Video games are bad: Heres why

reply to post by lifeform11


That may have come out wrong. I don't believe it is bad to let children watch tv in order to get some chores caught up, and if you choose educational programming for your children, that's wonderful.

But no matter how "educational" a program is, it still takes some interaction with a child to teach them anything. The parents who bought the Baby Einstein dvds and were pushing to return them because their child wasn't learning at the rate they believed they should (while providing little interaction during the program to actually teach the children) is what blew my mind.

Trust me, my mom loved the fact that she could sit me down in front of Sesame Street and I would let her fold some laundry.

I'll add my two cents.... I'm 35 and a life long gamer. I've played everything from kids games (Rio just today) to the "should be adult only" games (GTA series, Silent Hill, etc...) and I'm not planning on re-creating any of these scenes in reality. As a few people have said already most gamers know the difference and just enjoy the fantasy world some times for various reasons (mine is for relaxing) but as with EVERYTHING there is the occasional bad apples that make the rest look bad. A few people mention being Christian which is typically a great thing but you have extremists out there that will even use religion in a negative light...does this make all religions bad? That's just one example too but I also like one of the first few reply's that mentioned books. Ok so that was more than two cents, but just my take on this topic.....

i had to open an account just to reply to this outlandish thread. im an avid gamer. have been since i was a wee lad. and i acctually find this article offensive. first of all i really need to say this, the students who commited the murders in colombine did play doom. they however did not play grand theft auto as you know it. becouse it didnt exist. the original games (gta 1-2) had more in common with pac man then they would the new ones. gta 3 that created the gta standard and went on to spawn san andreas wasnt produced untill 2001. so way to straight up lie in your original post. now heres my second point. murder suicide and depression have been part of the world for longer then any form of entertainment. the man who killed john lennon didnt play videos games. he certainly wasnt inspired by them. that honor go to a book... a terrible book by all accounts, a catcher in the rye. should we eliminate books that you dont agree with, music, movies? people who are predisposed to murder are going to be triggerd by anything. and there is no way to tell what its going to be. or even whos capable of being a killer. i play violent video games and ive never nor would i ever commit premeditated murder. i watch horror movies. still not a killer. let me tell you some of the song titles in my mp3 player. "chased threw the woods by a rapist" "blow torch decapitation" "addicted to vaginal skin" "skull full of maggots" "stripped raped and strangeld" you get the point. hell ive even played extremely violent video games to these unspeakably violent songs. still not killing anyone. the game where you mention that mission where you join a terrorist sect and massacre people in a air port isnt so black and white. you play a cia operative whos tasked with gathering information on the orginazation. your character isnt forced to shoot the civilians. hell you can even skip the mission. and lets not mention the game as all violent games are, is rated adult. yes your asked with partaking in a act of terrorism. but you suffer no penalties for not doing it. the mission isnt designed to make you want to go be a terrorist. hell at the end your character gets shot for being a cia agent in the group. and all of america is assumed to be responsibel for this act. it really makes you think about the hard choices espionage agents are potentially forced with for the safty of all. whats an airport of people vs the casualties from a nuklear attack?
all your points arnt as black and white as youd like them to be. a little research and youd understand that there is NO hard evidence that violence in video games is harmful to anyone. or that videogames are addictive. if people are neglecting their children for WOW, there isnt something wrong with WOW . there is something wrong with the parents.
you honestly sound like some one saying rock and roll is the devils music. and hell i acctually listen to THE DEVILS music. but guess what im not doing? worshipping the devil.

FURTHERMORE!!!! go watch the video game violence episode of Penn and Tellers Bull#. they give a 12 year old child, who is an avid violent video game player the chance to fire a ar 15 assault rifle. they hypothies that he should take the gun and kill everyone there. under a young marines supervision her fires the rifle, which just about smacks him in the face with the recoil. hes shocked. and then crys and says he dosent want to ever fire another gun in his life. but still loves those video games.

I won't bother to read this thread. I'm jumping to the last page to state my opinion:

I'm 35 years old. I've been playing computer games since I was 6 years old. Games are just that: GAMES. A person that cant distinguish between fantasy and real life, INCLUDING GAMES, has a problem. A huge problem. And that problem - if not triggered by games, would manifest through other fantasies, - either his own daydreams or movies, or a through a friend of the same caliber. Or anything.

Some people are so damn short-sighted.. *sigh*.. They target random things blaming them for this and that, while the problem is in the person itself. He will seek out anything he can find to lead him to his demise, not necessarily games. Anything.

Hell, I snook in to watch a documentary about the Hiroshima bombing where they pictured the skin melting off peoples body through special effects at the age of 10 or so. I thought it was horrible, but it did not # me up. All it did was make me realize how horrible nuclear weapons can be.

It's the PERSON, not the media.

For those of you who don't remember, the infamous "Catcher in The Rye" was supposedly the motivation for Mark David Chapman to shoot John Lennon 4 times. Should we outlaw books? Oh wait that was done before, I beleive it was Hitler.

people playing the video games aren't the ones in the wars we're fighting.
or developing high tech weaponry for the next gen to fire on those opposed to our doctrines.

put the criticism where it belongs, those actually perpetrating the very violence you seek to dissolve.
these games are based off of human character. Art imitates life, life imitates art. surely you can see this?
I'm fairly certain many of those who play games would never wish to experience some of the things that could happen.
I know I never want to run into a claymore, or have an apache bear down on me with it's gatling gun, hearing a quick BZZZt then fading into darkness forever. No. Games, are just that, games. You play to win, or to have fun.
Real life, and war, should you ever be apart of it, it's no game. Although, should I personally ever be caught in said situation, yes I will use whatever i've learned to stay alive. If it's something I saw in a game that will work, i'll use it.

Click here for more information.

Most of the good computer games are underrated.

Im just hoping all those years playing Elite and other space trading and shooting games could be put to use. If them damn aliens land soon i hoping to get my own stock fighter ship with a little cargo space for the goods.

I think all the space simulator game skills we have will one day develop into the real world. When we finally do reach a level of tech that lets us travel in private and commercial spacecraft to our homes and workplaces around our solar system then all them games would have been worth it. Eventually technology will be advanced enough to enable us to do such things all by the touch of a few buttons on a console and display system.

Originally posted by Ezappa
Im just hoping all those years playing Elite and other space trading and shooting games could be put to use. If them damn aliens land soon i hoping to get my own stock fighter ship with a little cargo space for the goods.

haha

I've taken over the world so many times through completing Soviet campaigns in the C&C Red Alert series...
I've ended world wars in Ace Combat...
I've crossed the abyss in Silent Hill...
I've survived the zombie outbreaks in Resident Evil...
I've defied the la-li-lu-le-lo in Metal Gear Solid...
I've massacred Nazis in Call of Duty...
I've beat down the Covenant threat in HALO...
I've made billions wasting militant countries in Mercenaries...
Hell, I have even crushed gods in Final Fantasy...

And none of these video game accomplishments have anything to do with my day-to-day life. However great a waste of time it might seem, it sure beat staring at a wall out of boredom.

You have over generalized as humans have a huge tendency to do, in such a way that you miss important facts...

Just as the columbine shooters played video games... so does my son who spends most of his time helping others and spending time with his friends... many of them.

He achieves high honors in school, chorus, drama and other creative activities.

How many times do we have to say, that just because a couple kooks happened to play video games doesn't mean that the video games made them kooks?

reply to post by HunkaHunka


And to help support both of our arguments, I'm going to assume you're a parent who has been involved in your son's life, teaching him right from wrong, reality from fantasy.

Need I even mention BioShock, where you hunt little girls which by the way are protected by "bigdaddys"

Ok OK Ill Tone it Downa bit seeing my last post was erased


Ovisouly The OP must of not played Bioshock as your choice is to save a little Girls or to break their spell

Here is the Spoiler Ending of what Bio Shock (1) is all about The Ending

Its Very Touching and well Done

SPOILER: Bioshock "Good" Ending

As an alum of MIT, I can tell you for a fact that Video Games were instrumental in my cognitive development and I would not have the same level of overall intelligence and problem solving skills if I had not played them from a young age.

I learned to read because of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, so please don't spew this hatred twisted to your frame of reference's content.

My parents taught me dignity and to appreciate all life in this universe. It will take more than polygonal entrails for me to forsake my basic humanity.

By some of you being offended, it's actually proven how much video games have sucked you in. Mark my words, as video games become much more advanced, along the likes of virtual reality; it will have even more detrimental affects in the near future.

My point of the Columbine shooters having the games, was not that anyone (that anyone who plays these games will cause violence), it was more about some victim playing the game, and admiring it from the shooters perspective. Lives were lost that day, and this other guy is Admiring it from the shooters perspective. Thousands of evil images beaten into ones very consciousness everyday for hours upon hours simply isn't good for anyone and its a shame many of you are so sucked into these so addictive virtual wastelands of slavery, pedophilia, and demons.

These games have so many affects on the psyche. I'm not saying your kid won't make good grades or ever be productive, but trust me, he will be more sadistic overall. Maybe not everyone, but probably many. More angry, depressed, and cruel. It's that simple.

These video games have got you, and your children. Can't wait till I see Sony(probably already has) and Nintendo, as well as EA, TTWO, and Activision Blizzard as bilderberg attendees. Because you know Microsoft is already there. What will you people say then?

reply to post by Wolfenz


Do you mind showing the bad ending to bioshock?

Edit to add, I did play Bioshock. And Its beauty is half of what frightens me, this game; they very atmosphere is evil. Gotta love a game where you've gotta kill a little girl's big daddy, at a chance to absorb her soul or something. (Which actually rewards you in the game)

reply to post by ABWarrior58


I clearly stated at the beginning I did not want this to be a case of parenting. Unfortunately not every kid has good parents, and often these games are used to keep the kids out of the parents hair. All the while the child getting more and more addicted, evil images going by at every second, rape and murder, that's okay to you people? So be it. Let little Johny go play second life, find a virtual playground, and some pedophile come engage virtual sex. Of course that's okay!

Wake up folks.

Originally posted by Hiasyouwant
reply to post by Wolfenz

 

Do you mind showing the bad ending to bioshock?

Edit to add, I did play Bioshock. And Its beauty is half of what frightens me, this game; they very atmosphere is evil. Gotta love a game where you've gotta kill a little girl's big daddy, at a chance to absorb her soul or something. (Which actually rewards you in the game)

edit on 3-7-2011 by Hiasyouwant because: (no reason given)

I'd guess you didn't understand what you had to do in the game if you're claiming that.

You don't have to kill a Big Daddy but it helps to allow you to absorb ADAM (your life force) from a Little Sister but here's the thing. While killing a Little Sister gives you more life, you can choose to save her for just a smaller amount of it and then get a boost for every three Little Sisters you save.

The game is giving you a moral choice, save them or kill them.

The Little Sisters were kidnapped and taken under the sea by the madman who created Rapture and genetically spliced them to carry this energy within them.

It's almost as if you ignore things just for the benefit of your frankly ill-informed argument.

Or maybe you'll argue that Mario Paint for the SNES was designed to encourage children to grow up to become art forgers.

AW!, second life is good. It provides support groups for suffering from depression cause by the game!..LOL!

According to the World Health Organization, it is predicted to be the second-leading cause of disease burden worldwide in the year 2030. But there are valuable online communities, services and groups that can provide you with support.

www.webicina.com...

Psychologist in UK newspaper warns that Modern Warfare is 'highly addictive'

In one final swipe, he comments: 'I've got several patients who are what would be clinically termed addicted to... computer games. These things set the brain up for a pattern of gross fluctuation, too many highs and lows. For a short time, they can make people feel valued and boost their self-esteem. When they realize these feelings don't last, some people - particularly youngsters - can become down, even having feelings of depression.'

Perhaps COD could include huts, one could run into for group therapy.
www.computerandvideogames.com...