by Stephanie Bryant

Created on: January 25, 2007   Last Updated: May 04, 2007

How boring is your life, anyway? I recently set up an RSS reader to download all my friends' LiveJournal posts so I can read them offline. In hours and hours of reading, I found that only a few folks had really distinctive voices with something interesting to say.

The rest of them are all playing video games. That's all they talk about in their blogs, so I have to assume that's all they're doing with their time. And it's not just my online friends, either. I have many friends in the "real world" who I don't see for months after the latest World of Warcraft patch comes out, or who only want to talk about their level 200 druid. *yawn*

I can't really blame them. After all, I lost an entire semester of college to an online game, and my productivity has been severely hurt by these kinds of fads. I don't think video games are evil, and I even play them from time to time myself. But reading about them in a blog is even less interesting than listening to a twelve year old girl talk about her favorite of the My Little Pony toys. If they are evil, it is only because they contribute so heavily to the cultural bankruptcy of our world.

Recognize that video games are designed to keep you wanting to stay with them, by providing a series of progressively more challenging tasks, with progressively more enticing rewards. These games are not productive- if you reach level 150, there is no tangible reward for you, just more video game time. They tap into very primal reactions, including the fight-or-flight response.

The friends you make in your online game may be real, genuine friends- or they might just want to get into your guild. Try to connect off-line as well as online with the people who you find most interestng. If you find yourself using the game as a glorified chatroom, perhaps you can move the conversation *to* a chatroom, where you can just be social? Or if the friends live nearby, you could move the conversation to a coffee shop! Studies show that one of the healthiest things you can do for your longevity is spend time talking with friends. If you're the only one in the group who really wants to sit back and talk, it might be time to head off to more social sites, and leave the fantasy behind.

Most video game players don't even realize how much the games get in the way of doing other productive work, or spending time with family or friends. To test, get a timer and actually keep track of how much time you spend logged into the game. Even if you're doing other things at

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