What was your first ever videogame?
The world’s first video game, Tennis for Two, was invented by American physicist William Higinbotham in 1958. I, however, have no video game experience. I neither play video games nor mahjong, the latter once dominating the social circles of my generation and those before.
Mahjong predates video games, originating in 19th-century Qing Dynasty China. A four-player game, it was a popular social activity and a staple of household gatherings. In the digital age, where Gen Z and Gen Alpha are largely tethered to screens rather than gathering in person, video games flourish among solo players and have evolved from an isolated hobby into a massive social platform.
Today, digitalisation means individualisation—pioneering via a sound control or a button press, forming a new mode of behaviour and a new social norm. Society is disintegrating amid technological advancement, gradually discarding the humanistic values of shared communities and neighbourly love. Children say hello to the screen but not in person. Characters in video games are buddies, yet familiar faces in real life are strangers.
Children I see at every Sunday church assembly never say “good morning” or “goodbye,” too busily engaged in their video games. I once asked why they liked playing, and received a unanimous response: wanting to win, and aspiring to pioneer every new game ahead of all players at all costs—loss of sleep, inactive school participation, poor examination performance. One said they travelled to Japan to capture their “first video game”—the newest edition—before other players.
Sadly, video games have become their ultimate tool for wish fulfilment unattainable in reality. Today, unconventional proofs of competency and mastery, or escape from mundane studies or unsatisfying jobs, are derived from virtual worlds. As such, gaming disorder exists among school children and unskilled labourers. Social studies reveal deeper causes underlying addiction to video games—preexisting conditions or personal core characteristics leading teens to develop a gaming disorder. Keith Hamm, writing for UCSB, reports that video game addiction in teens likely stems from preexisting mental health issues (27 August 2025).
So if a young man is so obsessed with online games that he has no heart for studies or work, the saying “Excessive attention to such trivia has completely sapped his will” will become his reality.
With the rise of smartphones, gaming has completely democratised the hobby and expanded its demographics to a multigenerational audience. Yet the impacts on lives are neglected, or not mediated by collective wisdom. We let the world lead us, allowing virtuality and selfish gratification to dictate today’s reality. Who is wise enough to say no to this probable humanity “terminator”? And who is here to guide and protect children—a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him (Psalm 127:3)?
Scripture tells us what brought about the downfall of Israel’s King Solomon, the wisest man of his time: his chasing the wind, riches, and life’s pleasures (Ecclesiastes 2:10–11). Likewise for teens today, pleasures from excessive video gaming may lead to other dysfunctional development: becoming choked, failing to mature, losing spiritual focus.
So may all seek pleasure from wisdom and gain eternal pleasures (Proverbs 16:9). My pleasure doesn’t come from video games; my pleasure comes from living a real life in Jesus Christ. May the poem below shed light on your reflection on real life’s pleasures.
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Phone — the Master
I have not woken up—but my mobile phone has.
Competitive games blast across my face.
The night has yet to pass—but my mind is wholly captured by the games.
My mobile phone programs my daily life.
Losing my mobile phone is equal to losing myself.
Three meals a day is my regular set, but I shall not eat without my games beside me.
Frequent changes to new mobile phones is the norm; catching the newest games is a life.
But the time gone by is not changeable; game over is over.
Walking to the end of my life,
I realise too much time has been wasted—
too much of my time wasted on my digital games.
