As the recession continues to bite ever deeper, there has never been a better time to escape real-life misfortune by playing videogames.

Maybe that’s why ordinary folk all around the world are turning off the television, putting that bottle back in the fridge (the crisps too), and settling down for an hour or two in an alternate reality.

By the way, that’s you and me, I’m talking about. 

Not next door’s pre-pubescent teenage son; or the shy guy at work who suffers with an unusual form of adult acne (from a diet of take-away pizza to get him through his nightly 10 hour session of World of Warcraft). 

No, it seems that after listening to ‘experts’ harking on about the benefits of playing videogames, the rest of us are actually starting to catch up. 

In fact, research carried out by consultants at Screen Design suggests that more and more of us are willing to part with our hard-earned cash, to spend £30 billion globally on consoles and videogames this year alone.

But why now?

Amazingly, as far back as 1983, the then U.S. President Ronald Reagan supported videogames as a development tool: ‘Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye and brain coordination playing these games. The Air Force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets’.

This theory was more recently backed up at the Convention of the American Psychological Association, who also concluded that gamers have such high levels of concentration while playing, that they don’t even realize they’re learning new skills. 

Wouldn’t it be great if they adopted the same attitude in schools? After all, toddlers learn while they play, why would teenagers be any different?  Or even University students, or anyone else who wants to continue learning for that matter. 

Perhaps though, the reason so many of us are tuning into videogames, is much simpler.

After all, they help us escape worries over job security, bank loans, depressing journalism and an increasing sense of hopelessness.

All you have to do is plug in the console, load up a game and you are literally stepping into someone else’s shoes – and whether that’s an SAS soldier, a PGA golfer, or a Sims character – you’re not thinking about the next mortgage payment or ways to reduce the grocery bill. 

Even more than that, while playing a videogame you gain a sense of control, action and adrenalin.  You can actually DO something about your character’s situation, thereby escaping any sense of hopelessness and in doing so, vent that pent up anguish accumulated during your day.  

Studies carried out in 2008 at Middlesex University have found just that; from a sample of 292 ‘World of Warcraft’ players, aged 12-83 years, most were more likely to feel calm or tired after playing a round of the popular online game.

Nowadays, you don’t have to go it alone either. You might phone Granddad to ask him whether Tiger Woods would use a nine iron or a wood, or invite Aunty Mable over to slaughter pigs in your world of warcraft while you fold laundry.  You could even hop online and ask a total stranger to get your back while you search some forgotten war-torn village for intruders.

Hell, you can become your very own guitar hero.

The point is, you play, you pretend and you forget your worries for a little while.  And you know what; you might even learn a thing or two along the way…