Then I got my Xbox 360. The first game I ever played with it was the Kung Fu Panda that it came with. When I saw the graphics, I was amazed. I played and I played and I played. Most of my middle school and high school years were full of Call of Duty, Batman Arkham, Halo, Skyrim, and so many more games. I landed my first job and began spending much of my paycheck buying new games and upgrades for my Xbox. I have to say, there were multiple games that I have accumulated weeks of gameplay. I was addicted to them.
Then I stayed the weekend with my girlfriends family in New York and something strange happened. There was no television or Xbox in the room and I was driven to leave the room and connect with the people outside the door. My eyes were opened to the chains that a controller had around my hands.
Because of this, I made the hardest decision in my life to leave my Xbox and television at home when I came to college this year, I've begun understanding more and more about the effects of video games in my life.
This is what I learned about video games.
Video Games Can Be Addictive
When we do not regulate our time, we can easily find ourselves addicted to video games. Video games are continuously giving young people and adults an adventure that they never want to end. Without regulation, we are setting ourselves up for many hours and days and weeks and months of lukewarmness and lifelessness.
Video Games Can Destroy Relationships
I have accumulated many months of gameplay over the years in video games. MONTHS! And I know I'm not the worst out there. Months of time that I could have spent with my family, months that I could have spent with my friends were spent with virtual family and virtual friends. With relationships that never last longer than the story mode takes me. I spent countless hours building those relationships while neglecting the ones that last forever. I've spent hours trying to heal the broken hearts in a code of numbers while neglecting the broken people around me. I lost so many years due to video games that I wish I could get back.
Video Games Can Replace Your Reality
Sometimes video game addicts replace reality by purchasing an alternate reality. We think our real lives are so dull and meaningless compared to the lives that we can live inside a video game. I mean what is the point to the Sims video games? You do the exact same things that we do in real life, yet we choose who we love, who loves us, who to friend without conflict. Our lives within the video games become our reality and our reality become the virtual.
Video Games Can Become Your God
What do I mean? God told Moses that "you shall have no gods before me." Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength." How can we do this when all we do is play video games? And when we are away from the console, all we think about is the video game. When I would be in school, I would daydream about video games instead of think about God. When I would go home, I would play video games and forget to spend any time with God. I talked about video games and rarely mentioned God. Video games took the top spot in my priorities. I budgeted my time around my video games. They became my God and my life was making no progress.And my favorite principle.
PLAYING VIDEO GAMES IS NOT A SIN
After saying this, notice I used the word "can" in all of the other principles. Video games are healthy when they are regulated. I still play video games, but not near as much as I used to. Video games are great stress relievers when the world becomes too much. They're also FUN!
Video games only get in the way when you begin to stop progressing in your Christian walk. If video games are taking you away from your Jesus time and your relationship with God, cut off the time you spend playing. Be careful. We need to spend our lives honoring God. This means putting Him first in our lives.
Make a difference in the real world more than in the virtual world. And have fun playing!
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