Video games are bad: Heres why

To every ounce of good video games may cause in "skillz", I can add thousands of pounds to my point, that they are bad. Furthermore, they are a direct link to our society and obesity especially our children.

Children don't really have a choice when this is always what they get as gifts.

Video games will make you fat unless they make you move.

www.parentdish.com...
I doubt moving thumbs count.

Link Between Video Games and Obesity A significant amount of a child's life is spent playing video games and sitting in front of the television. Health professionals have determined that a great number of children are influenced by gaming obsession, leading to a lack of physical activity. When children engage in video games, they are likely to increase their snacking and food intake, and are also more prone to make unhealthy food choices. This leads to a lowering of the child's metabolic rate, making weight gain more likely.

www.livestrong.com...


Just because YOUR kid or YOU turned out fine, doesn't mean every kid does, especially in an ever-changing world of video games. Often times video games are very cheap baby sitters. How is being addicted, zoning out for thousands of hours, getting fat, living in a fantasy world, ever-number to reality(especially war), in any way good? Because of the occasional puzzle? Never-mind a rubrics cube... because of wii fit? Never-mind an actual soccer ball..

Because of video games our kids are more logical and level headed than ever before. You take a kid who has never played a single game and ask him to solve a logic problem and watch him struggle; however take a gamer who receives constant feedback from logic based puzzles and he will solve it faster than you thought possible. This trend is ACROSS THE BOARD. Tetris itself boosts intelligence.

You are looking at the unfounded claims that simulation is bad for society. Not only does simulation help boost intelligence, but it could save the lives of those who are depressed and unhappy with their surroundings.

The choice is yours, free marijuana and alcohol for the kids, or video games. That is your exact conundrum and I'll back that up with 3 years of dorm life.

Originally posted by Hiasyouwant
To every ounce of good video games may cause in "skillz", I can add thousands of pounds to my point, that they are bad. Furthermore, they are a direct link to our society and obesity especially our children.

Children don't really have a choice when this is always what they get as gifts.

Video games will make you fat unless they make you move.

www.parentdish.com...
I doubt moving thumbs count.

Video games do not make you fat, lack of self control and overeating do. By this logic books could make you fat too, should we ban books now? Most people who play video games are not overweight.

Just because YOUR kid or YOU turned out fine, doesn't mean every kid does, especially in an ever-changing world of video games. Often times video games are very cheap baby sitters. How is being addicted, zoning out for thousands of hours, getting fat, living in a fantasy world, ever-number to reality(especially war), in any way good? Because of the occasional puzzle? Never-mind a rubrics cube... because of wii fit? Never-mind an actual soccer ball..

Same could be said for books, are you one of those people who burn Harry Potter books because they're "evil"?

reply to post by Hiasyouwant


The lastest check from both science\doctors\psychologists says otherwise. Video games actually triggers parts of the brain that we have profit from. Dont you read the news?

reply to post by Hiasyouwant


In other words. You got the entire expert staff on this planet against you, and for a good reason While the experts has the option of scanning brain activity,psychological eval ect,you have just stated your own opinion. You opinion does not trash pure facts, but thanks for sharing your opinion,even though you could easy do that with your friends at home instead of ATS

It seems like you are assuming only video games are violent. Not only video games have violent content. If you think of it this way, most of our media contains it. Just like TV shows, movies and books, Video games are meant to express art and open our imagination.

You know what? I've just come up with the conclusion that video games have actually made most media less violent over the last 30 years.

I say this after watching the original Dawn of the Dead (1978) for like the hundreth time. The gore in this movie is much more intense than in any modern movies with all their computer graphics and whatnot. Real effort was put into the whole visible shock experience back then.

The SWAT guy Peter even mows down a few zombie kids with an AR-15. I never got to do that in Resident Evil or Dead Rising (traditional zombie games anyway).

I play video games because it excites me, but it's not a replacement for reality...I'm not going to piss my pants to play a little longer. Not all video games are created equally either...something you failed to address. I like a number of different games, but I'm especially fond of role playing games, like the Elder Scrolls...
I think video games are a healthier substitute for a number of other alternatives, like hard drugs and alcohol which I've noticed seems more popular with non-gamers.

BTW: I'm a gamer girl and I'm in really good shape, go to the gym normally three times a week. In fact most gamers I know are NOT fat.

Nothing wrong with computer games. So none of you will have a problem with me creating an avatar of your mother & sister and raping the f### out of them and using an assortment of various weapons to mutilate and desecrate their bodies. It's just a game, as all you gamers keep saying. Where do you draw the line and where do you think games are headed. I guess that's why the US government recently tried to ban the game Medal of honor which allowed gamers to play as the Taliban and kill American soldiers, which is simply out of order, but it's ok to kill, maim & mutilate the Taliban.

Personally I'm sick of violent FPS games. How many f###### violent games do we need. Any chance of a game that actually makes use of my brain and makes me think, rather than just kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killkill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, killYawn!!!

Originally posted by kindred
Personally I'm sick of violent FPS games. How many f###### violent games do we need. Any chance of a game that actually makes use of my brain and makes me think, rather than just kill

A lot of games have both; Bioshock, Half-Life, System Shock, etc.

reply to post by Nosred


I'm taling about games where there is no killing. When it comes to those games you cited, the may theme of the game is still to kill. Having said that I enjoyed system shock. Definitely one of the best games written so far.

reply to post by kindred


Yeah but those games make you use your brain and kill.

Originally posted by kindred
Any chance of a game that actually makes use of my brain and makes me think, rather than just kill,

Scribblenauts
Prof. Layton
Harvest Moon
Tetris

reply to post by kindred


Where do we draw the line? As long as it's a game, no line should ever be drawn. All the despicable acts you described in your post is every bit as possible for me to do with a notebook and crayons. Sick people are going to be that way, with or without entertainment.

I have always thought that the whole argument that violent entertainment caused violent/criminal behavior was bunk. Ever since I was a teen I was a huge fan of horror films (not so much anymore; I'm more into sci-fi these days) and I'm a law-abiding person who has never physically assaulted anyone.

I do, however, think that there has to be some sort of limit on young children being able to access violent and sexual content. At some point in normal development a child becomes mature enough to know fantasy from reality (so no matter how gruesome or explicit something on screen or in a game may be, every mature mentally normal adult knows that it isn't real) and once that point has been passed I do not think that such exposure is always bad. That said, it is up to the child's parents to know if/when the child is mature enough to handle whatever content is in such entertainment.

As far as video games themselves, I really do not "get" what it is that compels people, especially adults, to play them, regardless of their content. I had an Atari when I was a child, and I did get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but I lost interest in that sort of thing as I grew older. Nowadays, if I had some time to kill I'd much rather read a book than play a video or computer game.

reply to post by Cuervo


I't hasn't been scientifically proven that people are born sick. We are all a product of the society we live in and let's face it, we are all born an open book and therefore all of us can be manipulated and brainwashed.

www.debv.com...

Originally posted by kindred
reply to post by Cuervo

 

I't hasn't been scientifically proven that people are born sick. We are all a product of the society we live in and let's face it, we are all born an open book and therefore all of us can be manipulated and brainwashed.

www.debv.com...

You're right. However, it's not videogames that are the problem; its everything that erodes away at your physical, mental and spiritual perception that happens to be the problem.

Study people who play videogames in large cities. They probably live in a house cleaned by commercial chemicals, excessive background interference via WiFi transmitters/cell phone towers/powerlines, drink flouridated water, eat junk food like McDonalds, etc.

Personally, I come from a small town without these interferences. I've learned that the things that people experience empirically, as in violence/gore first hand, override any illusionary feelings that they will ever acquire from video games.

People who are unnecessarily violent are so for many reasons. Trust me, I know many of them. Video games isn't the reason why, though I will admit that they all tend to be extremely ignorant and uneducated and as such, find violence in video games to be more enjoyable than others. But it's not what makes them violent. It's their own psychological defence mechanisms towards others, stemming from previous experiences.

reply to post by kindred


science hasn't proven many things, such as dimensions higher than the third, the higgs boson (why gravity works), and much of the brain is unmapped. 90% of human DNA is considered "trash" just like a few years ago, many human organs were considered vestigial, where now their purpose is clear.

tabula rasa (blank slate) is far from accepted theory.

doing anything involves some part of your brain. heavy metal music causes feelings of aggression, as does sports. should both of those things be banned because they use the aggressive part of the brain?

video games are so widespread that if it increased ones likelihood for real world violence, (90% of kids 8-16 play video games) we would see plenty of evidence. however, there is no case for it, despite the wide-spread use of video games.

Lets face it people, as Humans we love violence, we thrive on it.

Video games as films and books come as a release, an escape, a get-a-way. I would say as long as you are sound of mind, that video games can be quite a healthy hobby. Theres nothing better for my stress than kicking back and playing some Trials HD.

ALS

I wonder, OP, if you have ever seen, or played, Portal?

No killing. Just puzzles...and very difficult ones.

Explain how that is bad?