There are many good things to say about video games (after many studies about positive effects on brain development), but I've come to realize that there is also a huge downside: games satisfy your yearning for accomplishments and there seems to be a finite amount of that (one could say that they give you a cheap, false sense of accomplishment, even though what people achieve in games are often real accomplishments). So by achieving much in games, you will have less "hunger" left to pursue achievements elsewhere and this will potentially affect careers, relationships, self-development.
I have been stressing this to everyone I work with who have kids somewhat younger than myself for over a year now (I'm 24) when I realized how many of my friends ruined their lives playing video games. I have played a lot of video games since I was 3 years old and I still do every day, but I made a conscience effort to not let it affect me too much (although my grades in college could have been better). My brother, on the other hand, has been so obsessed with World of Warcraft that at the age of 22 he works part time at a department store without even a high school degree because he stopped caring about anything else in his life. Another of my friends spent 4 years coasting in college never choosing a major until he finally dropped out and now has $28k in debt with nothing to show for it but his own World of Warcraft characters.
Playing video games is good for you in moderation (it is what led me into a career in software), but I always try to stress to parents how easy it is for kids to get lost in the feeling of achievement. My brother is always talking about how he has "the most gold of anyone on the server" as though he is set for life but even now when my parents and I constantly try to remind him that his life isn't that great he is so far gone that there is no hope. Why be successful in real life when it is so easy to be "successful" in a fantasy world?
I played video games since 1976 with typing in code from books and magazines. Some programs were on tape and took 30 minutes to load.
In the late 1990's I wrote for websites strategies and even won several tournaments and won hundreds in cash and some perks. I even attended the first World Cybergames as a MVP.
In that time 1993 - 2003, I went to college, went to 7 semesters got a 3.95685 gpa (I could scream still why I got a B+ in my last class). I also started a non-profit organization gave almost 100,000 pounds of food to poor children in Florida. Started a record studio in 2000 and helped start two bands' careers that ended with them touring the world and landing on MTV. I ended up thousands poorer but it was a good experience and learned I am not the personality type to sit behind a mixing board and computer.
My Rules)
1) If someone asks me to do something in real life that I am doing on the computer, real life wins and I do it. So anyone says let's play basketball I play basketball.
2) I worked out 6 days a week for 20 minutes to 1.5 hours.
3) I volunteered about 5-10 hours a week.
4) I read about 2-3 books a month (Altered between fiction and non-fiction)
5) I did not watch tv or movies (instead of doing passive entertainment I always want to do active entertainment)
All of these went out the door when I got married in 2003. My wife HATES video games :) So now I play very sparingly. I started playing board games and those = video games to her. So I love my wife, kids and life so I choose not to annoy her with playing video games. I feel like I am less accomplished without games. I felt that they propelled me to always be an active person mentally. I missed them but I am guessing I will not be a active video game player in the future. Video games benefited my life.
I think the following separates you from the average games player and makes your story (interesting as it is) out of place:
> In the late 1990's I wrote for websites strategies and even won several tournaments and won hundreds in cash and some perks. I even attended the first World Cybergames as a MVP.
That's a productive career and time well spent; it is a fact that not everybody can have that outcome. (This reminds me of all the guys at school obsessing over football; the effect under discussion is not limited to computer games.)
For the average game player, time spent playing games is time not spent working towards some other achievement. This is precisely why I pretty much stopped playing games years ago and focus on spending my free time on other goals.
Maybe your brother 'lost' himself into world of warcraft for a reason. I am not saying that the apparent consequence of his gaming habits haven't lead him to be lacking socially accepted success in life, I am merely suggesting that your brother might have been in a completely different mental place than you and your family.
That being said, I do agree that moderation is probably key to balance in life.
