Video Gaming- BOON or BANE?

I was reading the newspaper the other day when I happened to glance upon a particularly interesting piece of news. A man in China dropped dead after a 3-day gaming binge. I can sense some eyebrows raising of those who are ardent video game supporters, questioning the validity of the news article and its pertinence over here. Just to qualms any doubts, I am an ardent video gamer myself, though nothing in the league of professional players, so I shared the same amount of skepticism as anyone belonging to the posse. As for people who have been criticizing the games since its inception, it was a feast and a valid point in the direction of showing where the gaming industry is leading us. The nebulous cloud of thoughts that were traversing my neural circuit could only be laid to rest if I was able to take one side, so I thought I should better investigate the case myself before I choose to take sides. This blog thus, from hereon will be dedicated to my findings about the pros and cons in order to characterize video gaming as a BOON or BANE.