The cultures of marijuana and video games have long overlapped, but is the stoner stereotype of a bong next to a controller played out? Denver Post A&E reporter John Wenzel joins marijuana editor Ricardo Baca on the Cannabist Show to discuss the interaction in the above video.
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Essays and interviews by John Wenzel:
An inside look at this match made in heaven
Video games bring me joy and compel me to sink hundreds of hours and dollars into them each year. I don’t always consume them with weed, but when I do it’s a uniquely satisfying combo. They provide a feeling of control, an escape from the anxieties of daily life, and an interactive fantasy world in which I can do anything I want — usually with the satisfaction of having learned and mastered something, but without any real-world consequences when I fail. READ MORE
A sense of spirituality
If you’ve had a religious experience while playing video games and smoking weed, you’re not alone. And, as it turns out, you’re not insane either. Plenty of gamers flock to their controllers and bongs because video games provide a release. We use them to relax and turn off our conscious brains for a few hours. But what exactly are we turning on? Q&A with Liel Liebovitz, an assistant professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Liebovitz’s book “God in the Machine: Video Games and Religion” looks at the spiritual component of gaming. READ MORE
Why I hate multiplayer video games
Sure, all’s fair in love and Grand Theft Auto, a ridiculously violent game in a ridiculous, fictionalized Los Angeles where bullets and lives are cheap. I respawned in a different part of the map and he found me again. And again. And again. This player, whose avatar had leveled up far beyond mine and who seemed hell-bent on cleaning the map of shaky GTAV-online newbies like myself, kept finding me and blowing me up. I could have persevered and gained strength. I could have tried to communicate and form an alliance with this fool. But I just gave up. And the thing is, it wasn’t just annoyance I was feeling. It was fear. READ MORE
“The Gamer’s Doctor” talks hand injuries, weed & respect
Dedicated gamers are more likely to spend hours in one position as they forgo bathrooms breaks and meals while virtually attacking hordes of zombies and leaping over bottomless chasms. That’s led to an increasing number of serious repetitive stress injuries, according to Glendale, Calif.-based orthopedic surgeon Dr. Levi Harrison. He feels gaming injuries are a neglected problem. How does a gamer stay limber and injury-free? Harrison offers tips. READ MORE
Do pot and video games feed each others’ addictive qualities?
Pot and video games are, on their own, well-known for their ability to devour massive quantities of time. They’ve also separately been shown to be addictive to the right kind of personality. They press our pleasure buttons and give us a sense of euphoria and achievement, of high excitement with low stakes. And they motivate us to seek out more of the same. So is there an inherently higher danger of addiction when combining the two? And do we really want to know the truth about how they interact? READ MORE
“Broad City” star Ilana Glazer even kookier in “Chronic Gamer Girl”
Fans of Comedy Central’s “Broad City” know that Ilana Glazer frequently plays the fool to Abbi Jacobson’s more responsible, put-upon straight-woman. But the cannabis-loving comedian and writer gets to be herself in her web series “Chronic Gamer Girl,” where she loves to talk in accents, gobble crazy junk food and play vintage video games. In this Q&A, Glazer shares her favorite games, munchies and why Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalker” game completely blew her mind. READ MORE
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