Video Games As Isolating Activities

Often people assume that playing computer games or video games is a very anti social activity, and is a solo activity which isolates an individual from the real world, cuts them off from other people and then allows them to sit on their own in a small dark room hitting keys over and over again in order to mindlessly destroy anything that moves on their screen.

In fact, nothing could be very much further from the truth, and in fact those people who play computer games on their own, completely cut off from interaction with other people in any way are such a minority group it may prove hard to find anyone to actually put in to it. Quite apart from not being a solo activity, recent research has found that over 66% of people who play computer or video games do so with their friends, either sat with them advising, or actually with a second handset competing in the same game. 30% of gamers play with their brothers or sisters and a quarter of all gamers play with either their parents or their partners.

This completely goes against the argument that most people lay on their own, and shows that the majority of people play as a social game, in various combinations and ways.

Even taking in to account that there may be 20% to 30% of people who do play games without someone else being physically with them, it is still not possible to generalise isolation by suggesting that these people are cut off from any kind of social interaction.

Many games these days are what is referred to as multi player, meaning that more than one person can play the game at the same time, and with a very wide number of the most popular video games being online too, this means that all players will be competing against and taking part with other real people, rather than the computer.
In fact, many of these online multiplayer games have relatively little input from the computer, and far more input from the people playing the game against each other.
One of the main requirements of many of these multiplayer online games is that people group together and try to work out strategies and tactics to overcome certain obstacles, opponents and challenges.
This will require great teamwork, very in depth discussions involving roles and group work, and will require people to work together as individuals and as a team. As a result, many players become part of a more stable and permanent group which means that there are people known to each other ready to take on challenges without having to start all over each time analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.
These groups can become social groups, meeting outside of the game, and there are many examples where people who have met through these groups have gone on to develop meaningful friendships and relationships beyond the game. Video games are most certainly not isolating - for many, they open doors to friendships that the real world may never have offered.