On MMOs

In response to: http://lds.org/move/index.html?type=ces&event=1&lang=english

Saying that all online games are inherently evil is incorrect. Far be it for me to disagree with a general authority, but I feel his talk is extremely biased towards the negative aspects of this venue of content distribution. I think it should be noted that every new source of media has been criticized in its time. From novels, to radio, newspapers, comic books, and television.

Brigham young against novels
Collection of 19th century criticism of novels
Article on addiction and violence attributed to radio, newspapers, comic books, and other media
Elder M. Russell Ballard on the effects of television
Testimonial on TV addiction

There is both good and bad content in all of these. People will entertain themselves with what they find interesting. Whether it be a book, playing sports, or browsing the internet. It is true, when taken extremes, anything can be harmful. An obsession that adversely affects your health or family is always wrong. However, when was the last time you heard someone decrying the evil of novels or radio? Are these things less harmful now than they were before? It is simply a fact that when there's more people doing something, there is a greater chance that you will be able to find someone doing it irresponsibly. I think there are people who are more prone to obsession than others. I think this is a problem with the person rather than what they are obsessing about. If someone obsessively spends all their money covering their house in little trinkets and junk until they can't move inside it, we don't say that trinkets are addictive and should be condemned. We say that the person has a mental hoarding disorder. People need to be aware of their own mental state.

I find it disturbing the extent that it is vilified. It's true that Brother Bednar said the internet in general can be used for good, but no such implication was mentioned of online gaming specifically. I found no reference to it being a form of entertainment like playing board games or sports. It could be said that the difference is the physical presence involved, but to say that just because you're communicating through text means that your relationship with that person is hollow and meaningless I think degrades the importance of people's mental faculties in forming relationships. I do think it is true that physical interaction with other people is essential to human beings, but again all of the examples put forth are taken to the extreme.

He tells of a story of someone who became so obsessed that their physical body ceased to exist for them. I suppose people may lack this instict, but when I've been sitting at the computer for a few hours straight, my body lets me know that it's time to do something else. I'll then get up walk around, exercise, play piano, or something like that. People need to listen to their bodies when this happens. It is important to keep our bodies active. It is important to set limits on doing any particular activity for too long at a time. This does not mean that this kind of interaction is inherently evil or destructive. Spending too long doing physical things can be damaging to your body as well giving you strains, sprains, or repetetive stress injuries. Spending a half hour or so exercising and not spending more than 2 or 3 hours at a time sitting at the computer can keep your body from atrophying.

I think that online games should be seen as another activity that you do with friends and family. The focus should be on the people who you are playing with. Your interaction with them is real, whereas the accomplishments you have obtained in-game are not. People can get very caught up in the items they obtain in game, and it is true that it can be easier to do things with people that have better items, but we still don't like them no matter how good their gear is if they are not nice people.

Another example was where one spouse created a separate life with another woman online. This is obviously wrong because the interaction he's having is real, even if the space it's happening in is made up, and it's obvious that this is to the detriment of his wife and family. The game did not force him to do this. He did this of his own free will. He obviously had something in his mind that felt this interaction was better than his real life. Perhaps the game made this easier, but who is to say that he would not have gone out and made a similar relationship in a physical venue if the game didn't exist? People who do stupid things online show a desire to stupid things offline.

The interaction with people online teaches us things. When we first started out playing World of Warcraft, we were very afraid of interacting with people. We thought that everyone else was stupid and evil. In time we learned how to find people and how to get groups together. We learned how to lead and direct people, and follow direction ourselves.

Playing with Nicole in these games gave me the opportunity to be in situations that otherwise would have never been possible. You learn a lot about tolerance when someone is doing something differently than how you would do it. You may be mad at first because of your limited view of how things should be done, but you realize that someone can work effectively doing things how they want to do them.

Now you may ask why I'm not playing WoW right now if it is totally innocuous. Well, the answer is that it isn't totally innocuous for me. People have to determine how their personality meshes with what they are doing and act responsibly. I decided that I was lacking motivation to achieve things in real life because achieving virtual things was fulfilling that need. Did quitting work? Well I still don't have a job, and my motivation to get one is rather low. Doing things around the house seem to fulfill the need for accomplishment now. When I do laundry, dishes, yard work, etc., it seems pretty good and I don't feel the need to get a job. Now Nicole and I lack a 2 player game to play together. We do other things like do hidden object games together, watch TV, or browse random stuff on the internet and laugh at it together. Is this better than playing WoW? Maybe, maybe not. We actually interact with people less because we are introverted people and don't go out of our way to make friends. Being online was socializing for us.

So, I think that people should be aware of how much time they are dumping into a game, and be aware of how it affects their life and people around them. I do not, however, think that interacting with people online is hollow or meaningless, nor do I think that these games automatically cause detriment to people's lives.