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Video Games cannot be evil because they are inanimate objects.
/thread.
I'm not playing Assassin's Creed anymore though, just Super Paper Mario. >.>
And to elaborate on my position:
I have been playing videogames since I was at least 3 years old, if not younger. (I don't really remember much of that young of my years.) I am 21 now. I am in no way socially retarted. I have a healthy social life, even at the peak of my gaming days. (Where I was getting 10+ hours in a day.) Plenty of friends, a full time (with at least 5 hours of overtime a week) job, a wonderful wife, and a beautiful daughter.
Tell me. How is this social retardation, if one can get all this in life and still be a gamer?
I will never, ever regret gaming. Not even when it took up a vast majority of my life. Like Kuharai said, it was part of the common ground that brought us together. (I even introduced her to her favourite genre.) It forged countless friendships, and countless priceless memories. Videogames aren't evil. Like everything, good and evil are in the hands of the user, not the object.
Last edited by twinArmageddons; 04-24-2008 at 10:07 AM..
Reason: Elaboration
One day, maybe five years, twenty years, or forty years from now, you're going to look up and say to yourself, "Oh My God. I threw away the best years of my youth playing video games. What the heck was I thinking?"
Yeah, because through 3 of my posts... you've read me SOOO WELL that you can take a few sentences and determine that I'm going to regret my choice of playing video games. I may end up regretting the amount of time I spend posting on web forums, since this seems like a much less productive use of my time than playing my video games.
I know from personal experience. Because thirty years ago, I ran with a similar crowd. We spent all our time playing Role Playing Games and computer games.
Computer games? 30 years ago? Were you playing on an ENIAC? I didn't know the punch cards had computer games.
In regards to RPGs: My father still has the ORIGINAL D&D manual. Not Player's Guide, Not DM Guide, etc... the ONE, ALL ENCOMPASSING manual.
He leads a healthy and functional life, as do all his friends.
My oldest brother played D&D for many years and may still do so, and is a successful and integral programmer at Microsoft.
My older brother played D&D and may still do so, and he's at Law School at Northwestern.
I'm in college and getting As in my courses.
That was it. That was our lives. Suddenly, when I was nineteen, I looked up and said, "Whoa. This is no way to live." So I quit cold turkey and got on with my life.
WHOA?! AT nineteen?! Wow!! You're so great at introspection. I could never hope to amass your wonderful powers of deduction. Its one thing to do something to the EXCLUSION of others. Its another to DO something.
And my friends? Without exception, they're still playing those games every night. The lucky ones got married and quickly divorced again, because their wives got tired of their husbands who only thought of games all the time.
this is totally me! When I go to bed, I dream age of Empires. When I wake up and go to class, Im figuring out how to counter the Byzantines Calvary. When I'm at work, I daydream and consider how DO I kill that sniper in the clock tower?!
C'mon. Look... you and your friends were in deep, and some people are. *I* and *MY* friends are not. Oh right, but Denial is just another stage of addiction. So, how do I phrase this such that you are not inclined to delve into some psychobabble to analyze my soul, much to the detriment of the entire forum.
Our desire to play games comes from the fact that it is a common activity that we have all enjoyed in the past. I have seen people play MMO games to the exclusion of school, work and relationships. I am not one of those people, because I realize the addictive capabilities of MMOs, and I avoid them.
None of them could keep a decent job. Two, last time I heard, still lived with their poor parents.
NONE of us live at home. The ONLY person who lives at home is because his father moved in with HIM. And he's working on getting away from his family (a much more detrimental part of his life than anything else) to move out to a better location.
In short, life passed them by because they allowed this dumb hobby of theirs to take over their lives. Kind of like what you've just described.
Really? Where did it EVER take over my life? Where WILL it ever take over my life?
When you do wake up and see that you squandered your best years staring at a computer game, please remember this post. Because I tried to warn you.
Please remember my post when I'm the CEO of Cisco or some other ridiculously large networking company, and I shall try to remember this forum at this point in time because I'm sure that my life will be so ridiculously busy and stressful, and I won't really have a life... but, we can all blame the video games... right?
Computer games? 30 years ago? Were you playing on an ENIAC? I didn't know the punch cards had computer games.
In regards to RPGs: My father still has the ORIGINAL D&D manual. Not Player's Guide, Not DM Guide, etc... the ONE, ALL ENCOMPASSING manual.
He leads a healthy and functional life, as do all his friends.
My oldest brother played D&D for many years and may still do so, and is a successful and integral programmer at Microsoft.
My older brother played D&D and may still do so, and he's at Law School at Northwestern.
I'm in college and getting As in my courses.
The main difference between tabletop RPG and computerised adventure games is that you cannot argue with a computer program as me and my friends have done everytime I objected to the DM's decisions or everytime they objected to my decision when I was a DM.
Regarding to violence: computergames are only limited interactive and they cannot adjust their level of violence like a 'live' Gamesmaster (or parent) could.
It all comes down to personality. If you are an addictive type, there is a possibility you will "lose at life" and it really doesn't matter whether it will be because of games, reading a book, going to the movies, hiking or doing anything else. Computer games are not evil. They are addictive, that I can agree with.
What amazes me is how easily people generalize about certain issues. I am sure we have all heard stories like "he killed his grandma because he thought she had another live" or "he starved to death playing World of Warcraft for 12 days straight" but these are extremes. With millions of gamers worldwide, cases like this are really rare. Tragic, yes. Common - no.
Having said this, I must admit I am a gamer too and have been one since I was 8 (when I got my Atari 2600 :P). I have many friends that are into this type of entertainment and most of them are normal people. Not afraid of sunlight, outgoing, many are happily married.
The way I see it, the main reason for hate directed at video games is ignorance.
Yac.
Originally Posted by Radek The main difference between tabletop RPG and computerised adventure games is that you cannot argue with a computer program as me and my friends have done everytime I objected to the DM's decisions or everytime they objected to my decision when I was a DM.
Regarding to violence: computergames are only limited interactive and they cannot adjust their level of violence like a 'live' Gamesmaster (or parent) could.
Just roll a d20 for "DM stupidity check"
Base is 10. For every person that agrees with the DM, its a +1, everyone that disagrees, its a -1. Works fairly well.
Base is 10. For every person that agrees with the DM, its a +1, everyone that disagrees, its a -1. Works fairly well.
True, but this way you do not truly solve any argument, even though it does keep the game going.
We usually continue our session and temporarily abide by the DM's decision, but afterwards we truly discuss things until we all come to an agreement.
I see this kind of social interaction (debating and objecting) as an advantage of tabletop games over computer games.
Originally Posted by Radek True, but this way you do not truly solve any argument, even though it does keep the game going.
We usually continue our session and temporarily abide by the DM's decision, but afterwards we truly discuss things until we all come to an agreement.
I see this kind of social interaction (debating and objecting) as an advantage of tabletop games over computer games.
Ever tried to pick teams in an RTS game? Or most particularly, what civilization each group can be without alarming the others?
I hardly play video games, but give me the right one and I'll go crazy. Not into all those superhuman powers that are in a lot of games. Purely enjoy reality.
Only game I own is Grand Theft Auto IV, and that doesn't hit the shelves until Tuesday.
Ever tried to pick teams in an RTS game? Or most particularly, what civilization each group can be without alarming the others?
Can take the better part of an hour sometimes.
True, but I believe this only involves strategy ( exploiting the rules) and not changing the initial rules of the game itself which not always is in your best interest. LoL, we often had heated debates about creating realism in a fantasy game.
But it was fun tho.
I was a country kid growing up. Played in every mud puddle, snow pile, tree house, and just plain running through the sprinkler. Sure nintendo came out when I was a kid, but it wasnt as fun as playing outside.
Now video games are the norm... I am a super computer user and see the benefit of learning to use the computer. However I am still "old school" in thinking the video game is rotting childrens brains.
Thoughts, opinion... do you own video games? If so is it a privilege for the kids to play? Do you stick to the rating system keeping games age appropriate?
Any old schoolers out there like me who want to see their kids play outside?
I don't own a video game system. Last one I owned was ColecoVision's PONG. I've played coin-op games, and I found them an excellent way of relieving stress and aggression that would not involve law enforcement.
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The main difference between tabletop RPG and computerised adventure games is that you cannot argue with a computer program as me and my friends have done everytime I objected to the DM's decisions or everytime they objected to my decision when I was a DM.
True, but this way you do not truly solve any argument, even though it does keep the game going.
