4. Counter-Argument and 5. Issues

There is however a more sinister side to all this joy gaming seems to bring. I have mentioned Second Life a few times now, for various good reasons. I have also mentioned it’s a growing community. I haven’t yet mentioned its size though. The virtual world is big, and by that I mean enormous. It’s so huge that policing the entire world would be almost impossible especially with new members joining constantly and the world expanding. So due to these difficulties issues due slip through and can go unfound for ages. An example of this is what’s called Wonderland a place for child paedophiles to “hang out” in second life. The video below goes into more detail.



Another important issue in the counter-argument is the fact that too many people are spending too much time gaming and not doing enough other activities. This can lead to body neglect, social retardation and obesity. There have been reported cases where people have played addicting games like World of Warcraft for hours on end, forgotten to feed pets, haven't moved to go to the toilet and even died from continuous playing with no breaks. Obviously with sensible playing and breaks these issues can be avoided.

Link to article about a similar death due to WoW can be found here.

Violence is another key issue in gaming. The connection between violence and gaming has always been strong in the papers. Many stories have been reported of incidents that have happened, for example people shooting people or killing themselves accidentally depicting what they saw in a video game. Several cases have gone to court and many cases though have failed to establish the link between gaming and the incident, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Games such as Mortal Kombat, Doom, Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt have been criticised for having excessive violence, crime, sexual content or drug abuse in them. Manhunt was in fact banned from several countries including the UK because,

Unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying

The British Board of Film Classification said.

There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed

BBFC director David Cooke.

It is also thought the game inspired a guy of 17 to murder another boy in Leeds in 2004.

More information can be found here and here.