Too Old For Video Games? Says Who?!
With video game usage on the rise, it is no longer just a past time strictly reserved for kids. These days you could just be hearing a ‘Honey can we please get a Wii this Christmas?’ from your lovely but definitely over 25 year old wife or hubby!
With the spark of games created for self help purposes, designed to improve memory and train your brain, and the advent of the Nintendo Wii Fit to get gamers into tip top physical fitness, gaming is becoming a trend with just about everyone. It is becoming a preferred method of entertainment and almost a staple in every household.
But kids aren’t the only ones going gaga for video games, it’s their parents too! Consider the wildly popular World Of Warcraft. That game has some 11.5 million monthly subscribers sitting in front of their PC’s at home, creating characters and slaying fantasy creatures. Going on raids and forming guilds.
Considering the fact that WOW is a paid membership, how likely do you think it is that the bulk of the players are children. Not very likely! Nope the bulk of the players are adults, and even seniors. Some play alone, some play with their spouse or partner and some play with their kids. But the majority are definitely not 13 and under and are quite serious about their online gaming roles.
But why are these games becoming such a trend? One idea is that with everyone going through such hard economic times at the moment, video games are a welcome escape from reality. It’s easy to get lost in a virtual world, and pretend you are something that you might not necessarily be in real life. It’s nice to forget about the worlds problems for a moment and focus on fantasy.
The problem is letting the fantasy take over the real world indefinitely. Addiction could be a very real problem with the current gaming trend, especially in adults that have a weakness in that area. It remains to be seen what kind of a long term impact this may have on people in the future.
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