World of Warcraft and Don Quixote

"In short, [Don Quixote] was soon so absorbed in these books that his nights were spent reading from dusk till dawn, and his days from dawn till dusk, until the lack of sleep and the excess of reading withered his brain, and he went mad. Everything he read in his books took possession of his imagination... That idea that this whole fabric of famous fabrications was real so established itself in his mind that no history in the world was truer for him" (Miguel de Cervantes, "Don Quixote: Penguin Classics" Part 1 Chapter 1 page 26-27).

In talking with my husband about this quote from "Don Quixote,"he, in an English Literature major, told me that people were afraid of reading up till the 18th century because they believed that it would ruin one's mind. This book was written in the 17th century, and the author, well aware of the superstitions of the people, could have gone both ways with this statement. Either it is a reflection of the ideologies in his time in the sense he firmly believed it, or it is his commentary on it and the book is playing with the idea of losing one's mind to literature. At first I was surprised when I read this and thought, "I can't believe people thought they would lose their minds if they read books, especially fiction." Then I looked at it again and saw the description of how people thought Don Quixote's mind was gone. Night becoming day and day becoming night in the sense that the sleep habits were reversed. Another thing that I took notice of was that these books took possession of his imagination and the world he would imagine as he read was more real to him than his own world. These symptoms of escapism match those who are addicted to games such as World of Warcraft, Halo, Sims and other games (especially role playing games.)

I speak of this addiction and obsession as one who has herself had to overcome the powers of the tempting games. My two weaknesses are for Sims and Civilization. I would spend hours late into the night, not looking away once, so enraptured in the world I was creating before me. Today, I tend to stay away from those games, otherwise I know I'd have a hard time running errands and maintaining my house and finishing school. I can relate with Don Quixote, but thankfully, I dropped it before I let my world become the game. Escapism is a real problem when it is uncontrolled. There is a movie that came out several years ago, "Surrogates" about this very issue. Balance is the key. Work and play. When it is all one or the other, we as humans can't handle the mental stress it can place on us and we become mad either way.