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Too Much Gaming, Anyone? 894
Nrik noted a wired story about too much gaming and how sometimes a few too many hours of gaming can cause your mind to blur some lines. For me it was Tony Hawk- I played so much that I started sizing up curbs for grinding while driving home from work. Katamari Damacy has been a problem too. I'm fairly certain my car is large enough to pick up the railings on the overpass near my house. I'm even more certain that these thoughts are bad.
Oh yeah.. (Score:2, Funny)
For me it's the Thief series of games. I've been walking behind people and thought "I could blackjack him/her..." Don't call the guys in white coats, though, I've never lurked in shadows while wearing a black cape or muttered about "Keepers".
Re:Oh yeah.. (Score:2, Funny)
I know thats bad.
Re:Oh yeah.. (Score:2)
On the other end of the scale, I also invested a lot of thought into Space Trader for the Palm - but that was more on money making schemes.
Re:Oh yeah.. (Score:4, Interesting)
I found Half-Life 1 to be infinitely creepy. After a long gaming session, I got up to get something from the fridge. Along the way, I happened to run into a single strand of spider-web hanging down from the ceiling. My barnacle-avoidance instincts kicked in and I twisted my body out of the way - it took me a second to figure out what the hell I was doing.
Of course, I have all of the usual stories of seeing stuff when trying to fall asleep after late-night gaming - falling Tetris pieces, Super Puzzle Fighter blocks, Puzzle Bobble bubbles, even minesweeper scenarios. I think it's especially prevalent with games featuring lots of visual elements that your brain can abstract into functional pieces...?
- David Stein
Re:Oh yeah.. (Score:3, Funny)
Battletoads (Score:5, Funny)
Duh duh duh. Dun dun, dut, dut da da. Dut da da ut. (doo do do do do do do)....
Worse. If I hit a jam shortly after, I hear sad midi drums.
Boom chick, boom chick, boom chick chick chick...
GTA (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:GTA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:GTA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:GTA (Score:5, Funny)
Unless that's what you're paying her for.
Re:GTA (Score:5, Interesting)
When I finally did drive, I realized I was reaching for the handbrake so I could turn around. When I saw a police car, I had the idea that it would be faster to simply use his car...
Don't get me started on the pedestrians I saw.
Re:GTA (Score:3, Funny)
Re:GTA (Score:5, Insightful)
If a child can't control himself after playing video games, he shouldn't be playing them. It would be the parents' responsibility to monitor the child and make this decision.
Some people get really angry when playing games... (I'm one of them) others have a hard time ending their competition when they stop playing... (I'm fine on this part). The combination of these two factors could be enough to let a game send someone over the edge. That's not the fault of the video game (there are hundreds of other scenarios which can do this) but it should be headed off before it becomes a problem. My parents recognized that I would get in fights with my brothers if I lost a game... so they shut me off from gaming, adjusted the amounts I was allowed to play, and restricted the types of games I had. Of course, this is all anecdotal, but it certainly ends with "and I turned out fine." Fifteen years later, I am perfectly capable of enjoying a game without letting it blur the lines between video game reality and the rest of the world.
There are games that I won't let my children play until they're older... maybe 14 years or so. GTA isn't a game for anyone younger. But that doesn't stop them from wanting it. And when parents buy it for their kids, they're contributing to the problem.
My wife is a developmental psychology PhD candidate; her specialty is in parental monitoring of adolescents. I get to hear/read about this stuff from a more "scientific" perspective, and it's amazing how much we agree on this topic.
Re:GTA (Score:5, Funny)
It isn't just you... [navy.mil]
Real Danger (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:GTA (Score:2)
Re:GTA (Score:3, Informative)
Re:GTA (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:GTA (Score:3, Informative)
Re:GTA (Score:2, Funny)
Yes, I get this overbearing sense of omniscience, like I'm looking over a city down on what appears to be a 2d terrain. Everything is all pixelated and
Err wait, did you mean Grand Theft Auto 3?
Contrary to public belief, there was a GTA and GTA2. The multiplayer features in GTA2 were excellent for LAN partying (if you were fortunate enough to have the PC version). Now if only they'd add some TRUE multiplayer to GTA3, then the game wouldn't
Re:GTA -- ,my thoughts in the Walmart parking lot. (Score:3, Funny)
dreams (Score:5, Funny)
Although good dreams, I knew I needed to back off a bit.
Re:dreams (Score:5, Interesting)
Talk about mixing games with reality. It's odd enough to feel the urge in real life to "act" like you would in the games, but when you've already spent hours in the game map which is a replica of your real environment, and you know around the next corner there's a rocket launcher, it's hard to stay focused that you're in the real world.
Lucky you (Score:5, Funny)
Poor fluffy, his hair stood straight up for a week.
i do that all the time (Score:4, Funny)
Realism more dangerous than fantasy? (Score:3, Insightful)
Games that are highly realistic, like high end flight simulators, can actually train reflexes and unconsious strategies that are effective in real life. The problem with GTA seems to be that it resembles real life visu
Burnout 3 (Score:4, Funny)
It certainly did change my temporary assesment of situations.
Hmm, guess I need to stop playing CTF! (Score:5, Funny)
Bah. If only I could grapple to work.
same, but different (Score:5, Funny)
spelling error... (Score:3, Funny)
s/wife/mom/
Day/Night Dreaming (Score:2)
Ah, the days of tetris (Score:2)
Now, don't get me started about my dreams^H^H^H^H^H^Hnightmares.
- shazow
Re:Ah, the days of tetris (Score:2)
Re:Ah, the days of tetris (Score:5, Funny)
It took a couple of days and when I was done I saw the various number sequences in my sleep. I could play minesweeper in my head.
Then I realised the truth. MSFT had control of my brain and was using it to upgrade minesweeper. A bit of tinfoil and a linux install and I am feeling much better now.
Tony Hawk (Score:2)
now being sleep deprived, over worked, and only having Tony Hawk 4 as an escape, on my walks home from work I would actually attempt to grind curbs (but I didn't have a skateboard)... resulting in some nice injury... I believe that is the definition of too much gaming... or is it too little intelligence... not sure...
Definately... (Score:2)
Whenever I'm at the cinema, I always expect someone to jump out of the projectionist's window, blast a hole in the screen and run through it...
-- Steve
Re:Definately... (Score:2)
I was banned from Movies 14 for that.
Zerg in my sleep (Score:5, Funny)
Little zergs scratching at the door.
Little zergs digging holes.
little zergs racing across the landscape.
It was wonderful.
Re:Zerg in my sleep (Score:4, Interesting)
When I met him, he was a black belt in tae kwon do (he was korean), was in the CS program, and prettty bright.
Last I heard of him, he had dropped out, his roommates (and brother) kicked him out of the house because he never showered, cleaned, or got a job.
Bad driving was... (Score:2)
After playing too much City of Heroes... (Score:5, Funny)
I also marvel at how long it takes to get around cities without superspeed (basically the ability to run 60 mph all the time)
Re:After playing too much City of Heroes... (Score:3, Funny)
How do people live without a travel power? ;-)
I just find every third thought I have is COH related. I have those "Oh, I should tell my wife/buddy/stranger on the bus about this!" moments, only to realize that they're all game related, and they won't give a hoot. A good example is City of Zeroes [ign.com]: hilarious, if you play.
Re:After playing too much City of Heroes... (Score:5, Funny)
Good lord (Score:4, Insightful)
"I've been using the computer for so long, and command-Z works for undo in all the software programs," Hoffman said. "So whenever I find something in my life that I want to undo, I reach for the command-Z keys and I find it weird that it doesn't work."
You need a fucking vacation. NOW.
~D
Re:Good lord (Score:2)
Re:Good lord (Score:2)
>>
>> "I've been using the computer for so long, and command-Z works for undo in all the software programs," Hoffman said. "So whenever I find something in my life that I want to undo, I reach for the command-Z keys and I find it weird that it doesn't work."
>
> You need a fucking vacation. NOW.
So you spend three weeks and 50,000 Simoleons setting up a vacation that would end with a menage-a-trois with you, your boss' wife and just one lousy goat.
And then you fi
Ghost Recon... (Score:2)
Tetris attack (Score:4, Insightful)
We won't talk about what too much Goldeneye made me think.
Oh yes, it's for real. (Score:5, Funny)
Too much Quake2 had me strafing around corners (still do this a bit).
Too much Asheron's Call had me jumpy just from being outdoors (what was THAT? Oh, just a log, not a golem).
Too much Liesure Suit Larry, and I... nevermind.
GTA3 (Score:2)
GTA3 and above have to be the worst, just because it simulates doing crimes in the real world. Most other games are modeled in a fake place, somewhere there is no real parallel to here in the real world.
Re:GTA3 (Score:3, Insightful)
This is one of the reason I call bullshit on anyone who says that videogames can't actually spawn violence, or that it's easy to entirely differentiate between vi
Re:GTA3 (Score:5, Insightful)
But it is easy to tell, as evidenced by you not stealing any cars. You might feel a GTA-inspired urge to size up the car and take the nice fast one so you can evade the cops(I do too), but you know that you are in reality and that the real-world consequences (not just legal for you, but the consequences for the one you steal the car from) stop you.
The problem is not that reading/seeing/playing a game involving some concept may cause you to think about doing it in reality. The problem is the "more easily influenced" people who actually would forget about the barrier between reality and fantasy and act on the urges.
If playing GTA can make you commit real-life crimes, then watching the History Channel can make you commit genocide, and either way you are a nutjob who should be locked away. That's just my opinion, anyway.
Black and white ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Then I decided it was probably time to pay attention to the road and take a break from black and white.
Dreams (Score:2)
And yes... after played GTA3 for the first time I thought about obtaining the FBI car while driving. This was a one time thing and after another play session I was desesitized. Maybe the problem with some pe
Oh yeah, Civ3 (Score:2)
before you get too carried away, always remember (Score:2, Informative)
Half Life (Score:2)
recent poll (Score:2)
WoW... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:WoW... (Score:3, Funny)
On related notes, when I've been coding intensively, I sometimes wish I had a debugger handy for real life situations.
Nothing compared to old school games... (Score:2)
They still haunt me.
tetris, indeed (Score:4, Interesting)
I know also that I became really suspicious about social interactions while I was playing the Sims. I'd talk to people and know they were just doing it so their social meter would rise, and would leave feeling used and resentful. It was really terrible, because while it's generally not so hard to curb violent impulses, I started feeling like none of the people who talked to me throughout the course of the day actually had any regard for me and get really discontented.
Of course... (Score:5, Insightful)
By no means is this limited to gaming, and it's also what makes interactivity such a powerful tool for learning. Most people I know prefer to learn by doing. Doing in a properly engineered virtual world is a great way to prepare people for doing in the real world. That's what simulations are all about... And most games are simulations.
~D
Re:Of course... (Score:5, Funny)
We both were in high school then, he was working at a grocery store... stacking fruit, when he saw apples next to oranges he thought he could put an orange on the other side and flip the apple over and it should become an orange. When I took naps on a couch with a pillow at my head, I felt, if someone put a pillow at my feet I should flip over and become a pillow.
Burn-out 3 (Score:3, Interesting)
too much DDR (Score:3, Insightful)
I immediately gauge in-range or out of my SOCOM M4 (Score:2)
Ghost Recon can do this to you. Every person is a potential target. Too bad there's no IFF IRL...
Personal excesses: (Score:2, Insightful)
Postal.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Until... the "Marching Band" level (cue nefarious laugh) If you lobbed the flaming moltov cocktail just right into the marching band you'd set a bunch of the band on fire, who who begin flailing and screaming, setting other ban
too much warcraft (Score:2, Funny)
Yes sadly I no longer use that exclamation. My wife tells this story way too much.
Tetris (Score:2)
Re:Tetris (Score:3, Interesting)
Flight Sims (Score:2)
Goldeneye - Nintendo 64 (Score:2)
Next morning I'm walking down the office hallway when I look up to see a security sensor and for a split second my body tensed up and I tried to react until my higher brain kicked in and went "whoa partner! This is *reality*"
Gave me a new appreciation for practicing
one word: carmageddon (Score:3, Interesting)
and after playing loads of "need for speed 2 underground" and flatout (also a racing game) which is especially fun on icy roads, i had to remind myself that i wasn't playing it anymore when really driving on ice covered roads after the game session! these things can get really dangerous when you overestimate your driving skills or the car configuration right after having played a racing game.
the effect usually fades within an hour or so, but technically it should be forbidden to drive just after having played a "realistic" car related game!
also, after many, many hours of counter strike i found myself checking out rooms for possible cover and would think ahead for strategies to use when ambushed. this was actually fun even in RL but without doubt shows how very attached one gets to the patterns learned during hours of continuing immersive gameplay!
jethr0
The other hand (Score:2)
I no longer play FPS ... (Score:2)
I remember a story that came out about somebody who did the "restore game" finger sequence after doing something embarrasing at work -- they had the same reaction I did -- time to give it up.
I'm still addicted to games, I just avoid ones that change my brain in such a noticeable fashion.
A sign of a good game! (Score:2)
Anyway, you don't have to spend a lot time gaming for an extremely well crafted game to change the way you look at the world. I think it just means the des
Uhm.... (Score:2)
--
There is no giant ball of tape - you have been lied to.
Careful what you say-- (Score:2)
Could a person seeing violent behaviour in a game have one of these videogame intrusions and do something they might not normally do?
Or is it just the whackos who obsess over this shit? When I was in HS the original doom was the controversial game. We all played it, but only the weird ROTC kid with a gun rack in his truck (in california), the one who had that "im a crazy mofo" look in his eyes obsessed over it. Eve
t3h z0mbi3s ar3 c0ming t0 g3t m4!! (Score:2)
This shit gets into your head and it won't come out. I lost a serious relationship due to AC, and I just kept playing. The game made reality seem harsh compared, even though
Specialists Mod for Half Life (Score:2)
Not that I ever actually did that
Crimsonland... shudder... (Score:4, Interesting)
Zelda, Ocarina of Time. (Score:4, Funny)
When my little cousins played Super Mario 64 first came out, they later visited an art museum, and wer tempted to try taking running jumps at large paintings to see if there were any secret entrances.
I know I play too much DDR when (Score:3, Funny)
I once saw this guy at a mall (Score:3, Funny)
I figured he played console games a little too much.
Columbine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Is carrying out video game violence just the next logical step to what you all have experienced? You'll probably never reach that point, but what social or mental deficiency would you have to have before acting out a game becomes reality? Do we maybe start looking at Columbine and other tradegies and saying that maybe games to have some role in some violent acts.
Most difficult of all, is if we can find a link, what do we do about it? Go back to NES-style graphics?
Chess (Score:5, Interesting)
Y'all are sick. Not because you dream video games, but because all of the stories here are about dreaming about video games. Have none of you ever played a game without a pc/console?
I can remember chess club back in high school. After the tournaments, we would be driving home on the van, and I would still be seeing how I could attack the person two benches ahead and one person over from me. I was not the only teammate who had this happen either.
Go play a "real" game.
Re:Tetris (Score:2)
LOL, that reminds me too much of an old high school classmate. He failed at least one math class by spending every class period playing Zcasino on his TI-85. He even filed bug reports.
Re:Tetris (Score:2)
I also remember playing in a chess tournament in high school. After several preliminary rounds in the evening, all I could see when I tried to sleep was the damned green-on-white chess-board pattern.
Re:Animal Crossing (Score:2)
Re:Quake (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Happened with Ultima Online.... (Score:2)
At my wife's parent's house (she played at least as much as I did), during a conversation once after something funny was said, she actually SAID OUTLOUD "L-O-L". It just slipped out. We both laughed so hard as soon as she said it...everyone else probably just thought we were nuts.
Re:Oh if only... (Score:5, Funny)
Background music so you know when to do the quick save
Imagine a "superhero" with such a super power- no other powers except having predictive background music...
Re:Tetris (Score:3, Informative)
What's really frustrating is playing Tetris for a few hours before bed then dreaming about playing Tetris all night... And even in my dreams, I can't get that one stupid block I need...
Re:I feel you (Score:5, Insightful)
When you're dreaming about a video game, you're seeing your mind self-optimising to play that game more effectively.
Same here, only work instead. (Score:5, Interesting)
Then dream about making Tacos.
No!!!!!!
It gets worse. Later on, right after the dot-com bust, I was working a call center at Compaq. During certain times of the day, when things were slow with nothing to do, I'd decided I wanted to get better at Perl coding. I'd sit there for hours making strides in a program I was writing, learning new modules, working on problems, etc.
Then I'd go home, and not only dream of coding in Perl, but occassionally fix my code IN MY SLEEP.
God help me. I recently figured out what was wrong with our DNS server while under the effects of anesthesia for an upper endoscopy. Yikes.
Re:Same here, only work instead. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Quake + College Broadband = Hallucinations (Score:3, Funny)
You're already one up on almost everyone else on
Re:Counter Strike: Source (Score:3, Funny)