I have talked about before about the positive and upside of playing online games. This weekend I experienced the downside and now I have to change because of it.
It is relaxing and fun to play a game called DC Online. However this weekend my wrist started to hurt when I was playing it. I had to stop playing and reevaluate why I was spending enough time to cause an injury to myself.
I went to the doctor and she said to reduce playing games and find other activities. So that will start tonight. Part of me is happy and part of me is sad. I am sad because I had worked hard to get a strong character, and you have to work hard to keep that status.
The downside is that no matter how much you work on your character, there are plenty of other people who are better than you. In that way it’s just like real life, but a game is about escape as much as reality. In some games you are clearly the boss. For example, Tetris or other off-line games. You achieve something and nothing else compares to that achievement. Online games humble players by pointing out that their skills might be at the bottom compared to others. It also gives greater opportunities for up-sell, since people seek to differentiate themselves from other people.
For me, I don’t like the competitive nature of online gaming. Even in DC Online there are player vs player matches, which are required to increase your characters strength. I would rather compete against the environment or challenge than another player. Not only because of my skills, but that the nature of my character is a support and not an attack character. So naturally I am going to lose because my character was never designed to fight. To ask a non fighting character to fight to level up, is unfair. Such is life right?
So I have listed some downsides to online gaming, but nothing in life is perfect. Perhaps my wrist hurting will lead me into doing things that I enjoy more.
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