Have you ever thought about this?

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by talukegord, Jan 14, 2013.

  1. Before anyone reads this, I want to make it clear. I AM NOT AGAINST VIDEO GAMES IN ANY WAY, I AM JUST TRYING TO SEE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK

    In my english class we are all writing opinion pieces (where we argue something based on opinion, yadda-yadda). The teacher knows us all fairly well, and chose for us the topics we would write our pieces on. But she put a twist on it, we had to argue the opposite side of what our opinion was. The topic that I have to argue is "Video games, and playing videogames is harmful". I never really thought about the negatives about this topic (The positives are much stronger IMO) and I found a lot of dark stuff about it, specifically these stories here:

    PG-13 warning, Daniel's story is very creepy:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Petric

    http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/28/south.korea.virtual.baby/

    More here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_addiction#Notable_deaths

    I feel like someone is going to yell at me for using wikipedia...dont do that :p

    So yeah, what do you guys think? Is there more of a positive effect or a negative effect? I personally think that shootings are just an effect of a few people, but you guys may think differently.

    Tell me what you think!

    PS: Sorry If the grammar is awful in this thing its really late :p,
    also..sorry if the orange text is annoying, just wanted to put some emphasis (Kinda overdid it lol)
    NINJATTILA and mba2012 like this.
  2. I am going to sleep, it is late *yawns*
    mba2012 likes this.
  3. WHY DID U USE WIKIPEDIA!!!!11!! YOU CAN'T TRUST IT. jks. Wikipedia is the probably one of the most accurate recourses around. Anyhoo an interesting topic.
    talukegord likes this.
  4. Well, I'm glad we don't have 60,000 people who constantly post and view the forums...

    /sarcasm
    mba2012 likes this.
  5. Well there are many obvious downs to video games, which mostly depend on the player. The most fearsome in my opinion is the fact, that many games (especially MMO's) are designed to addict. Companies spend lots of money to make games as addicting as possible. Especially younger player often can't see that they are addicted. (This doesnt mean they get addicted more then older player but those at least sometimes know about it). Once addicted you dont only deny work (like homework), but you also dont meet with friends even if you get invited. You miss out on many occassions only to find yourself ingame running around beeing bored. By the time you move out, you figure you completly lost any sozializing skill you EVER had and feel lonely alot, as you are not forced to meet people in school anymore.

    Except for that some people also get overly agressive in some games (pvp games mostly like LoL and similar, not only shooters). Some people take this with them out of the game and missjudge their real strength and get in trouble. Either with people who are stronger or just more powerful (parents, teachers etc).

    A third possible all around problem is, that we cant deny that though computer games do train some skills (as we always proudly mention) it also decreases many. Often we missjudge the impact to our body, as it can stand it while we are young. But once we grow older we figure we got us a bad position for our second half of our life. Beeing a bit chubby might be okay in while young because you can easily train it away in a month or two. But beeing chubby when you get older means you get REAL fat in a month or two and you can't do anything against it. And with REAL fat I mean unhealthy fat.

    So also we always try to find ways to argue ourselves out of those problems, we can never truly counter them. Especially LONGTIME problems are more complex then we can comprehend most of the time.

    I hope that helps you a little

    Greetz Hasorko (I'm still playing so I'm not a gaming hater either ;) )
    mba2012, vividOptimism and talukegord like this.
  6. I personally think that video games can make you socially isolated, however I don't believe that they have the power to make a person violent - without any other variables outside of the game affecting their behaviour.
    mba2012, Gap542, Hasorko and 2 others like this.
  7. Coming from personal experience I have grown up playing games and I really don't feel like they make me violent. Then again my parents taught me right from wrong and that games aren't reality. They did monitor what my sister and I played when we were growing up but not to the point that we were 15 and being forced to play Elmo's ABC or something. We were always made to take breaks and I still do those things. I get flack from people on SMP7 all the time "Omg You're still on?" "Do you ever sleep?" because they may see me on a lot. I don't really sit there the whole time I am on, I do things around the house, fix meals and eat etc. I have health issues and stuck at home with very little friends so games are my outlet.

    I have mentioned before about my cousins who are quite the opposite and without being unable to explain well I got flack from people for it. My aunt sends mixed signals to her kids. They're ages 11 and 6 and she has bought them Games rated Teen and Mature. They really weren't taught the same things we were and she lets them do as they please. Once the oldest told me he was going to hunt down his dad (he's not in the picture) and tie him up and shoot him. I was floored.

    I'm not saying the game is at fault I think it has more to do with the person and what kind and how much interaction they have with people and parents interacting and teaching them right from wrong and that not everything you see in a game is real life.

    I hope this makes sense and I didn't ramble too much. :I
  8. This sums it up pretty well.
  9. wikipedia isnt reliable. ANYONE can make an account and edit a page.
  10. ANYONE can notice vandalism and fix it.
    mba2012 likes this.
  11. Wikipedia is really good at finding and keeping that stuff out. All the trolls out there and i have only noticed one Wikipedia page that had been vandalized.
  12. Violent Game + Normal guy = Cool, plays game
    Violent Game + Guy with Problems = *Next day* 27 deaths due a random guy with AK-47
    mba2012 and Jake_bagby like this.
  13. I remember my I.T teacher telling me about support groups for people that are addicted to video games and i laughed, but after seeing these articles i do see the serious side to things!
  14. the whole time I've searched wiki (i use it quite often) i've only seen two unreliable/trolled pages!
  15. What a delicious topic!

    Like any tool (or Hobby), Video Games can be helpful or harmful, depending on how the tool is used. Anything to an extreme is harmful. Even water is poisonous in too great an amount. If one is not taunt the value of the tool, and the value of the things around them, One cannot use the tool correctly. An Extreme misuse or neglect can occur in that case. That can really be said of anything. The problem comes when someone doesn't know how much is enough. Its an individual thing. Maintaining balance in all things is important for everyone.
    Video Games have a lot of benefits to a lot of people. They can help someone learn to socialize, how to do math, how to manage finances, how to get along in a group and any number of other things. Aside from that people need some way of letting out frustration and relaxing (I personally do it with video games).
    NINJATTILA likes this.
  16. It depends on how mentally healty you are. Some one that plays MW3 with no problems would not kill people. Now, if a mentally unstable Kid played MW3 or halo, they might not understand how real death is and that they will NOT come back to life, or the people they have killed. I think certain games (like mortal kombat) and other violent games should be banned from the USA to prevent anymore shooting or deaths
  17. There has never been any scientific, unbiased study showing that playing video games will lead to real life violence. Something should not be banned without proof. Hell, it should not be banned even with proof, we have the rating systam for a reason. You should watch the video I posted above.
  18. That is pretty rude to say and also you seem to be saying that games are the reason people are violent. Kind of contradicts what you're saying.
  19. But isn't it the responsibility of the person (or guardian of said person) to be aware of the problem and take action accordingly? Not that I play mortal kombat, but it seems unfair that a few people should be able to ruin it for the rest of gamers. For example Daniel had a staph infection, not that I know anything about those, but maybe he shouldn't have been playing the game with the effects of the infection in place. Just because Daniel killed his parents doesn't mean the rest of the world shouldn't play halo 3.
    HylianNinja and PandasEatRamen like this.