Ahaseurus2000 wrote:
Obsessive computer gaming is not a cause of ASD or necessarily a symptom. It can be an Addiction like any other or an escapist past-time for someone seriously unsatisfied with life.
In earlier times we had distinct rites of passage and rituals in our upbringing, that fulfilled our needs in the transition from child to adult.
Are Boss Battles in games sort of like electronic simulations of initiation tasks?
There seems to be a recurring theme where you have to defeat a threatening "bad guy" or "monster" or "wild animal" in order to win. This theme is ancient: probably deeply rooted in the human psyche. It's like the tasks of Hercules all over again.
Mario is basically a modern take on the fairytale of hero travelling to the underworld to fight a dragon and rescue a princess.
Years ago, I played a game that had a cartoon bullfight as one of the bosses.
There was another game where I had to poison a shark in order to get accepted into a group of pirates. I felt sad that the game made me do this because I like animals and it seemed like an awful waste to kill a shark just to join a "club". Then I realised that the shark wasn't real and only made of pixels.
I've been addicted to many things including studying and reading (people didn't mind me being addicted to those two!). If it wasn't video games it would've been something else like collecting objects, tidying up, arranging things, playing with construction/science kits, using the computer etc.
Yes, I agree that people turn to the wonderful fantasy world of gaming to escape when their real lives are boring, difficult, restrictive or traumatic. I can kind of appreciate why someone might want to play the "hero" in a game when in real life this person is ostracised, bullied or ignored. Perhaps the player tries to deal with real life psychological traumas by projecting these onto "monsters" and "challenges" in the game?
I can also sort of appreciate why a kid who's told not to go out into the dangerous real world alone by adults would enjoy interactive electronic fantasy stories about heroism, special powers and going on adventure quests.
I have a hunch that some people are born with more compulsive (overly enthusiastic and committed?) traits than others. If you're compulsive and are "addicted" to the right subject at the right time, people admire you.
My guess would be that you'd probably have to be compulsive and technically thorough to create video games and anime.
The same themes of heroism and defeating monsters often crop up in anime too...
03 May 2011, 2:55 pm
