Are video gamers social inept people who hide from the real world?

Question

This is the opinion that my neighbor has of computer games in general. he has purposely disconnected the internet service to his home and has told his kids that they can only play Xbox for 1 hour each day on the weekends. It seems like there was a rash of internet porn related busts in the community, and all the accussed were loners, jobless, and still living at home. He's afraid that his kids might become this way, hence his actions.
Is he being too harsh. What do you think?

Answer 1

Video gaming isn't the problem. There could be other problems behind, driving this kind of behaviour [that is deemed parasitic or bad]. One individual may play games just to rid of boredom, another may feel that they are in a better control of his/her life with games. In the gaming world you are the protagonist of your own journey. You decide how you should play, you plan strategies, you select your character, you dress up the character, you select from the myriad of colors, you earn your own money, you make your own friends. There is no one authoritative to tell you what you should do. Judgement formed just by interaction (with others, if it is a multi-player game), sense of achievement when you win, confidence strengthen when you accomplish something, becoming better skilled when you survive your fall, all these build your esteem up slowly.

Sometimes when you take it all away from a kid whose life is about to change, you bring him/her/yourself more harm than it seems. So the bottomline is to always understand the individual, know what the force is driving behind his/her behaviour and encourage accordingly.