Apparently a boy in China became addicted to the World of Warcraft online game, tried to replicate a scene from it, and jumped to death from top of a building. The parents are angry and are trying to sue Blizzard, the company who developed the game. [Link]
I personally think this is quite ridiculous. Although I admit that games have sometimes grown out of hand with their content, subscription prices and addictiveness, it is still actual people who make the decision to buy and play these games.
In this case, the boy was allowed to play the game until he became addicted. Can you blame the developer for something such as this? Shouldn’t it be the parents’ responsibility to supervise and monitor their child, ensure that he doesn’t play too much, and not get addicted to these kinds of games? Shouldn’t they have given him a talking to about his apparent overindulgence in online gaming? Shouldn’t there be limitations from his parent on the amount of time he could spend online?
I believe that although gaming is a good way of relieving stress and enjoying life, too much of it is quite bad for your health and life; it makes you become enclosed and lack social interaction skills. The parents of this boy are trying to shift the blame to other people, when they should’ve realized that there’s nobody to blame but themselves.
The answer to kids becoming addicted to online activities isn’t shutting down all and everything that is online; it’s having responsible parents who explain the disadvantages of being cocooned up in a virtual world, and enforce rules to make sure these kids go out, enjoy other activities, do their homework and be around other people. It is the responsibility of parents to keep track of what their children are doing, instill moral values in them and make sure of their well being until they are ready to be on their own.
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