"Get a life"- online gaming

Online Gaming has become very popular within the past two years. We are seeing these "online communities" emerge and they have brought in people (generally of the male gender) of all ages. Online games are simple enough where you can just download the operating system then sign on and play the game. To be able to talk to the other players while participating in the game you only need a headset. The diffusion rate is incredible because it reaches people from all ages. Which can have both postive and negative implications. It caught on very quickly with a wide area of people but I feel as if a person would either know about online gaming, heavily participate in it or be completely out of the know.

My little brother has recently become very interested in this form of entertainment. He has always been interested in video games but his free moments are filled with playing this game. So with the ability to talk to the other players this gives a real sense to the game. However I was disappointed and somewhat disturbed when I heard the conversation going on throughout the game. There were at least 4 people who were participating in the conversation ages 12, my little brother 14, another teen ager then an adult who was mocking the other players. This man who was doing most of the talking was using profanities left and right making vulgar comments and just being rude. I could not believe what I was hearing. I thought to my self does this person have anything else to do? Why is he talking to these kids like he is? I was disappointed and annoyed.

I think this has implications for us as a society as well. I think that we should have age limits or more restrictions on these types of games so low lifes like the guy that i was hearing would not be able to play a game like this with my brother. This was like a cheap entertainment form... out of convenience and I think that these people are spending a lot of time with this entertainment rather than socially participating in society.

What is interesting is that Online gaming- with the ability to communicate with other players- has become a Com Tech, while video games before was not. Entertainment has become a form of communication as well.