Online Gaming

Over the years, with more and more people purchasing computers for their home, online gaming has become mainstream. Also, technology advancements have made games better and faster. Graphics have improved to the point that games that you can play are very realistic. High-speed Internet has increased the transfer rate of information so much quicker than dial-up.

Text based MUDS have advanced to MMO's. Some of the MMO's are EverQuest, EverQuest 2, World of Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot, and many others. EverQuest has been one of the most popular games since its release in 1999. It has been on the news for both its popularity and for how it has affected people's lives.

Online gaming can be very addicting for a lot of people. There has been several stories about how online gaming has ruined the lives of people. One story was of a guy that got so involved in playing that when something "bad" happened in the game, he ended up taking his own life. He quit his job and wanted to do nothing but play. Obviously, gaming is not going to have the same effect on everybody and the young man who took his life also had other problems that he needed help with.

Another story is about a husband and wife. The husband played online and it started paying more attention to his game than to his wife. The couple divorced because the husband was ignoring his wife. She blames the game for ruining their marriage. There was also a husband and wife that gamed together. The wife met another man playing the same game and she left her husband for him.

However, not everything that happens with online game is completely bad. There are also some good things that have happened to people. For instance, one couple has been together for 6 or 7 years now because they played the same game. They ended up meeting each other and are in love. You can also make friends with all kinds of people from all over the world. These are people that you might just be friends with for years. One man, who lived in the United States, touched many people. He was a kind man, that many of us would never met. He and his wife played together while he was dying of cancer. Not everyone that he played with knew what he was going through until he was not able to log on anymore. When he passed away, everybody that he played with gathered in their online community to remember him. There was probably 60 or more people there to say good-bye. That might not sound like a lot but considering virtually none of them had ever met him in person, that is quite a few people.

So, while there are some people who do have an addiction to online gaming not everything that happens is bad. Just like with most addictions you just have to be able to control how much you play. You may just need to realize on your own or have it pointed out to you that you are playing to much. You do not want to ignore your spouse or children because you would rather play a game that do some activity with them. Try to remind yourself that instead of playing for 8 to 10 hours in a day that you will just play for 2 or 3. If you know there is a problem and do not think you can take care of it on your own try to seek help before you lose the people you care for.