MANILA, Philippines–“DOTA, or any role-playing game for that matter, may be fun, but it won’t be able to teach you the skills you need for your first job, or for higher education.”
This was the message of AKYBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel during the commencement exercises of the University of the Philippines Cebu College, a copy of which was sent to media.
Hontiveros-Baraquel said that online games should be treated as an addictive game and should be played in moderation.
“You may protest and extol the virtues of being Mogul the Axe for five hours, but unless you are in the brink of developing gaming software and needs the game to test your theories, then play DOTA or any RPG in moderation,” she said.
Hontiveros-Baraquel spoke against online games during a part where she told graduates about the skills necessary to find jobs, as well as the means to survive the current economic situation.
Instead, she stressed the need for the graduates to take up a sport to remain physically fit.
Nevertheless, Hontiveros-Baraquel praised the availability of online search engine Google.com for being an “oracle” that allows people to search for specific topics.
She added that Google is also more efficient than the Philippine government’s own Department of Labor when looking for jobs.
“What’s true with Google is somehow true with life. There are certain keywords that we must learn to live by. The more we hone our keywords, the better the search result is,” she said.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:02 am
just to clear my comment below, I have nothing against Rep. Baraquel and her message to my fellow UP students. I entirely agree too that there should be moderation ^^. My only concern is not to tell people “not to play” online games. That is quite an exaggeration on anyone’s part.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Yes, the problem is not with the games itself (so you cannot say that online games are the “evils” per se). Moderation and balance are the keys to having fun with online games as well as doing well in your studies.
There are also a lot of values you can learn from online games / team games. There’s teamwork, valuing other’s opinions, friendship, trust… things that most people nowadays need. Sometimes they just work for the money disregarding the fact that we have workmates to interact with too.
Also, gaming does not purely have negative aspects. As these reactors before me said , there’s a lot of things to gain here and I know former gamers who found their job because of online games and are now part of big companies. Some of them are even running their own companies and own internet cafe chains.
Clearly, some politicians should give an open mind to things they think only give useless entertainment. Sometimes, there are more to a thing than that which meets the eye.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:13 am
[...] sa mga estudyante ng University of the Philippines Cebu College ukol sa paglalaro ng online games. Naisulat ito ng Hackenslash at medyo madaming nagalit kay Baraquel. Sinasabi ng iba na dahil sa video games, doon sila na [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Dahil sa online gaming.. yumayaman malaki ang kita ng export sa Korea and China! She should do research first before bashing the entire industry!
“Won’t teach skills for your first job”… at least 4 kinds of JOB sa mga MMORPGS and more! Online worlds simulate life in a virtual setting, where kids can practice virtues!
Ba’t hindi niya na-bash yung mga tele-serye, at mga Eat Bulaga and Wowowee na wala naman katuturan???
Video games and Online games help kids be more techy, which we definitely need to learn as this is the INFORMATION AGE and NOT THE STONE AGE WHERE AKBAYAN BELONGS!!!
June 9th, 2009 at 1:14 am
The problem is that most pre-teen and teen players have no self control when it comes to playing games. Not everyone can be a cyber-athlete. A lot of players will just be fodder. There are many cautionary tales about students ranging from high school to med-school who have flunked out due to excessive playing. The moral of the story- level up ka muna sa RL boi!