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.
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
Tetris attack (Score:4, Insightful)
We won't talk about what too much Goldeneye made me think.
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
too much DDR (Score:3, Insightful)
Personal excesses: (Score:2, Insightful)
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 videogames and real life. I'd like to hear more opinions on this.
And you say video games dont' cause violence. . . (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm sure many of you have said previously, that video games do not make people kill other people. But there is clear evidence here, that it CAN! The only difference is the level of self-immersion. It very well may be that some younger, lesser developed minds end up -not- being able to separate reality from fantasy, and they end up buying a gun and blowing people away. It's all part of the gaming experience.
THINK ABOUT IT A WHILE! The only thing keeping you from going postal on the freeway is that you have a greate knowledge and bring yourself back to reality faster. The only thing that keeps you from mugging the guy in front of you, is the same "reality check", the only thing that keeps you from buying a gun and blowing people away is that same "reality check".
Some people aren't capable of that "reality check". And most of you have already admitted to having the lines between reality and fantasy blurred. So have I.
But the next time some kid is arrested for shooting up their school, and they blame it on video games. You had damn well better listen, because you have all but admitted, it's TRUE!
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.
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 visually and aurally, but not in terms of morality, risk assessment, or practical physics.
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.
Re:Oh yeah.. (Score:1, Insightful)
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?
Re:GTA (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe it can still be reconciled though: You did NOT run over any pedestrians, nor did you take a policeman's car. Therefore, while it might affect your thinking at some level, you were still able to make your own choice. Perhaps violent games should be restricted to those who are legally recognized at knowing wrong from right?
strike
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.