video games under the constraints

Video Games: Secondary Worlds

Video games are not a new phenomenon and are now embedded in the culture of most people’s lives. Whether you are a hard- core gamer with every gaming system wired to your television or the casual gamer playing on your I-phone during your lunch break, video games are part of the common adult, teen, and children’s world. But that is where a new emerging problem is starting to evolve, are video games part of your world, or a new entirely secondary world you live in? Have video games come to a point of consuming the everyday life of people and create addictions that complicate their normal lives?

Video game addiction is a starting to create serious attention, people have died, have had complications in their lives, and have had their lives crash as a result of playing games. The main question at hand is whether or not there is a true case to label it “addiction”. The flip side of the problem is that video games create a secondary world that when managed properly create a secondary, or complementary positive world for people; socially and emotionally.\

In the current news story and article, “Hook it to my Veins: Can Video Gaming be an Addiction?”, we are presented with this scenario. The main them surrounding the issue is that true addiction is clinically defined at the point were the activity you are involved with starts to interfere with your regular routine and daily activities. The basic analogy is whether you are dedicating more time to playing a game versus doing the dishes. Where is the point where your personal hygiene is impacted negatively by not doing dishes because you are too busy playing games. Te article does site the rare case where people have died or have had health related problems because they neglected their everyday life and were consumed by playing games. The consensus from the article is that video gaming is not an addiction, more along the lines as an escape or mental break from real life. One may be consumed for a period of time by gaming, but you own conscious eventually makes you feel guilty of neglecting your real life. This psychological dichotomy is the so to speak break point from becoming addicted and just truly enjoying the game and “hooked” in its challenges.

The problem at least from this articles point of view is not a problem of addiction, that has to be diagnosed individually, and by health professionals. The problem here may be whether you decide to live in the real world or in the video gaming world. By living in the video gaming world you forge and harbor relationships that have disconnects from those similar relationships you would have in real life. So analysis and research needs to be conducted about social gaming and the meaning you put behind the community you build in this secondary world.

From the perspective of the four constraints, video game addiction is “regulated” (Lessig 2006). The most influential constraint would come from norms. Video games have continually gained more interest since their inception as they have evolved in context, entertainment, and access.
Games can be found in a myriad of media and technological outlets, they represent a form of entertainment just like film, television, literature, etc. They are a norm for many people, age not a factor. In this norm there are various levels of norms that shift the way gamers interact in these environments and social contexts.

From the market constraint we can understand that video games have and will continue to create access. The availability of and share games and their platforms has created a billion dollar industry that may not slow down, thus fueling the norm constraint.

Laws that impact gaming come in the form of the gaming ratings, separating the content available to gamers by age and maturity. This also drives market and norms because it spreads the availability of games and also creates anticipation of games that then drives market.

Architecture influences heavily in the gaming community. The way games are played and the challenges that incorporate games through their coded structure enable the gamers behavior and influence the routine these people perform while playing.

It seems that the question for he future is how to safely separate and keep our real life and gaming life coherent and relevant from any type of addiction. Can we live in two worlds simultaneously, or will one consume the other eventually? As this phenomenon evolves it will come from regulating law and how people immerse in these secondary worlds. The way norms are perceived may have to be erected through law guiding the way a secondary life is maintained. I undertsand the violation of rights this might pose, but by the time this issue arises who knows how life may actually be in the world.