Starting from Atari, video games on TV screen have entered the home as a means of entertainment. About 40 years ago, I spent an entire night glued to a monitor screen playing "dungeon and dragons". That was in the 24hour computer centre in the Science Building on campus. It was also the very last time I played any electronic game.
Here in a coastal city along the Eastern side of Borneo, it seemed that every other teenager is playing some smart phone game. That day as I walked past a Malay eating place two Malay teenagers were playing "Wang Tzi" (The prince) at 7am on a week day. It is a game from China.
Let us follow the electronic path of a sixteen year old boy. Dad bought him a smart phone for his 12th birthday. He made full use of it playing games of all kinds until the phone was worn out. Then he substituted each phone with his dad's cast off. By the time he is 14, dad confiscated his phone for weekdays because he was by then a game addict who would lose sleep to win. But dad did not know that he secretly saved up his allowance to buy a second hand phone from his school mate. He was smart enough to hide his illicit phone in his friend's house which is within walking distance from his home. Therefore even on weekdays he has access to games in the afternoons.
I heard from his friends that he was putting his game accounts for sale to raise fund to purchase new phone. By now he has invested many years of his free time to rise up in the gaming hierarchy and he has spent perhaps $1,400 into buying all kinds of accessories and software peripherals popular to teenagers in this part of the world. He is asking for $500 for each account. We will see if there is any takers!
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