4. Online Gaming

In today's world, games such as World of Warcraft draw vast attention from society as a whole. These massive online games brings people from all over the world together to complete various tasks and quests within the rules and boundaries of the game. One aspect that draws much attention is the amount of real-life interaction that is taken away by playing these online games. In our sociology 149 class, we discussed this topic of online gaming, and found that there were actually more older people who played these the games; the average age is surprisingly forty-eight years old. Further studies show that the majority of these people are single with no children, and married with children at home. This was all very surprising to me; I have always viewed gamers as typically being younger, single people. While a large percentage of gamers were reported to be single with no children, many were still married with children with an older average age. Further statistics report that the large majority of these gamers work full time. I have always had the thought that playing online social games such as these would severely impair the lives of people; I have heard several stories in the media of people losing their lives just for these games. One story even involved the unsanitary death of a man who refused to leave his computer; however, statistics would show that these types of people are in the minority. It would appear that in actuality many gamers are sound, working adults who are able to maintain a family while playing online games. Instead of losing their reality to these games, many are able to use them as stress-relievers and a form of entertainment. This has made me feel much better about an online game that I have recently started playing called Ikariam. I am able to check this game every few hours, and it provides me entertainment and relief. At the same time, I am able to maintain school and work at a very efficient level. At this given rate, social online games are a benefactor to society. People need activities to occupy their attention and help relieve stress from our work-driven environment; online games appear to be an efficient provider.