Chapter 11: I'll Only Go to Level 10

Gilsdorf opens the chapter by describing a scene where a mother overtakes her daughter’s video game and falls into a deep love and obsession, connecting to many gamers around the world today. Video games are growing in popularity every second. Even Obama advertised his campaign through video games because of their popularity. Society deems video games as bad (because of things like online rape, or violence) and accuses gamers of being too introverted. However, video games actually act as outlets and are more complicated and often misconceived.

He interviews Priestly, the women addict, who lets WOW into her real world and make her a “better person.” She discussed how she lets her avatar represent herself and explained how sometimes getting lost in the game had negative effects, leading to her expect to look like her avatar when she saw herself in the mirror.

Video gaming has expanded at a rapid rate from arcades to home-played, 1D to 3D, and single player to multiplayer games. Gaming has become a form of mass entertainment, attracting most teenagers. Some games even continue adapting and changing after gameplay has stopped.

Gilsdorf gets so lost in one game with Priestly that he begins to describe the scene as if it was in real life. By talking to and describing each character, he shows us how absorbing video games can be. He talks about the relationships in gaming, how some players are mean and play solo just to manipulate other players, but how some players use teamwork and develop lasting relationships online, like how one man gets upset when he can’t play with one of his friends anymore. He finds out that video games act as an outlet from real life because they give us an opportunity to win, since we have many opportunities to lose in life.

In conclusion, Priestly explains how her video game finding had made her “more her” because it helped her get away from real life troubles. It thus helped her find her inner happiness, showing how video games can be addicting, but can have positive effects.

By Antonio Lobao