to sit still, staring at blank walls, doing nothing.  Heck, some people may even get addicted to eating or drinking, even if it's just water or something.  So I guess everyone would have to be fed horrible-tasting food and water by robotic servants.  And probably tied down so there wouldn't be any risk of them developing into masochists, since then they'd get addicted to pain and it's all too easy to hurt oneself.So I guess really the answer would be The Matrix, but without the virtual world to keep people happy; instead it'd just be everyone kept sedated, not allowed to experience anything.Or something.....Point being, you can't just say that anything potentially addictive should be restricted or banned, you have to limit such actions to stuff that is actually harmful and/or terribly bad-habit-forming by itself.  Alcohol is one such thing that can cause such habits, because it has a direct effect on our body chemistry and behavior.Video games, on the other hand, only do so for people who are already very addiction-prone themselves, just the same as sports or other hobbies could become the focus of addictions by such people.  Video games are no more accessible than sports or the majority of significant hobbies or games.  The only advantage they have over those is that they're more easily enjoyed by an individual, rather than generally requiring a group of people to participate.  But there are still other hobbies that share that capacity (just not as popular, because video games are a broad media that many kinds of people can have fun with).If video games were to be restricted or banned, I'd demand that sports also suffer the same stupid and undeserved fate; sports are a much more significant source of unhealthy or abnormal obsession than video games (I'm sure there are a few billion people that would want to pummel or kill me, if I somehow prevented them from watching or participating in sports). :\ When it comes down to it, the problem is with the people like those in the article, who have negligent and addictive tendencies themselves, and probably a desire for escapism.  Sure, if we could get people to treat each other more nicely and put less pressure on one another, we'd all be living happier lives and there'd be fewer people looking for escapism.  That would at least eliminate one small part of the problem.And anyway, there are a lot of folks who play RPGs, which have an element of escapism to them, just as art and storytelling do to some extent.  Yet I'm pretty sure most of us gamers are not even half as mentally unhinged as that couple in the article, even though we're technically participating in some escapism and gaming ourselves.It's more a matter of people needing to help each other out, than any obtuse notion of 'video games = t3h 3v1L'.</blockquote>

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