Video games are bad: Heres why

reply to post by Hiasyouwant


People have been blaming video games for years...seriously GET OVER IT. Were going to do whatever we want to do and if that involves playing a horror video game...who cares!?!?!? If you dont want your kids playing this crap DONT LET THEM...its really that simple

I see mom's buying little kid's video games in the mall and wherever all the time, like a mom buying her son gta when hes 10...heres a little tip for all you moms/dads out there that have no idea what your dealing with, its kinda like how movies go...pg-13, r rated, etc. Games have the exact same thing if you see a game that says 17+ to play it dont let your #*(T&(# kid GET IT... I swear people are......yeah

No video games do not cause an increase in crime rates. IN fact they decrease crime, because the criminals are all sitting at home too busy to go outside and commit crimes! They got raiding tonight and then go play some shooters after that.

The reason video games are bad for us is actually because of this reason. It wastes tons of time and gets us sitting there at home doing nothing. It causes many active people to become inactive (at home playing all day).

It makes sure that any kids who had ideas of protesting the system and creating imaginative new ways of bringing meaningful change to our lives are stopped in their tracks.

Instead of changing the system, we are too busy lvling up or whatever.

This works for far more than computer games and such. This is called Tie Down/ Distract method.
Distract them with something entertaining, and get them tied down into it for prolonged periods of time.

That's all TPTB have to do, is tie us down and distract us. Then we officially become impotent and ineffective in real life.

I would never considered video games. But to some degree, i noticed a lot of people getting dumbed-down lately. At the same time, the crimes are low.

reply to post by Hiasyouwant


i agree some games are bad or have questionable content, but not all games, and i totally agree with the other poster pointing out MMO's, they are bad to, but only if you become addicted, some people can play and walk away, others cannot peel their fingers of the the joypad/keyboard once they start playing. it is another addiction that effects some and not others.

games in general are not bad, it is just some games which are more than likely 18 rated anyway and i have seen worse in movies rated 15, or it is the amount of time people are spending playing and they are in denial they have an addiction.

the thing i think is bad is the methods used to make a game addictive encouraging long hours of play, which is mainly done with any game that requires a subscription fee (MMO'S), the longer things take to do, the longer your subscribed, the more income they make, however because things take so long people spend extra hours or all day to get what they were trying to achieve, eventually it becomes normal and takes over.

although i have been playing gran turismo 5 recently and i am running out of races to do, i noticed there was a 24 hour race left to do, but i left it simply because there is no way on earth i could even stay awake that long even if i had a whole month free, especially if you factor in all the times i would need to stop if i attempted to, bathroom breaks, eating meals etc it would more than likely wind up being longer than 24 hours.

can anyone confirm if it is actually 24 hours who plays the game or has played? i suspect strongly it is, and if it is then thats just insane that they have even put that in there. how many kids/adults have done that race? not functioning properly for a full 24 hours? there is no mid race save i am aware of either. again that type of thing encourages very long play hours, i would hate not to win that race first time around lol.

Originally posted by jonnywhite
I'm looking at it from the perspective of a gamer, not as a student. I wouldn't want to play games in school that teach me things. School is school. Now, I wouldn't mind seeing a game that teaches me things. That I think would be something new and exciting to see. But games in school? I don't know if I like that idea. School is too results oriented for it.

I didn't read the link well enough. I'm just stating an opinion I have about things I've seen elsewhere. I just don't think school is the right environment for these kinds of games. We need to change what games are, not what school is. That's my opinion.

edit on 1-7-2011 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)

It's being used to teach teachers how to teach, not to teach students.

This has most likely already been said before but it bears repeating:

There's no denying the fact that video games can be detrimental to ones health. Many people have neglected their own health, or in worse cases, the health of their own children, because of their hopeless addiction to MMO's.

That being said, I would wager that in pretty much all of those cases, the root cause of the problem was not the actual video games themselves. These people already had serious psychological issues to begin with. And they would have turned to any vice to escape their problems, be that video games, alcohol, or illegal drugs.

Placing the blame solely on video games for these issues is no more closes-minded and wrong than saying the parents are to blame. You can't narrow it down to just one cause. These people's issues resulted from a combination of MANY things that they have had to deal with throughout their lives. So you can't place the blame on one things, like video games or the parents. It's the environment they live in as a whole which is the real source of the problem.

Also, video games are in fact very beneficial to many people. They are a great way to relieve stress, for one thing. Ever had a boss or a job that just pissed you off so much that you felt like you had to hit something? A little bit of GTA can relieve that stress in a matter of hours. But like all good things in life, moderation is the key.

The printing press was deemed the devils work when it was created.
Because it could reproduce the bible so quickly and so cheaply that ever man woman and child could have their own bible, and the church wouldn't need priests anymore. So the church would lose money and power.

Radio was deemed bad for society when radio plays and live music shows would cause people to call in sick to work when they weren't really sick. And it lowered attendance to sporting events because people could just listen to the games play by play and didn't have to socialize with their neighbors at the ballpark.

Moving pictures were deemed bad for society multiple times over several decades because they took people away from the church and caused them to spend all their free time sitting in a dark room watching imaginary stories instead of reading books....which, if they weren't the right books, were also still bad for society.

Television. Oh good lord. television is still being blamed for the ills of society.

Congratulations on being #1, decades behind the curve, and #2, a ridiculous alarmist who doesn't even know that the real threat right now is the internet muslims, chemtrails, and reptile aliens who have taken over the white house.

reply to post by moondog760


i am not disagreeing with anything you have said. i think your right, but i think also there is a problem from the game desingers etc side to. i gave some examples in my post above in the thread. they do make certain games and include things that encourage the behaviour that would lead to addiction.

if games include 24 hour races for example, would you see that as encouraging people to spend insane amounts of time playing inorder to complete the game? or the persons fault for attempting to do it inorder to complete the game?

www.gamefaqs.com...

Originally posted by lifeform11
reply to post by moondog760

 

i am not disagreeing with anything you have said. i think your right, but i think also there is a problem from the game desingers etc side to. i gave some examples in my post above in the thread. they do make certain games and include things that encourage the behaviour that would lead to addiction.

if games include 24 hour races for example, would you see that as encouraging people to spend insane amounts of time playing inorder to complete the game? or the persons fault for attempting to do it inorder to complete the game?

What you are describing is the result of a specific business model and not something driven by creative design. Those type of games (WoW, etc) make more money by keeping you in front of the keyboard month after month; they are not one-time purchases and follow a subscription.

You can chalk that up to destructive capitalist greed that permeates every facet of entertainment and is an entirely exclusive concept when placed next to digital gaming. The people playing those type of games don't find the addictive portions "fun"; they are simply necessarily to get to the fun parts. Normally, those games have very fun end-game content but it takes many many many many hours (days, weeks, months) to get to that point thus... you are basically paying a subscription, grinding away in order to eventually experience the full product.

Not all MMOs are like that, mind you.

Well if the violent games cause addiction like that zombie flesh feeling drug in Russia slowly sweeping the world we`re all in trouble,who knows what subliminals they could be planning to embed or already have into these games. inc. all media really..

On another Note, i really don`t think they`re going to make anyone who isn`t unstable go out and hunt down people so they can feel the power in 3D real time, unless of course, subliminal suggestion creates the need. ha i just remembered a movie, josie and the pussycats,stupid but kinda funny too where the Industry uses mass subliminals on people making them buy their music. but i mean they sneak all kinds of things into the movies and most people are aware of it. Like Reverse Speech, it affects people whether they are aware of it or not.

Also you know something is a Drug when it causes drug like behaviour if it`s taken away, right. People go nuts when their toys are removed. Anyways i dont think its a big deal for big people who aren`t emotionally prone to random acts of violence, it`s the children that people should worry about, because their brains aren`t fully developed, and reasoning skills and if they don`t have a responsible adult handy to show them whats real and not real, right and wrong, they will not function properly as adults. I have played games i know people who play games and its fun, thats why people play them.

And how many people often say their family is disfunctional, then laugh about it. I can see where the OP is going with this and their concerns, but you dont have to be Religious to know right from wrong, or to know what`s just in fun and what`s not. Each to their own i say, just don`t involve young kids where Violence, gore and pure Filth is concerned, those types of games serve no purpose for little ones.That is where i would draw the line.

How about taking some responsibility for one's own sickness and degenerate activites instead of blaming inanimate objects that just serve to entertain?
There's a novel thought, huh?

I have seen many people who argue that people can distinguish between reality and fantasy, but there is a small percentage of people who have trouble with that. Young people whose parents don't recognize their problems. Kids who feel ostracized and want to do something that will make them infamous. Granted, this is not a daily occurrence, but it does happen. These games certainly don't help these people. True as well, you can't punish everyone because of a few bad apples.

While I appreciate the OP's viewpoint, I don't see where they are going to warp a strong mind. However, I do think that these kinds of games really shouldn't be used by anyone under 18 or so with all the violence and sexual themes. That will never happen because parents don't do any more parenting. They'd rather park their teenager's lazy ass in front of the HDTV and let them piss their youth away with these stupid games. I say this even as I just finished up a game of MW2. I consistently nail highest kill/death ratio, first blood, the feared - all that good stuff. But I am way (waaaay) past adolescence. If they had these games when I was 14, I don't know if I would be the same person today.

Unfortunately gamers need faster, better, bloodier with each iteration of a title. Imagine the sales figures for the next Call of Duty game where players are limited to tazers and nightsticks. Oh wait, that's the police department - where they go AFTER they crispy up their brains on that stuff.

Point being - I think these games are harmless for some people, not so much for others. Also, a note to young gamers who might be reading: Play your games. Don't play them all the damn time. Kill some bitches for an hour and then go do something useful. Learn something other than where to point your grenade launcher for first blood in every map.

I read every response but simply cannot reply to each person. You people might think im some christian or whatever, it does not matter. The fact is, so many people in this world we live in are so gullible, weather these games are affecting us conciously or sub, trust me they ARE affecting us. As a civilization please, can anyone tell me in what way are these virtual worlds good for us?

These games provide certain outlets for nut cases, and even are the direct creation of nut cases. Can one really determine weather the game caused a crime? I'd bet the farm it has; and even if it has happened just once, isn't once enough? The content in these games, mark my words, cause thoughts one may not normally ever have. Since most of you are so addicted to these games already, please tell me how they benefit you, or society. And I mean REAL games, not game's teachers use or other bullcrap, we're talking about games on the shelves in stores.

Games are bad for children, bad for teens, and bad for adults. Just another tool to help heard the cattle. As technology develops even further, pretty soon you'll all be happy with your virtual realities. More than half of you already are. I have about 100,000 links to give you people, but you wont read them anyway.

Oh yes! Video Games enhance our knowledge, they better our communities, we are better off in these fantasy lands. Get a grip people, the grip has obviously gotten most of you.. What really worries me is as these technologies advance... think about it, really try to deny ignorance on this one.

Parents are still themselves kids thesedays. Where I live I do happen to agree with you OP.

Videogames bad, nope that I disagree on.

The games you list Silent hill, Grand Theft auto, Call of duty arent designed, produced or sold to minors as they are mature titles. Thier concept, story, complexities of control is meant for adults who understand the nature of the content. And for assistance and guidence on this matter one need no further than the case.

In the UK we have the BBFC and PEGI rating and guidence information.
A store legally will not sell this to any one under this age rating.

Originally posted by Mister_Bit

Originally posted by Hiasyouwant
I understand they've got rating systems. The fact still remains children will play these games. Ever think a kid or teen, or even adult, played a game, got addicted, lost his friends, got depressed, then killed himself? Nope, noone made him play. But he did. And coders and game designers have 1 intention: Suck you in.

Ever think a video game was the cause of someone becomming mentally unstable, depressed? Wake up people. It's doing it every day.

An FCC commissioner has stated that video game "addiction," especially to World of Warcraft, is a "leading cause" of college dropouts. (Nevermind that 90% of the people diagnosed with "video game addiction" don't have any such condition, even according to the crazily broad definition used by its proponents).

You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction - such as World of Warcraft - which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide.

www.boingboing.net...

The recent deaths of two net gamers have once again raised the issue of the impact of addiction on the online gaming community, and the health risks involved.

A 28-years-old man from Beijing, nicknamed "Snowly", died last month after playing the online game "World of Warcraft" for several continuous days during the national day holiday.

news.softpedia.com...


And also, a world of warcraft detox site, as some of you probably need to visit it. Read the comments, please.
wowdetox.com...

Stop talking about addiction, addiction is lack of SELF CONTROL and nothing to do with video games!

""The American Society of Addiction Medicine has this definition for Addiction:

Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in the individual pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors. The addiction is characterized by impairment in behavioral control, craving, inability to consistently abstain, and diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships.""

Addiction is heavily involved with games like MMORPGs. The adrenaline rush, associated with simple player versus player combat is enough of a heavy dose especially in terms of hormone levels to get a kid coming back for more quite easily. It is actually due to a lack of self control, but that inability to control one's self is due to the biological changes. very similar to obesity in the biological sense. The main point of the thread is that video games are bad, addiction is a reason why they are bad. Why can't people say that?

Originally posted by PlayeR87
reply to post by Hiasyouwant

 

Compared to the majority of gamers only a tiny percentage gets "addicted to games" (which is less to do with the game and more to do with mental problems). Your argument holds little water in my book.

your argument holds little water as well until you show evidence.

reply to post by Mister_Bit


also saying its the kids fault is a great way to always shift the blame. Doesnt really matter how much the game draws people in, in the end "you have a choice, and you made the wrong one" will always triumph. That type of conclusion draws attention away from the forces that may potentially be creating games for the purpose of addicting people. An example could be cigarette companies and their ammonia chemistry laboratories. Sure, blame the user for lack of self control, but the biology which was discovered explained that this was done intentionally. Although Im guessing that cigarettes dont target any group in particular, MMORPGs draw in a certain group of people, which many have already labelled in previous posts. I'm sure there are papers published out there indicating brain function in response to stimuli. If that's the case, there would be reason enough right there for companies to exploit that science for the sake of profits.

Simple as this, for everything in your life actually, YOU are responsible for your actions. If you let a video game dictate your behavior then you deserve what you get. IF you decide to choose your own path in life then, well, you get to dictate how it flows.
There is no reason to let anything control your life except for what you choose. I disagree with any thing that forces us to give up ANY freedom. Not that the OP was stating we should but, this post lends to the whole fear mongering campaign that we suffer everyday.
Things change. Simple as that ... we simply adapt and train our youth to understand said changes. Not a hard concept.

Originally posted by Hiasyouwant
I read every response but simply cannot reply to each person. You people might think im some christian or whatever, it does not matter. The fact is, so many people in this world we live in are so gullible, weather these games are affecting us conciously or sub, trust me they ARE affecting us. As a civilization please, can anyone tell me in what way are these virtual worlds good for us?

These games provide certain outlets for nut cases, and even are the direct creation of nut cases. Can one really determine weather the game caused a crime? I'd bet the farm it has; and even if it has happened just once, isn't once enough? The content in these games, mark my words, cause thoughts one may not normally ever have. Since most of you are so addicted to these games already, please tell me how they benefit you, or society. And I mean REAL games, not game's teachers use or other bullcrap, we're talking about games on the shelves in stores.

Games are bad for children, bad for teens, and bad for adults. Just another tool to help heard the cattle. As technology develops even further, pretty soon you'll all be happy with your virtual realities. More than half of you already are. I have about 100,000 links to give you people, but you wont read them anyway.

Oh yes! Video Games enhance our knowledge, they better our communities, we are better off in these fantasy lands. Get a grip people, the grip has obviously gotten most of you.. What really worries me is as these technologies advance... think about it, really try to deny ignorance on this one.

Absolutely!

I've worked on 3 video games as an artist, and as a designer.
I have 2 sons, 12 and 13.
I seriously restrict what games my kids are allowed to play, even right now. They are not allowed to play any video games in which they can shoot HUMANS with a gun, or bombs or anything like that.
Even now at 13 my oldest son isn't allowed to play violent human killing games, and trust me, there is NO END to the bitching that happens over that rule. When all his friends are playing Modern Warfare and so on.

But when he was 3 he played 1 hour of video games every day. Reader Rabbit, Seseme street Number Fun, and Letter fun, and then Word power and so on. Both of my kids played lots of LEARNING video games when they were very young.

Why can't they??? Because I don't care what anyone says, I'm the parent, and since I do not have hard scientific fact that playing violent video games DOES NOT hurt my kids development, I'm not willing to risk it.

They are not allowed to watch R movies, or Pro Wrestling, or MMA fighting either. Even though the first video game I ever worked on was a Martial Arts fighting game. So I spent 3 years watching nothing but kung fu movies and MMa matches from around the world. I watched so much violent content it started to make me sad for humanity.
But my kids aren't allowed to watch that. And the only reason I have for that is that I do not have any reason to think that they can separate the "hollywood" violence from the real world. So I don't want them practicing WWE moves in their room.
I do know that my oldest sons best friend is 14 and has had 3 broken bones already in his life from "wrastlin" in his living room with his brothers and his own father.
So for me the risk is not worth it even without a complete lack of proof.

My oldest son has won "Musician of the year" in his middle school 2 years running. His test scores are the 3'rd highest in his school and he has been reading at college level since 6'th grade.
My youngest is the editor of his elementary school newspaper. Which USED to be the teachers job. He has been the #1 AR reader in his school every year since he started there.

Now I refuse to acknowledge that "video games are bad". Because I have also made some "serious" games for the department of defense in which EOD/UXO personnel were able to wander through the drop zone of an exploded cluster bomb and they got to attempt to examine "UXO" clusters virtually so they could understand that there is no predictability in these objects. And I'm confident that this game saved some poor guys arm or leg or even his life.

The primary reason that virtual worlds are going to become an increasing part of our lives is that they allow us to do things that we CANNOT or would not want to do in real life.
IF and this is a big IF, there is a problem with games and worlds, it is the exact same problem that we have with Alcohol, Drugs, Sex, Commercialism, and Narcissism.

WE are the problem. Our intellectual lazyness and our lack of self control and personal responsibility and our constant demand for instant gratification.

We can give an idiot a wooden spoon to feed himself, and I am certain that if we give 10,000 idiots wooden spoons, at least 1 of them will kill himself or someone else with that spoon or because he thinks that another guys wooden spoon is superior to his own.
It has NOTHING to do with the spoon.

You can spend 1000 years trying to fix that spoon, and the exact same thing will happen again because you didn't fix "stupid" people.

Better watch out guys, next thing we know we will see our teenagers jumping on Goomba's and hitting bricks with their heads.

Think of the Goomba's!