Online Gaming - do YOU have a problem?

If you watch South Park (and you really should), you probably got a chuckle out of the episode featuring the online game "World of Warcraft," a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). Google "online gaming addiction" or a similar phrase, and you will find a wealth of speculation about how good or bad online gaming is for you.

The opinion scale seems to be tipped toward the "it's bad for you" side of the argument, but I suspect that it all depends on how much time you spend (waste?) living in a fantasy world on your computer. After all, too much of anything can be bad for you [he said, as he opened another beer].

China has reportedly cracked down on her citizens' online gaming habits (for their own good, mind you) by penalizing players' role-playing characters if they spend too much time playing the game.

"The new system will impose penalties on players who spend more than three hours playing a game by reducing the abilities of their characters."

Can you imagine?....You finally reach level 5, and the government takes away your power to cast spells! And they call it the People's Republic of China.

Harrumph!!