On a more personal note, I would like to share with you my personal experience with fantasy and video games. I had a number of traumas in my youth that caused me a lot of pain. I became withdrawn and did not have a lot of friends. I was shy and meek. I had no trust of people around me and so I became withdrawn into fantasy novels written by Terry Brooks. At about the same time I discovered R.A. Salvatore and his Dark Elf trilogy. These novels are written under “Forgotten Realms, Dungeons and Dragons.” They follow along with the fantasy world created in the “Dungeons and Dragons” gaming series. I read all that I could find and completely escaped into this world. I started to believe that I was born in the wrong time and that I would have been more comfortable having been born in a different age or world altogether.

The books led me to one of the first “Forgotten Realms” video games produced by SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc.) called “Secret of The Silver Blades” in 1990. This was my first experience with a role playing computer game and I was instantly hooked. I never actually made it to the end of the game because I bought the sequel as soon as the next release came out and dropped the previous game. I remember going outside to do chores or hang out with friends and then at night I would stay up all night playing these games. I don’t think I have to tell you that my grades began to suffer. I was a sophomore in high school, as my gaming progressed, my grades crashed. My parents would not upgrade our computer, so I was pushed outside. I became an avid rock climber who smoked pot, ate psychedelic mushrooms and dropped LSD. I started smoking cigarettes and my rock climbing took a back seat to the “party” life.

I settled in with a decent job as a cabinet maker and built myself my first gaming computer. From that moment I played mostly fantasy (Dungeons and Dragons), and first person shooter games like “Call of Duty” and “Battlefield 2142.” I became trapped in a cycle of staying up late and all weekend playing games, drinking, and smoking pot. I was not alone and had a pseudo support group once I was able to connect to other people living online as well. They were all doing the same thing for the most part.

I was just coasting along at this point. I was not getting ahead in my career. My marriage was failing, and most importantly, I had no relationship with Jesus. It was not until I lost my marriage and job that I saw what a time commitment gaming required. I wondered where I would be today if I had spent that time on other things. Instead of amassing 1,500 hours playing “Bethesda's Oblivion,” I could have read any number of books, learned a language, who knows? That amounts to about 3 hours a night for a year and half. On weekends it was much more. It was just time thrown away! I had a good time with absolutely nothing to show for it. This is time that I will never get back. Satan stole it from me and I allowed it to happen.

I have so much more time available to me now. I hope that parents out there who have little children will come to realize that while games are used as a babysitter, these games are handicapping them. Children are actually regressing in intelligence.

I had a chance to work in a client’s house which homeschooled their children. During my time in the home I witnessed the following: The son who was about 15 had certain projects to do for school. Well, when his parents were not supervising him, he would use the “alt-tab” command to cycle between his game and school work. It was comical at first because as I would walk by and he would “alt-tab” to the school work thinking I was his mother. It was obvious that he was breaking a rule imposed by the parents but the urge to play was so strong that he could not help it. After about three weeks of this walking past him, I could see that his nerves were shot and he was exhausted from constantly thinking he might be busted. I began to feel sorry for this boy and prayed for him because I could see the bondage he was in. He could not stop playing; it was always pulling him back. I could also tell that when it came time for him to do a chore such as cutting the grass or helping grandma down the street, he was grumpy about it. He would hang his head, put on some headphones and race through the chore just to get back in the game seat. I am sure he was happy to see us finish our job so he could sneak the gaming with impunity.

I also noticed that he could not do his chores without headphones on. This is something I have seen more than once in other people, and it tells me that there are thoughts that they don't want to face. They would rather zone out in music than face their inner man. Any amount of silence and they begin to squirm.

My advice to parents is this. Educate yourself on what your children are doing and what they are listening to. The Internet is available almost everywhere these days. Learn how to use the parental controls on the TV. Limiting exposure will push them towards more worthwhile pastimes like sports and education, and of course, introduce them to Jesus!