Don't Befriend or Date Gamers, Says International Author

International author Ali A. Rizvi has launched a broadside against men who play actively play video games, saying people should not befriend, date or have children with them.

Rizvi, a Canadian secular humanist writer and podcaster who writes a column for the Huffington Post, also said video games give young men the illusion of accomplishment without the risk.

"Instead of working out and getting in shape, they get to choose avatars who are tall, strong, and ripped.

"Instead of driving awesome cars, beating out their competition, and getting beautiful women in real life, they get to do it all not just on a screen, but in VR, where the illusion feels even more real, despite being utterly non-existent," Rizvi said in a Facebook post recently.

Rizvi said gamers accumulate points onscreen that have no real value instead of making, investing, and growing their money in real life.

"Instead of actually standing up for themselves and defending their families, they get to fight and defeat fake enemies created by talented animators — without getting so much as a scratch on themselves and no real risk of getting hurt," he added.

Likening video games to "internet porn" and "dating apps", Rizvi said these male gamers are not only deceiving others but also themselves.

"Video games enable these guys to fake achievement and traditional masculine success because they are too lazy to do it in real life... no wonder there’s so much overlap in the gamer and incel communities."

Rizvi said men who focused on their goals and accomplished real things in real life would be "better and richer" than any of their "zombie" counterparts.

"There’s nothing wrong with playing video games once in a while, but the fact that a handful of gamers on YouTube and Twitch are making gazillions of dollars (thanks to millions and millions of these zombified, pseudo-masculine addicts compulsively watching them) should tell you everything you need to know about where things are headed."

Rizvi ended his Facebook post by saying that people should not befriend, date or have children with gamers for "the sake of the future of our species".