Tetris is Digital Crack

This was reported on gamepolitics.com today. I am sure many of you will find it interesting because it answers some unexplained questions about gaming addiction. Some of these questions I had been wondering myself. Father Raymond J. de Souza is fortunate enough to write for the National Post. He has been granted some wonderful insight in to gaming addiction based on his own personal experiences with Tetris.

Fortunately he states clearly, "...video games are not intrinsically evil. But they are close." Well, that is comforting. He goes on to say with his wonderful, infinite wisdom. "If that sounds like the zealotry of a convert, it is. I learned the truth about video games the hard way, and so this is the lesson I offer for free: Don't play video games. Don't own them. And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don't buy them for your children.

I grew up in the days when video games meant Atari's Pong and, later, the sophistication of Pac-Man. We had a home computer when I was in elementary school, ahead of the trends, but my parents were smart enough not to buy us even those rudimentary games. My mother, whose principal goal in bringing up her children was not to affirm our self-esteem, was fond of telling us that only unintelligent children got bored. Our house had books and toys and siblings, and we had our imaginations -- my mother thought that more than sufficient for any child to amuse himself. Television, let alone video games, wasn't necessary.

But then I went off on my own to Queen's University, and in my second year I discovered Tetris--a video game that consists of fitting descending geometric shapes into a rectangular cavity without leaving gaps. That's it. But it was enough. It would not be fair to blame my second-year troubles -- my worst academic performance in 12 years of post-secondary education -- on Tetris alone, but it was a contributing factor. My capacity to waste time with Tetris was prodigious; how many hours were lost is unknown.

There was a turning point. One day -- several months too late -- I deleted the program from the hard drive. For younger readers, I should explain that this was before the Internet, so downloads were not available; if it wasn't in your machine, you didn't have access to it. So Tetris was gone. Life improved immediately.

Since that hard-disk-deleting day back in 1991, I have never played another video game. It's too dangerous. Video games take what is most precious -- time and thought. And they are making kids fat."

The Catholics used to say that masturbation would make you go blind, but what about verbal masturbation. It is much the same thing isn't it? You take hold of something ... give it a good shake, squeeze the life out of it and at the end of it you feel somewhat relieved. This is what Father Raymond has basically done. So, does this kind of verbal wanking make you go blind as well? Surely, he should get some clues and do some research before he starts gobbing off on something he really doesn't know anything about. It would have been far more insightful if he had managed to research his subject somewhat. At least, considered some of the darker sides of gaming. Oh well ... it must just be too hard ... or is that just another attempt to include another dick joke.