The Social Impact of Gaming

"The Bart, The" writes "The Economist weekly is carrying a well considered special report on the current debate regarding morality and gaming." From the article: "Like rock and roll in the 1950s, games have been accepted by the young and largely rejected by the old. Once the young are old, and the old are dead, games will be regarded as just another medium and the debate will have moved on. Critics of gaming do not just have the facts against them; they have history against them, too."

social bong

[qewl]

I know, like just this last weekend, I was with my friends and was like, "Hey, somebody set us up the bong!"

Re:Uh...

[plover]

If my cousins could go out and just have sex regularly

I take it you don't live in Arkansas?

Re:Not the way to incite debate

[Rei]

It's not that simple - games really do have a strong effect in on impressionable youth of all ages. Ah, I remember back in my college days, whenever the latest version of Grade Killer (i.e., Nethack) would come out, it would easily affect my life. I'd sign off all my work with '@', and use a pickaxe to create shortcuts between my classrooms. I'd go around campus killing everything in sight (and eating corpses that weren't my species when I couldn't get to the cafeteria). I'd try to borrow books from other students, reminding them that they wouldn't need it again for another 20,000 turns. I spent my evenings quaffing unidentified potions, and called it "research". Ah, good times, good times.

(many thanks to the Internet Oracle [geocities.com])

Lessons

[Anonymous Coward]

Lessons I've learned from gaming:

1) Never let your foot off the gas pedal when driving.
2) If going to war, make sure you get to handle the RPGs... that will definitely kill the enemy. What a heck, if you get blown up yourself, you can always respawn.
3) Don't trust a noob behind you when you run out of a room... you never know what he/she will do to you.
4) Cheating in games, and cheating on your wife is the same thing.
5) Always use up your money when you're in the armory... same thing with real life... you might lose it on other stuff.

And for my maners... them I picked up from Leisure Suit Larry.

G4TV profitibility?

[The Lynxpro]

So, does this mean that for G4TV to finally become profitable, it'll take the death of the entire baby boomer generation? Great, that's obviously an easier challenge for them to face than the death of all the viewers who demand style and substance from their television programming! Quick, buy some Comcast shares because the money will be rolling in within the next 10-20 years... :)

Re:I agree with this...

[antiMStroll]

Personally, I railed against Marilyn Manson because the music sucked.

Re:but...

[Fung_Koo]

Perhaphs he just needs to meet the Yoko Ono of software.