The slightly
WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!
Online gaming and virtual reality is a great way to channel one's energy into high level scores and social interaction. However, this week, I want to look at a phenomenon called Cyber Sickness.
Cyber sickness has been defined as a result of long hours spent in virtual spaces with no breaks. By navigating through virtual world's like Second Life and playing games like DotA, Counter-Strike and other network and web games, users can suffer symptoms such as "eye strain, headaches, disorientation" and even more serious symptoms like "ataxia, nausea and vomiting". These and other symptoms, according to J. Viola in his discussion on Cybersickness in Virtual Environments , can become permanent if users continue to persist with spending heavy periods online playing games and to some extent social interaction.
Living in a student digs with 3 guys has exposed me to the harsh reality of excessive gaming. If they're not gaming then they're watching each other game. Long week-ends are spent infront of the computer in dimly lit rooms and only recently thanks to some of the symptoms mentioned above have they cut back to participate in 'outside living' to avoid feeling ill.
In the music video below (which is not only a great ROFL MAO) one can see how DotA - an online web strategy game- takes over people's lives. We see aspects of single-minded gamers pouring their energy into the game and how it has become a sort of unifying aspect of European culture.
Ill-effects, death and addiction
Online gaming marathons as seen in the video above are worrying. These marathons are common and gamers push their limits in attempt to advance their score in record time or just until their character dies...or until they kill themselves.
Online gaming can become very addictive. There have even been more severe repercussions to this form of recreation such as death. Yes. People ACTUALLY die from gaming too much.
Incidents have ranged from the death of Ong Yi Bao who was found dead at his computer after he started playing a game of Defence of the Ancients to others such as the case of a South Korean man dying after fatiguing himself in a cyber-cafe during a Starcraft marathon.
An international help website has been created to help online gaming addicts and you can visit it here.
Unless you want to end up like the characters depicted in South Park you may want to take heed of the information I have provided this week and get out of the house or at the very least put your PC on stand-by mode. Your life may depend on it.
