Being trapped in a mine sucks. It doesn’t suck so much when you are given supplies, contact to the outside world, and even entertainment devices while you await a season-long rescue. It totally sucks when you are told you cannot use some of those electronics you were just handed!
Those Chilean miners who are still trapped in a collapsed mine are in such a situation. Although they were given PSPs among other supplies to help pass the time before they are rescued (current estimates put their rescue in November), it has been reported that they are now barred from using the devices to play games and/or listen to music. According to the rescue team’s leading psychiatrist, Alberto Iturra Benavides, devices such as these tend to isolate the gamer/listener:
With earphones, if they’re listening to music and someone calls them, asking for help or to warn them about something, they’re not available…What they need is to be together.”
So, the miners are unable to play any sort of video games or listen to music privately. However, they can spend the majority of their 13 hours of free time each day watching carefully-selected (“not-depressing”) television programming to keep their spirits up, which would include news, action movies, comedies, or anything that is on cable that the support team deems suitable. Does this seem fair? Could multiplayer games be a compromise for those miners who really would like to play some games to pass the time? Sound off in the comments below and of course stay connected to PlayStation LifeStyle for more on this story as it develops.
