In the past, when I play console games like Nintendo, Sega, Neo-Geo, PC-Engine (or Turbo Grafx), and Playstation, the only money I need to churn out was for the console, the extra joystick, memory card(s), and the games. Nintendo was by far the cheapest back then.
But as technology improves, so does piracy. This is where you can get real dirt cheap Playstation games in Compact Disc format for Rp. 5,000 - Rp. 7,000 (Rp or Rupiah is an Indonesian currency; USD 1 more or less equals to Rp. 9,500 at the moment).
Before the boom of the piracy business, when I was still playing Playstation in the United States, I could play hours upon hours, even months, on a single game, such as the legendary Final Fantasy VII from Squaresoft. I spent approximately USD 59.99 on the game, or Rp. 569,905 at today's currency exchange rate.
Compared to the MMORPG, I played FF VII mostly by myself. No one to converse to. No tricks and strategies to employ against other human players. No romance or drama involved, except those in my imagination. But the memory of playing FF VII stuck in my memory for years after.
Some MMORPG make it compulsory to pay a minimum monthly fee in order to play. Some of these even have a package in which a player can choose to purchase and play for a fixed number of hours, before that player has to purchase the package through a voucher.
The fixed periodical fee ranges from game to game using this pay-to-play system.
Many, however, allow players to play for free (free-to-play).
In both cases, whether it is pay-to-play or free-to-play, you got to fork out some real money to get special items only available through the Item Mall, usually accessible via the game company's website. These items are what we know as premium items.
The method of purchasing these premium items can either be via the purchase of a voucher at your nearest internet kiosk, game center, special order delivery, as well as through your handphone. By simply sms-ing the correct code and amount to purchase, and sending the message to the right number, a message will be sent to you with the ID and password for the voucher you have purchased electronically.
Factoring the fact that most online or MMORPG players in Indonesia play in the internet kiosks, also known as warnet, short for 'warung internet', I question whether it is wise financially/economically for individuals to fork out an arguably sizable amount of money for entertainment. Most of these players are still in school, ranging from the elementary/primary, to secondary/tertiary, high schoolers, to university students.
One full day of online time at an internet kiosk can cost anywhere around Rp. 7,000 to Rp. 12,000. That is more or less a 10-hour or a 12-hour package. Some internet kiosks charged a lower fee of Rp. 3,000 per hour to play online game/s. Not forgetting to also add the costs of drink and food, the bus ride.
Then we come to add the cost of purchasing the premium items, and/or the cost in case the player is playing a pay-to-play online game.
The word entertainment means exactly that, to entertain, or an act of entertaining. In the short-run, these younger players with no fixed income except those given by their parent/s do not feel the pinch nor the strain of forking out real money for the entertainment. But over a long course of time, some may began to feel that there is something wrong.
The cost or risk factors involved when an individual became hooked, immersed, or obsessed with the online games world have been discussed and argued before. The arguments may come from the intellectuals and the critics.
I read somewhere that Television or TV is the biggest contributor to laziness in North America, especially in the United States. By the time an adult reaches the age of seventy or so, as much as 11% to 13% of the adult's life has already been spent sitting in front of the box. I wonder whether that is a productive and positive way to make use of our 'life-is-precious, we-live-only-once'...?
Now as technology revolutionizes, comes the personal computers or PCs, and then enters the internet. If half of the 20th century TV is touted as the source of laziness, I horribly suspect that the first half of the 21st century online games via PC and the internet as the next best candidate to replace TV.
Whether it is psychologically or social factors, there definitely is a pattern that described the last recent years obsessions with online games.
First and foremost, online games are mainly fictions, derived out of the creators' imaginations, and then extended in the players' imaginations. The fiction world offers a dazzling array of colors, shapes, and sizes. The opportunities to visualize/imagine in carrying out feats that are in most parts scientifically and logically improbable or impossible.
But dig deeper into the human inner psyche, I am guessing that some of the following might apply:
- There is a large and possibly unquenchable desire to be recognized.
- There is a an insatiable need for attention.
- There is a tendency to run away from reality or realities.
- There is a desire to feel wanted, to belong, to bond, and to feel to be in a close community.
- There is a tendency to want to compete and act out 'one-is-esteemed', 'one-is-noble', 'one-is-popular', 'one-is-strong/powerful', but most importantly 'one-is-not-helpless/fragile.'
- There is a desire/need to possess.
- In some cases, there is also the tendency to seek a certain continuity and/or immortality.
Whatever the case or cases might be, seconds-minutes-hours-weeks-months-years count, and real lives spent real human time, or one could argue, waste time.
I personally have witnessed and seen a cousin of mine in his young twelve-thirteen years of age, spent up to twelve hours playing online games in a single stretch. Breaking only to eat, shower, and pee, and that only when forced by his mom. He could stay up to 02:30 AM.
And I, personally, have gone through that, and more. Spending up to 17 to 20 hours playing online game in a single stretch. It was this, and other experiences that would occasionally struck me in my mind that 'something is definitely not right.'
The human inside me felt that my cousin should not be doing what he has been allowed to do. Entertainment is all right, but that does not mean addicting and obsessing over it. To a certain degree, I would agree that it is better he spent hours playing online games rather than out there getting involved in criminal activities, drugs, or what-nots. But there must be a certain degree of control and discipline as well.
Control and discipline, if not evoked from within us, then, must be exacted by our closest elder kins, whether that be our older sibling, uncle and aunt, or parents. It is no surprise to see the father and mother being inconsistent with one another when dealing with their child. Mixed signals from the parents confuse and create conflict inside the child. Further, a parent or parents that ignore, or refused to acknowledge and mete out a certain degree of control and discipline upon the child, might be damaging the child's healthy growth prospect.
A possible version of the ideal and responsible system that exercises limited control, but one which may possibly create complications, would be the following:
- A registration system that compulsorily demands the user who registers to register a real ID.
- If the user that registers falls under a certain age group, then the parent or parents approval system kicks in, requiring one of the parents to register on behalf of the child by inputting his/her office/cell number, e-mail and ID.
- If the user falls into a certain age group, say in-between eight to sixteen, or eight to eighteen, the system would limit the online playing hours of the user to, say, three or five hours a day during the weekday, and five to eight hours during the weekend and national holidays.
- If the user of a certain age-group tries to logon or access the online game during a certain period of time, say anywhere from 10:00 PM to 13:00 PM, the system would bar or prohibit the user from logging-in.
If such system is enacted, would the system helps to curb or control the addiction and obsession over online games? Probably not. For human beings to change, to really change permanently a habit, character, attitude, way of thinking, the need or desire to change must come from within. If it comes from within, the change would last longer compared to if the change was enforced or forced by external factor. But prior for the inner self to stir and decide to carry out the change, usually an external factor or factors come into play to stimulate the mind, the heart, and possible the inner heart.
I am writing this not because I want to show or prove I am smart alec. I write this because somewhere inside of me, I feel a certain degree of concern/worry. Inadvertently, whether we like it or not, we as the individual and a collective of individuals help shape, define, and create our realities and our future. There are actions and consequences, and all sourced from choices, in which the individual or individuals that are the wiser, more experienced and responsible of us, can ponder and decide upon.
