Game Information

Computer Traumas


It has happened! Computer games have started to control my life on and off the screen. No complicated games like Age of Empires, just the simple one of Tetris. You know the one, where different shaped and colored bricks fall out of the sky and you have to arrange them in nice lines at the bottom? Hopefully with the end result of all colors matching in straight lines so that they can be removed and point gained.

Crazy really, it first happened many years ago when I had this stupid bet that I could get more points than the next guy. What that really means is that, "I am going to be up all night playing this game and will be totally incapable of staying awake in the office tomorrow, unless of course I play the game in the office as well". That's what computer games do to us. We become machines where food and sleep are secondary items to all else. Just keep on playing.............till you drop.

I managed to get through that episode with only a slight increase in my weight and a damaged back from not having moved anything else except my two fingers for a sustained period of time. The latest episode though has created havoc with my life in more ways than one and I am getting seriously worried about it.

I had been playing that game in the evening for around three hours and had then gone to bed early for a dreamless and normal sleep. All okay and expected you say? Well, the sleep was but when I drove to the office the next day things started to happen that rapidly woke me up to the danger that I was in. There I was in my blue car approaching the traffic lights when all of a sudden I swerved into the other lane thus ending up stopped neatly behind this other blue car. Behind me, confused and irritated drivers with green and red cars tooted their horns angrily wandering what this maniac was doing. But I? I was happy in that I had managed to get the colors arranged and all I needed was another blue car and then we could have a full line................oh, no, what is happening to me? I sat there for a while shivering as it dawned on me that I had entered the game itself, it had taken me over.........I was a brick!

Yeah, and that was not all. I found myself one afternoon staring inanely at a house wall and following the line of bricks along trying to sort out in my mind which pattern was best and which was not. And at my desk I found that I had arranged all files and papers in a neat pattern according to color and size having totally disregarded any format associated with the importance of in-going, outgoing, urgency, etc. Extremely worrying to say the least!

I have withdrawn from playing Tetris and other games of that sort hoping that I will stop having these off the screen episodes in real life. In the hope that I can return to a normal existence without having off-the-screen battles. Do other people suffer from this or is it just me?

The other game that I played to have a break from Tetris was "Prairie Dog". One of those annoying games where you have a choice of guns and dogs keep on appearing on the screen. Aim and fire being the next step. Bang, Bang, Bang, another dog bites the dust. Yes, I know, pathetic really, but great fun. Volume up full, there I would be furiously firing at any movement, reloading and starting again and the dogs would make a strangled sound as I hit them. But once again I one day realized that all was not well with me, as I used to sit on my balcony and take imaginary potshots at cars as they appeared on the road. Or in a busy street I would say "bang, bang" and pretend that I had cleared a path for myself through the crowds.

I played that other game Age of Empires many times to. Love that game as it takes s kill and thought as well as two fingers and rapid movement and I became extremely proficient at it as time went by. My computer often struggled to cope with the size of my army and the enemies that I faced. I would sit there for hours on end, maneuvering, shifting, attacking and withdrawing till the sun started to come up on the horizon. It would be then that I would force myself away and climb into bed only to resurface two hours later, make a large urn of coffee and re-attack with a vengeance. Although this game never caused me to start charging at other cars on the highways or lobbing screwed up notes at others in the office it did cause me to take a good look at myself.

What would happen if suddenly I started to do this sort of thing in real life? If I started to make deals with my neighbors to attack next door offices or ping elastic bands at the mail delivery boy? I've stopped playing games now and have become a serious and boring "been there, done that and cured myself" type of person. I do have long and empty hours where I feel the urge to take up where I left off and I get extremely jealous when others talk about games or I see others playing them but I resist. I think it must be like smoking where one never loses the urge to light up and take a draw - just the one! No, No, I cannot! I now sit there and lecture others on the dangers of playing games and that they should stop before it is too late. And they? They just nod politely and then disappear to talk amongst themselves............."must be and ex-player", whisper, whisper, whisper.

About The Author

Author and Webmaster of Seamania. As a Chief Engineer in the Merchant Navy Ieuan Dolby has sailed the world for fifteen years. Now living in Taiwan he writes about cultures across the globe and life as he sees it.


MORE RESOURCES:

Amputee athletes ready for Extremity Games
The Associated Press - 10 hours ago
Then she'll try to defend her first-place finishes in the past two Extremity Games. Ho, who was born with a congenital deficiency that stopped her right leg ...


PR Web (press release)

King Reveals the Games Women Play During First Consumer Industry Panel
MarketWatch - 11 hours ago
King invited five women gamers from 34 to 71 years old to address leaders from the $2.5 billion+ casual games industry and provide insight to the 150 ...
Casual gamers connect at Seattle conference Seattle Post Intelligencer
‘One size fits all’ approach to casual is wrong, says Big Fish boss CasualGaming.biz
Conference Blog: Is the Game Console Dead and Will The iPhone Take ... Digital Media Wire
Gamasutra - MarketWatch
all 28 news articles


Canada.com

NY State To Restrict Video Games, Consoles
InformationWeek, NY - 10 hours ago
New York State will prohibit sales and rentals of video games without ratings prominently displayed on their covers and it will ban the sale of consoles ...
Gov. Paterson vs. violent video games New York Daily News
Civil Rights Groups Criticize The New York Video Game Labeling Bill eFluxMedia
all 11 news articles


Veterans get 'back into life' at annual Wheelchair Games
Arizona Republic, AZ - 1 hour ago
But things changed after the quadriplegic discovered the National Veterans Wheelchair Games a decade ago. "I didn't even know they had wheelchair sports" ...
Paraplegic competes in veterans games Tucson Citizen
all 2 news articles


Indoor ceremonies don't put damper on Games
Newsday, NY - 1 hour ago
Long Island heads into this year's Games with plenty of titles and a few streaks to defend. Scholastic boys lacrosse and girls fencing have won three ...


Banks: Night games will help Cubs shine
Chicago Tribune, United States - 4 hours ago
15, 1969, the Cubs held a 91/2-game lead over the New York Mets. A bit more than three weeks later, the lead was down to 2½ games. ...


Bruce Sterling to Predict the Future of Games in the Year 2043 in ...
FOXBusiness - 13 hours ago
SAN FRANCISCO, July 22, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Think Services Game Group announced today that noted science fiction writer and futurist Bruce ...


Southeast shines at Bay State Games
Boston Globe, United States - 3 hours ago
The Southeast contingent put together a strong showing at the annual Bay State Games, which wrapped up last week. The region collected 139 medals, ...
Bay State Games hockey competition dominated by West teams The Republican - MassLive.com
all 2 news articles


Games to be a great success: Survey
China Daily, China - 9 hours ago
By Li Xiang Most Chinese are confident the Olympic Games will be a great success and help improve China's image across the world despite disruptions in the ...
Olympics: Chinese think Games will help image San Francisco Chronicle
When Will the Olympics End? ABC News
Chinese try "contraception" to avoid Olympics guardian.co.uk
Chicago Tribune - The Associated Press
all 401 news articles


BBC News

Games spending 'needs eagle eye'
BBC News, UK - 8 hours ago
The government said its commitment to not exceeding the £9.3bn public funding budget for the Games was "unequivocal". In its report the committee noted that ...
London 2012 will favour rich athletes, warn MPs Independent
2010, 2012 Olympics on ESPN STAR Sports Electric New Paper
ESPN STAR Sports gets telecast rights for 2012 Olympics Hindustan Times
all 143 news articles

Games - Google News

home | site map
© 2006