Gaming essay

The Threats of Online Gaming It seems that only now people are finally starting to be aware of the negative impact that online gaming has on both the physical and psychological aspect of the gamer’s lives. The more people that know about the social isolation, narcissism, increased aggression, and negative academic and occupational consequences that results from excessive online gaming, the bigger the drive will be to take the precautionary steps needed to at least reduce the negative by-products from the excessive online gaming. Excessive gaming wasn’t a problem 30 years ago like it is today. Thirty years ago, games were like an exclusive preserve for teenage boys that occasionally went to arcades. The problem arose when gaming evolved into a much more complex activity than just the simple arcade games. With all the different types of games, the complex evolution of gaming has now fused itself with society and became mainstream in most parts of the world.
When the arcade games shifted into game consoles in households is when the excessive gaming was first introduced to our society. Video games are now played in over 65% of North American households (NPD Groups, 2008). Not only is that well-over half of the households, but also the games are no longer only played by children. Over the past few years, there are 25% of gamers who are under 18 years old, 49% of gamers are aged between 18 and 49, and 26% are over the age of 50 (Entertainment Software Association, 2008). Even with the strong take over by gaming, people are now starting to realize the threat. There has recently been an increase in the number of research publications focused on video gaming (e.g., Chou & Ting, 2003).
Just like expected, most of the gamers tended to be males. Even in the group of gamers, the males also tended to play for longer periods of time than the females that played. This isn’t a surprise since in general, most people associate gaming with guys. Even from my experiences, I know

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