Which leads to an interesting conundrum — to stay competitive, you must design the best games (most enthralling etc) –> which will damage the consumers of those games, eventually leading to erosion of the consumer market. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t?

point 1) A while back when there was a scare going around that computer games could encourage your child to develop epilepsy (I don’t know if this is medically possible… somehow I doubt it). The Industry dealt with the problem by
a) Warning people and suggesting breaks.
b) In some games the game itself was programmed to stop after so many hours of play and suggest you take a break.
c) They sold (note: SOLD) special cut out devices to concerned parents which would simply cut power to the game after a timelimit expired.

Right now, the concern isn’t epilepsy, but functioning-in-a-way-that-wont-damage-you like, say, not eating red hot coals or jumping off scyscrapers.

Sadly, functioning-in-a-way-that-wont-damage-you, along with manners and respect, are considered unnecessary to be taught in schools these days, but people still complain when the kids just don’t know it.

point 2) The games industry is not trying to encourage you to sit and stare at a screen and ignore everything around you. Far from it, monotony is not a desirable component. Nintendo have been quickest to cotton on that Games now are, like sport or cinema or anything, a way to meet people, make friends, share interests and generally provide scared kids with a way of getting in touch with the world around them. All of them are doing it now.

I could write this better but I have to get back to work. I’m sure this counts as good use of my time though.

I can certainly remember getting a game (I think it was ThemePark which puts it between 1991 and 93) for Christmas one year and my parents being worried that it would give me epilepsy. My brother and I were only allowed to play for an hour at a time (and him playing for an hour and then me playing for an hour was not an option – we tried it and the rules got changed to “only be in the same room as the PC for an hour at a time”)

I mean I know Japan is a bit isolationist for you, but really. Maybe your time would be better spent learning the language and making friends than pissing off those left at home so you really do end up with no options at all of where to live when you come back?