It doesn't work that way in the "real" world.

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Computer games are often criticized, though not necessarily justifiably, for generating short attention spans in the kids who play them. The argument goes that through playing computer games we learn to expect that any action on our part will cause an almost immediate response within the game. As we become used to this immediacy, we become addicted to instant gratification, and fail to understand that in our lives outside of the game most processes require considerably more time to work themselves out. This computer game phenomenon is reminiscent of Polly, the girlfriend of the hero in Mordecai Richler's novel Cocksure referred to here two years ago, who lived as though in a movie, aware only of those parts of life that get filmed, but not of the actions that lead to, or follow, those photogenic scenes. Could repeated training inside simulated computer games also cause physicians to lose their awareness of the often lengthy periods of time necessary for real life scenarios to play themselves out?

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Go to: Virtual worlds, and real health.