So I was watching this episode of Game Grumps…
…and as the name might imply, the commentary got pretty grumpy. A debate between Jon and Arin arises (around the 0:55 mark) about what type of experience World of Warcraft is. Jon believes Blizzard’s wildly popular MMO is fun times had by all – a social experience that can develop meaningful relationships; Arin, on the other hand, argues that it’s a manipulative drug of a game with no logical conclusion. Arin says the never-ending design of World of Warcraft is simply a greedy means of getting subscribers to keep playing the game and to keep paying the monthly fee. I think both sides have valid arguments, and this little debate got me thinking about the type of games I play and what effect they have on me. I can’t speak on the case of World of Warcraft since I’ve never played it, but I have played plenty of other games that are similar in nature.
The most recent WOW-esque game that comes to mind is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It’s essentially a massive fantasy world with hundreds of dungeons to explore and an infinite number of quests to embark on… and sometimes you shout “FUS RO DAH” at woodland creatures and hear about how some guard took an arrow in the knee. I love the endless fun that Skyrim provides, but I can definitely see why others are not too fond of this design choice. One reviewer has even gone so far as to call it “an empty illusion.” To be honest, he’s absolutely right. Skyrim is a major time investment, which involves hours of exploration and leveling up, yet because the game has no end, all of this work is meaningless. Like I said, I love Skyrim, but I did get that “empty illusion” feeling after a while. A VERY long while.
I’m not proud to admit this, but I’ve sunk well over a hundred hours into Skyrim, and I’ve invested about double that time in the previous entry in the Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion. I don’t take much pride in the time I’ve spent (some may say wasted) in these games, but I don’t see it as an addiction. Almost all of that game time has been spent on weekends and during summer or winter breaks. In other words, I’ve thus far been able to keep my priorities straight, playing video games only when I’m not preoccupied with other more important commitments. Of course, there are others who have not been able to practice such self-control, as video game addictions seem to be an increasingly prevalent problem among gamers, with RPGs and MMOs often being attributed as the source of said addiction.
With all that said, I think I fall in the middle of Arin and Jon’s debate. There are certainly manipulative never-ending games out there, especially when money plays such an important role, but I don’t think all of those types of games have such a malicious intent in mind. I also believe many people are capable of practicing moderation; gamers can definitely prevent their hobby from becoming an addiction.
Billy's Intro to Professional Comm Blog 
That’s a loaded question, and really it depends on the person. I know my brother prefers the shooters where it’s one action set piece after another, while I tend to like open world games like Assassin’s Creed, Fallout, and Skyrim…though Skyrim was definitely an ’empty illusion’. And I also put about 100 hours into this game, so I have experience on my side. When you start Skyrim, there are so many things to discover, and all of them are unique to a degree. Go to that cave and fight draugr for the dragon shout! Go and troll the giants! Find and kill a bear or troll that is annoying a local village. There was so much to do, and it was fun. But the problem with Skyrim was that all of that stuff you had to do eventually melded into one thing. They were no longer unique. Did you feel the same amount of fear or anticipation when you entered the same draugr infested cave for the 100th time? No. The problem with Skryim was that I was level 51 when I stopped, and I had run out of interesting things to do. The game had a big problem with quantity over quality, something that the Fallout and Assassin’s Creed games got right. Skyrim was a good game, but it wasn’t a great game, and I prefer a game where there is loads to do, but eventually the game ends on a high note. In the Fallout games, I honestly felt like each quest was unique and fun, and exploring was a joy. Skyrim eventually became bland, and I still had 29 levels to go.
Haha, I used to love shouting at random animals in Skyrim. Nothing is more satisfying than shouting “FUS RO DAH” at an elk and watching its body go flying off the edge of a cliff. And also, I just have to say: I LOVE JOE & MAC!