The TED video claims that my generation feels more through video games than through the real world.
Though I do not fully agree with this statement, sadly I have to acknowledge that he does have a point. There becomes this emotional investment the user develops as the game progresses. It starts as an escape until the user buys into it too much. Like the TED video stated, if the users plays the game enough they believe they can actually snowboard, ride a motorcycle or kill a man. The boundary between real and fantasy blurs.
An absolute shocking, disgusting and extreme example of this is when a South Korean couple was placed under arrest for starving their three-month-old baby because they were consumed with raising a child virtually on popular “role-playing game” Prius Online.
(Here is the article from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8551122.stm)
Even here the article says “…they ‘indulged themselves online’ to escape from reality.”
I understand we need a break from our problems. That is the same reason people read magazines and books. It still leaves me wondering though what makes reality so tough now that we need a mental vacation to this extreme?
Kaitlanmitchell's Blog 
That’s a really good point. I don’t see a problem with playing video games to escape for a while, but as game designers make their games more and more realistic it is becoming harder for people to draw the line between the game and reality. When the games crude with basic graphics and unrealistic scenarios it was easy to draw this line. Now not so much. I think the designers need to work to find a way to make it obvious that a game is just that – a game, not reality.