Video Games: Making a Better Human Being?

Wholesale video games are controversial. Critics argue vehemently about a number of aspects of their use. One debatable topic is whether video games wholesalers, by making available these products at such deeply discounted prices, are promoting a pastime that is fundamentally anti-social. There are arguments either way and we will review both sides here.

The point of view that wholesale video games are isolating is premised on the following several bits of evidence. First, participants expend many hours in front of their game stations, rather than in personal affiliation with other folks. By passing a lot of time interacting with a machine, gamers do not participate in regular human relationship. This, it is said, results in a tough time relating, lack of normal socialization, and extreme solitude. Hours on the computer are particularly difficult with respect to family life; some parents in fact limit wholesale video games play to a handful of a day to solve this problem.

Second, players who patronize video game wholesalers to purchase tons of nearly free items have a tendency to become engaged in internet worlds. Sometimes, massive numbers of other players are online at the same time and may even compete together, in groups with one another. But the argument goes that online interaction is a weak substitute for actual socializing and that because gamers never have to meet or deal with who they really are, whatever social interaction comes from this style of play is fake and superficial.

The view that wholesale video games are not a social problem rests on the same evidence but another interpretation. It is true that participants may expend lots of time with their electronic equipment, engaged in online play or just by themselves. But when playing online, the argument goes, participants are actually communicating in complex social ways. They become aware of how to cooperate; to speak with clarity; to compete in healthy ways; and to rely upon their co- online groups to attain common goals. It is a novel kind of conversation, but still fundamentally social and very, very human. And with reasonable boundaries and good sense, direct interaction with family and friends is preserved and equally valued.

The thought that virtual discourse is a bad substitute for real communion is a misnomer. The "real thing" is increasingly becoming electronic relationships and community. Linked In, and similar social media, are inventing a new reality where folks need not be face to face in order to develop and profit from relationships. In fact, it could be argued that the vast electronic relationships improves human socialization. In this scenario, video games wholesalers are really the architects of a new world of communication.

So, how do you feel about the impact of wholesale video games?