The popularity of online games comes with the problem of addiction, which often turns such software into an enemy of human interaction.
"I was dumped by a girlfriend once because of my online game addiction," said Aditya Wibisono, 24, a professional e-sport critic and writer from Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.
Aditya said he was absorbed in a DotA binge during a semester break to the point that he did not have time to answer texts or pick up phone calls for weeks. DotA, less commonly referred to by its full name Defense of the Ancients, is a popular multiplayer online battle game that has been around since the mid-2000s. It demands focus, strategy and teamwork.
"Although I was not cheating with another girl, my girlfriend thought playing DotA day and night was equal to cheating," he said. "After being dumped I was sad for a while, then I went back to playing DotA."
Peter Rumondor, 26, a bank employee, said online games were extremely demanding, because they involved several people in difderent areas and therefore cannot be paused.
"For example, Counter Strike, my favorite game, only gives you a one-minute time-out in the middle of a match. Usually that is used to arrange the strategy with your team, so indeed it would be impossible to respond to other people and the situation outside the game," said Peter.
"Most gamers do not want to be away from the keyboard too long, because the character you are playing would stay on the ground idling while the other team members gain force to win. You will make your team lose if you are away from the keyboard," he said.
Ray Jonathan, 23, a resident of Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang, and avid online gamer, said he allocated one or two days off in a week specifically to play games. "I cannot allocate just several hours a day to play, because the battles happen continuously," he said.
Game developers have acknowledged and warned players of addiction.
Vainglory, a multiplayer online battle arena game, sends autimatic pop-up notifications reading, "Don't neglect your loved ones for Vainglory :-)" when players load a match.
"Online games require teamwork, and most of the time we recruit strangers online to join our team," said Peter, adding that online games were an alternative social platform.
Ray said he found new friends from around the world by playing games online, "I enjoy the interaction with new friends from Thailand and Singapore while playing the game," he said.
Aditya said gamers nowadays could converse and recruit team members through a chat application designed specifically for gamers named Discord. "It's a social media platform where we can chat, video-call and even share songs," he said, adding that he and his online friends could listen to the same songs while joining forces in battle.
Aditya said online gaming, like any other hobby, could be a professional occupation.
Good gamers could join tournaments as e-sport athletes and win billions of rupiah in prize money or even obtain salary from professional leagues, he said. "Indonesia's gaming scene is thriving, and it's a good time for new gamers to earn a career professionally as athletes," he said.
However, being a professional athlete means dedicating more time to playing games, which could further impair communication with one's surroundings,
University of Indonesia (UI) communications lecturer Devie Rahmawati said it was true that online gaming had its virtues.
"I conducted a study on 152 online gamers in Greater Jakarta over three years. Only 10 percent of them met the traits of typical gamers portrayed by the mainstream media: being anti-social, having abnormal life patterns and lacking plans for the future," she said (gis
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
"I was dumped by a girlfriend once because of my online game addiction," said Aditya Wibisono, 24, a professional e-sport critic and writer from Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.
Aditya said he was absorbed in a DotA binge during a semester break to the point that he did not have time to answer texts or pick up phone calls for weeks. DotA, less commonly referred to by its full name Defense of the Ancients, is a popular multiplayer online battle game that has been around since the mid-2000s. It demands focus, strategy and teamwork.
"Although I was not cheating with another girl, my girlfriend thought playing DotA day and night was equal to cheating," he said. "After being dumped I was sad for a while, then I went back to playing DotA."
Peter Rumondor, 26, a bank employee, said online games were extremely demanding, because they involved several people in difderent areas and therefore cannot be paused.
"For example, Counter Strike, my favorite game, only gives you a one-minute time-out in the middle of a match. Usually that is used to arrange the strategy with your team, so indeed it would be impossible to respond to other people and the situation outside the game," said Peter.
"Most gamers do not want to be away from the keyboard too long, because the character you are playing would stay on the ground idling while the other team members gain force to win. You will make your team lose if you are away from the keyboard," he said.
Ray Jonathan, 23, a resident of Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang, and avid online gamer, said he allocated one or two days off in a week specifically to play games. "I cannot allocate just several hours a day to play, because the battles happen continuously," he said.
Game developers have acknowledged and warned players of addiction.
Vainglory, a multiplayer online battle arena game, sends autimatic pop-up notifications reading, "Don't neglect your loved ones for Vainglory :-)" when players load a match.
"Online games require teamwork, and most of the time we recruit strangers online to join our team," said Peter, adding that online games were an alternative social platform.
Ray said he found new friends from around the world by playing games online, "I enjoy the interaction with new friends from Thailand and Singapore while playing the game," he said.
Aditya said gamers nowadays could converse and recruit team members through a chat application designed specifically for gamers named Discord. "It's a social media platform where we can chat, video-call and even share songs," he said, adding that he and his online friends could listen to the same songs while joining forces in battle.
Aditya said online gaming, like any other hobby, could be a professional occupation.
Good gamers could join tournaments as e-sport athletes and win billions of rupiah in prize money or even obtain salary from professional leagues, he said. "Indonesia's gaming scene is thriving, and it's a good time for new gamers to earn a career professionally as athletes," he said.
However, being a professional athlete means dedicating more time to playing games, which could further impair communication with one's surroundings,
University of Indonesia (UI) communications lecturer Devie Rahmawati said it was true that online gaming had its virtues.
"I conducted a study on 152 online gamers in Greater Jakarta over three years. Only 10 percent of them met the traits of typical gamers portrayed by the mainstream media: being anti-social, having abnormal life patterns and lacking plans for the future," she said (gis
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
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