Reply to comment

I definitely agree that games are changing the world, but not in a strictly positive or negative way. You make a great point about learning focus and decision-making skills. I would also add problem-solving, which is an incredibly valuable skill. While you make a point about violence as a result of competitive gaming, I'd like to look at social interactions more generally. I used to believe that more gaming meant a decrease in peer interactions. People would be sitting next to each other, not talking to each other, or looking at each other, or even really acknowledging each other. That person sitting next to you could then easily be replaced by a random, or even computer-generated, opponent. As I've been able to experience more gaming in a social setting, though, I've seen that it can be a social activity. Not necessarily the most social, but more than I had originally assumed. Players would comment on each other's actions within the game and participate in mutual banter, both of which would not be possible with an external opponent. I found out recently that gaming is becoming more popular on personal computers, and this is raising the same original concern. Is this new way of gaming social enough? Are players really interacting with each other?