I roll my eyes every time I see another news story about video game violence. How GTA V inspired another person to gun down a load of innocents somewhere at some place.
It saddens me because I'm very pro-technology and society. I try to fuse them both together. So you'll often see me helping an older person on the PC, trying to set them right, or just having a general conversation as to why they feel uncomfortable with such friendly machines.
I have a good 80-90% success rate when it comes to convincing people that using these things is the way to go. Not because it's optional but because it's becoming a necessity. You know, even public services are using them. Soon, everything will be done by computer. It's just the way things are.
And when I try to bring up the topic of video games they look at me as if I've just tried to sell the crack cocaine. The horror on their faces. See, they've grown up through an era where the powers that be have told them that video gamers are lazy, feckless and stupid, and that they'll always be doing what they are doing.
And for me to mention such a thing to them horrifies them. Because they can imagine themselves becoming lazy couch potato'd violence fuelled addict. When it's really not like that at all.
You never hear any positive benefits of gaming at all. Which is sad really. I wonder why?
I bought a couple of strategy/action online games a good five years ago for myself when I started to get back into gaming. And boy did I get a shock. In about three months my logical side of the brain, which had laid lazy and dormant for several years had suddenly buzzed up with activity.
My reflexes had sped up no end, my problem solving skills were enhanced, I was able to process maths in mere seconds rather than the sluggish 10 and above I used to achieve.
And you know? I even tried to take these thoughts to my local charity fund as an idea to bridge neglected and disenfranchised people together. But I was shot down. It's tough to get people to forward think when it comes to the gaming sector. There's no doubt that there are huge forward thinkers in the gaming sector, though.
So I'll be here, trying to bridge gaming with society, plodding along, doing my thing.
Perhaps one day it'll be widely accepted! And not have so much stigma attached to it.
Game on, brothers!
As a game developer myself, personally I know there are a lot of positive power brought by game, and the first example I have in my brain is this :
Games or gaming are't a bad thing!
Games help us relate to the world, take a small lion cub, in his first months is just fun for him. In our first human years is the same everything we see is a game.
A "game" helps us to sharpen our skills but in the same time influences us toward one way or another.
In case of action game this is what you will see , more and more action.
Shooter games are about guns, RPG are role playing games that supose to emerge us in a similar world, or a world that we belive in and shapes our perception. Then there are horor games, survivor, puzzle games and strategy.
Our perception is shape by the game we play . In the case of the lion cub his perception has shaped by the games he played witch were catching prey .
in case of GTA the player emerses in the world of violance, a world that I may add is of his own liking. In the hours that he plays inside his brain Dopamine is relased witch gives him pleasure. In the hours passed in front of the screen he starts to become more tired and tryes to stay awake . After that his attention span decreases and the images of violance gets stuck in his head.
You see this is how you change a person perception or lets say reprogram
a person. Now more time is passing and our subject (the player) continues to play the violant game. After few days it becomes for him very hard to sleep and when he sleeps he has nightmares. These are classic sintomes . He becomes more and more tired from the lack of sleep and becomes angry for apparantly no reason. Again some days pass... Now hes is more tyred and more stressed and on every sound or word he jumps or hear something different. At this point he is ready to make a mistake ... any kind of mistake.
In conclusion games can expand our imagination and creativity but if it is too much it destroys our good parts.
Generally when people talk about gaming in negative light is when they've seen people consumed by them. And I feel that is the main problem with gaming. We let our kids build a very unhealthy addiction and then just blame games. Too much is too much, we all know that.
I think playing games in moderation helps. So play them for 2 hours a day at most and then switch off. If you were to constantly play them, then it would suck for you - not to mention your social life
Can't agree with this enough. I played a LOT of video games as a child. Now I have a vast amount of problem solving skills that I notice a lot of my non-gamer friends don't have. Not sure I would have developed those skills without being constantly challenged with puzzles in video games, especially in RPGs, which are full of puzzles and were always one of my favorites to play.
Exactly right - I've also heard that it's helpful for older people, by keeping their minds active and staving off the brain diseases. But, however true to life this is I'm unsure.
thanks for this post~!
Thank you!!
Another benefit of gaming;
https://steemit.com/parenting/@mattclarke/kids-are-learning-investment-strategy-from-video-games
I read that and commented :)
oh and I upvoted too :)
I actually wrote an entire post about the benefits of gaming here:
https://steemit.com/depression/@voltarius/can-a-video-game-save-your-life
I think honestly it's just that people are attracted to negative things. You always hear about the "bad things" gaming does to people because that's what garners attention, just like most news channels now are focused on negative events rather than positive ones.
Very true. My employer always tells me - you do something good, a handful of people get to hear about it. Do something bad and the whole world and their dog knows about it soon afterwards. Bad news spreads quicker :)
I've been gaming since I was 5 or 6, which was on the Atari way back in the 80's, picked it up at a garage sale for $20 and have been hooked ever since. I drop off of gaming, but always come back, it is something that is constantly reliable and entertaining. I think if people could see it as a digital story with puzzles and engrossed character design and truly appreciate the art and hours put into it. It's a futuristic novel and growing in popularity, even over taking the financial growth of Hollywood!
Virtual Reality is the next big thing. Mark my words. Give it a few years!