BIT BY THE VID BUZZ
People die. They may not be dropping off like summer flies in an electric zapper, but the Deadly Videogame has earned the right to carve more than a few notches on its joystick. Some undeniable, demonstrated power force lurks behind the electronic screen, and no player is entirely immune to its ray, lethal or not.
BIT BY THE VID BUZZ
FEATURES
P. GREGORY SPRINGER
People die.
They may not be dropping off like summer flies in an electric zapper, but the Deadly Videogame has earned the right to carve more than a few notches on its joystick. Some undeniable, demonstrated power force lurks behind the electronic screen, and no player is entirely immune to its ray, lethal or not.
The word "addiction" gets thrown around loosely when talking about videogames. Are the games themselves truly addictive? Is it a physiological effect, working in the same ways that heroin and nicotine do, setting down cozily inside the body and demanding constant company? Or, is the appeal of gaming merely a habifuation, a social phenomenon resulting from patterns of competition, ambition, religious ritual, and/or peer pressure?
What really gets socked when you put a quarter into a videogame? Is it your body? Your mind? Or only your wallet?
Examine this recent case: Mayo Clinic neurologists reported epileptic seizures occuring in two 15-year-old boys during games of Pac-Man. The seizures were triggered by the rate of light flickering on the videoscreens. Similar cases have been reported during instances of prolonged television viewing.