Game Widow

By Wendy Kays

Is your loved one constantly monopolizing your computer or TV to play video games? Is your schedule constantly set back by entreaties of ?five more minutes? or ?let me find a save point? If so, you... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1934454265
• ISBN13: 9781934454268
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Synergy Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Video games can be much fun, but too much of anything is a bad thing

Video games can be much fun, but too much of anything is a bad thing. "Game Widow" draws on the stories of spouses whose relationships have taken quite the beating due to the others excessive gaming habits. With much advice for neglected spouses who are dealing with either relationships broken beyond repair or having hope for recovery, "Game Widow" is support that many women need when it feels like they've been thrown aside for a video game.

From J. Kaye's Book Blog

"Game Widow" by Wendy Kays, is about video game addiction, its causes and solutions. She knows about this first-hand. As Kays writes, 'shortly after I married my husband- the week after the honeymoon, in fact - he changed from the love of my life into a bad roommate." Her husband was a developer for the well-known video game SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals during that time worked 14 to 16 hours days then came home and played video games. "Welcome to being a game widow", he said. Mrs. Kays decided to find out what a game widow was, and that started her research into video games and addiction of them. This book is the result of her investigations into the video gaming industry, additions, compulsive behavior, interventions and treatments. She is not a professional. The book is written in an easy-to-read layman's style with plenty of first-hand stories and practical real-life suggestions. After overcoming two addictions myself, alcohol and tobacco, I was really curious why video games would be a 'real' or even serious addiction. Between 2000 and 2005, there was only one adult death related to video games in the entire U.S.. Compare that to any Friday night's alcohol related deaths, or the fires and deaths caused by cigarette fires and you see my initial skepticism. Game Widow not only explains why this can be an addiction, but also brings up political, legal and social issues that some video games such as Second Life are creating. The issue is it is another reality that influences this reality. For example, in World of Warcraft, some gamers are earning money by creating a character and building up its power to sell to another gamer. Barack Obama has even put his Presidential political ads into several popular games. And Pennsylvania lawyer is suing the publisher of the rapidly growing online world Second Life, alleging the company unfairly confiscated tens of thousands of dollars worth of his virtual land and other property. For anyone who knows people who play, or anyone who doesn't know anything about the video gaming industry, this book should be one to read. "Game Widow" proved to me the real of potential dangers of video game addiction.

A Book That Perhaps Will Revolutionize Our Perspective About Virtual Games

As Wendy Kays points out in her Game Widow, video games are not just for the fifteen to thirty-five-year old males, it has now successfully leaped from consoles and personal computers to mobile phones, game systems and personal data assistants. Consequently, their customers now have spread to males and females of all ages. There are even grandparents who are hooked who not only buy the games for themselves but also for their grandchildren. Did you know, as Kays mentions, that in 2006 Americans alone purchased close to $13.5 billion in console, portable, and PC game hardware. You may probably ask yourself what seduces all of these people who spend oodles of money and devote countless hours playing with all types of virtual games that in some instances have quite an impact on their lives as well as the lives of others? Kays one hundred and nineteen page investigation of the subject matter answers these questions and many more. Divided into six chapters, Game Widow delves into such topics as why do wives lose out to their husband's obsession with virtual games, are these games really addictive or deadly, can we call the Video Game Industry evil, what does the future hold for these games, what actions can we take, and where do I find up-to-date information. The study is the result of Kays six years of marriage to a game designer, hundreds of conversations with developers, researchers, academics, psychologists, and medical personnel, and thousands of hours of experimental game play. What is quite interesting about Game Widow is that Kays discloses that when she first heard the term, there wasn't any information online or in the bookstore on what this problem meant or how to cope with it. As a result, she had to figure it out for herself and it was either that or annul her marriage. The latter was not an option for her. Game Widow allocates significant ink to what attracts and holds gamers' attention. Kays quotes Rich Vogel, former vice president of production at Sony Online Entertainment, who, at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference stated that basically the foremost factors of the glue, as he described them, are a unique persona, achievement, ownership, relationships, immersion and dynamic. All of these elements are further illustrated, explored and analysed in order to give us a full picture in the understanding of the magnetism of these games. In addition, Kays supplies her readers with several ideas as to how to deal with personal relationships when these games infringe on a couple or family's daily life. Kays overview of the subject matter reminds us that these video games are no longer just games but they are also perils that may be waiting at our doorstep and may have far reaching implications that are societal, financial, legal, political and academic. Unlike the initial two-dimensional ones, today we have games that can be played in an entire new manner and at a whole new level of depth. As pointed out, many are lived instead of