Are you a zombie? I’ve been playing some really great games lately and have been led to believe that because of typical over-zealous indulging, most non-gamers have wrongfully caste them entirely as a waste of time. The main problem with gaming today can be found by applying the phrase “Use it or lose it” towards our mental, physical, and social health. We must find where entertainment becomes healthy, and support it.
Cooking, riding a bike, and even playing chess are all learned skills that stay with us our entire lives after we have learned the basics once. Most times cooking, riding a bike and playing chess are indeed healthy, to a point. What if that is our sole function? Without habitually exercising any of these skills we will never altogether forget their foundations, we simply will never progress or really demand any attention for them. That is, until we attempt to try again after a great many of years have passed, then I’m sure everyone always enjoys being a spectator to the event!
However, physical, mental and social health of humans can be left to waste and without exercise, they will dissolve until they cease to exist entirely. Without a diverse lifestyle, one activity is never healthy entirely on it’s own. Therefore, we must maintain a diverse lifestyle that incorporates all of our natural tendencies: mental, physical, and social activity. Gaming provides opportunities to easily access our primary human functions in many ways.
Strategy, timing and cooperation are the basic functions of most any game. From non-video to real-time online games working within a context of any game requires some sort of cognitive skill. Multi-player games require social interaction and in some cases, such as the Nintendo Wii, video games can provide physical activity. Gaming has come a long way from simple two button input popular in the seventies and eighties, now most games have their own skill base that must be learned over time. While these will never provide an answer to why someone is worthy to spend all their time consumed in play, neither will cooking, riding a bike or chess.