Sunday 7 August 2011

The Effects of games on society

My mother was having a conversation with her friend about how kids are getting addicted to games now and it’s affecting the society... I told her she’s  wrong and decided to write some things down. This is what I got. I know that the vast majority of games out there appeal to a great amount of people, and often teenagers can find themselves getting addicted to games. This however isn’t all that bad. A lot of teenagers/young adults play games to socialize with their friends. Consoles such as the Xbox 360 and the Ps3, and Pc gaming allow users to play games online and allow them to talk to friends and people from across the world, this is a good thing as some people are shy in real life but when they’re playing their favourite game they’re a lot more confident and can talk a lot more and gain good communication skills. Because there’s people playing from all over the world it is easier to learn words in different language, I know this because I myself have done it. The bad thing is though that people can become too addicted to games and this can cause problems, people stay in their house more and sometimes turn down opportunities to socialize because they’re playing a game. They can also put off doing tasks/word because they want to play a game for longer, this can become a real problem to students because they’d much rather play a game then do work, I mean who wouldn’t.  I know a lot of people moan because someone is playing games a lot but it’s certainly better than the being on the streets binge drinking and getting involved in gang related crimes. I think a lot of people can feel slightly pressured into playing a game, if all their friends have a certain game and they’re always playing it/talking about it they may feel as though they need to get that game to ‘fit in’, not sure if you agree but I’ve seen this happen. Another thing I’ve heard people talk about is that people can’t seem to separate reality from the gaming environment? I find this stupid because I’ve never seen anyone running around dressed as master chief and killing people shouting ‘’FUCK THE HORDE’’.  I personally think you have to have some mentality issues if you have this problem.

So who’s side are you on? Mine or my mothers? ¬_¬

28 comments:

  1. Interesting post, I love your blog.
    Keep up the good work!

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  2. interesting read. totally agree!

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  3. i completely agree with you, all the way

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  4. Just like commericals games/movies has an effect on your psyche. But I agree with what you wrote.

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  5. I agree with your mother mainly, although people are able to become slightly more cultured due to speaking to people around the globe, kids should be out working on their face to face social skills. 80% of our communication is done through body language and without being able to read that you are basically scuppered from having any decent career later on in life. I say go outside and speak to a stranger, you will learn more than 12 hours of gaming. Interesting post, thanks for taking your time to write it.

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  6. I'm confused, you do agree with your mother that kids do get addicted to games and that is does in some ways affect society, so where's the argument?

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  7. I run around and collect herbs and insect parts, which I then return to a random person. I then demand either an item in return or some experience points.

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  8. What you get use to doing as a teen stays with you for life. As a kid I use to sit and draw comics all day while watching TV, and now as an adult I still love to do that and when I do that everything seems right with the world! I make a little money cartooning but usually have to work a dead end job.
    If you play video games through out your teens I assume your gonna wanna do it the rest of your life (video games are new no other generation grew up with them) and when your generation is older video games will be common with all adults!
    When books first came out everyone thought they were frivolous and only the rich bought them, 200 years later there taught in schools and now adays everyone takes an English class about books in school.
    Who knows what the future of video games will be! It could be anything!

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  9. @Shaw - I believe that it does affect society but it's not all that bad. My arguiment is that playing video games have positive and negative outcomes, where as my mother only believes there are negative outcomes.

    @Bersercules - Good point. They've already started using the Nintendo Wii and the Nintend Ds in schools. It's going to be interesting to see what's in store for video games in the future.

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  10. I dont have anything against kids playing a lot of games, as long as they still have face to face interaction and make some sort of physical activity. Talking through the xbox or ps3 isnt socializing. Go out, interact with people, its not that hard hahaha

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  11. I am on your side for sure "]

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  12. @Milky thanks for the heads up, I didn't realize they were already using the Wii and DS in schools!

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  13. The zombies walking around with their face in their phones 24/7 is a little disturbing, but games in general aren't bad for society, i think.

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  14. save a lot of money staying at home playing vid games too

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  15. I agree with you.. I'm super shy and it's much easier for me to talk to people online / through games.

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  16. I agree. Games just bring people together. :D Like TV and board games!

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  17. Good points. I'm with Sub Radar Mike. The smart phone zombies are what worry me/disgust me

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  18. @Electric Addict make a good and humorus point!
    I spent $10 on Civ 3 for the PC and I've played it 15hours a month for about 3 years! Once a month over a long weekend I play one long game! Its fun, it gives my girlfriend time with out me (which all relationships need) and I don't spend a dime! (exept on a pizza)

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  19. Yours. Your Mother has been listening to too many biased news sources and questionable "studies".

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  20. I'm on your side. But thats only because I myself am an avid gamer.

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  21. I used to play counter-strike competitively at a high level in my mid-teens and I must say - traveling the country playing LANs with my team against all these other teams was a great social experience, even when we lost and got frustrated - there was always on who'd give the 'ole "awh, come on guys its alright!"

    Games bring people together - the reason they're so addictive is because of the social aspect - instead of loads of people getting together every friday night for pizza and games - you can do it every night via the internet and I think that is a beautiful thing!

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  22. Where I live, there is a tv channel that always speaks shit about games,and as always,older people are generally fans of this misconception
    But it's all a matter of time right, when generation of games be the older generation, I believe that will change.

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  23. I agree, games are definitely more good than bad. In fact I'm going to play some right now :)

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  24. Oh, then I agree with you :D

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  25. You definitely have to find a balance between real life and games. I have spent ridiculous amounts of time playing rpg's so i gave it a rest for a while.

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  26. atleast your mom has an opinion on recent events and discusses it with you :(

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  27. Games can be extremely addictive, as well they can influence your perception of reality. If you spend 12 hours a day in a virtualized reality, there are parts of your brain that cannot discern the difference between the virtual reality, and your "actual" reality. For this reason, our societies have been coarsened to accept habitual military action, leading to the "inevitable" deaths of those who oppose us. Never was such a powerful tool available to empire builders. Beware of what you consume, in all forms.

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  28. I agree with you; playing video games has both negative and positive aspects. There always have to be people who fall in the extremes of things, and I think your mother is one of those people. Whilst she thinks playing video games only has bad consequences, there are persons who become addicted to them and forget about their real life. I don’t see anything wrong with playing video games as long as you know to ‘control’ yourself – every thing has to be done with moderation.
    On the good side there would be, like you said, learning new languages, socializing for those who don’t enjoy going out that much or who feel more comfortable online, they can be a pretty cool way to relax after a tiring day or a way to spend time with your friends.
    “I know a lot of people moan because someone is playing games a lot but it’s certainly better than the being on the streets binge drinking and getting involved in gang related crimes” – for sure it is better, but probably this is as well an extreme; I know people who don’t play computer games and go out pretty often, but for that reason they didn’t started to do drugs or anything like that.
    All in all, it’s not the video games that ‘damage’ us, it’s the human itself. If you know when enough it’s enough, nothing can affect you in a bad way.
    To answer your question about the babydoll replica story (wasn’t sure where I should reply) I don’t think it’s real – as most of the creepy pasta aren’t – but I guess it has to have something real, from where it all started (for example, maybe there once really were those dolls that really looked like a real baby).

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