Bad or good? Do they make you dumb or do they promote other types of thinking? Do MMO's (which have an economy) promote economic thought? Is it possible to be addicted and have a girlfriend/social life?

We're under that stereotype that people who are addicted to such games become those without a social life. Most of the time, that's actually true, but maybe only in the case of major addiction. On the other hand, video games now and then isn't going to have a substantial effect on the rest of your future - if you know how to limit yourself. It's the exact same idea with television, computers, heck, nearly all types of technology. It's just a matter of self control, and how well you're able to balance between the e-world and the rest of your life.

I play World of Warcraft. That game is incredibly addicting.

Good! If it wasn't for video games I would have to work in the food industry, which is not happening. And I think people can be addicted and have girlfriends or social lives, they just have to know when enough is enough. My boyfriend plays video games and he always makes time for me. Although if your addicted to WOW, you may have a problem.

ive been playing gta san andreas alot lately and its affecting my driving skills in a bad way lol

I think that video games are good, because it gives you a chance to just relax, and to live in some sort of a fantasy world. When I play the games, I almost feel as if I am actually in the game.

I actually wrote a paper about this in class. I'll come back later with a long one.

Moderation, imo.

Yep I've played Midnight Club 3, and Burnout: Revenge alot, and that's giving me a bit trouble learning to drive. But I think video games are good.

As long as you know how to balance it with everything (work, school, boy/girl/regular friends, and family etc etc), I think it's pretty good. My boyfriend plays WoW as well he use to be realllllllly addicted to it, right now that he has me and a job it's hard to balance but he still has times where he can play (when still up for it).

Words of wisdom.

My son (who many of you know has autism) didn't do hardly anything nor did he seem interested in anything. He did somewhat show interest in a game that was on my cell phone at the time, so I decided to bust out the old Nintendo (we're talking OLD). He really enjoyed it (he was about three at the time). So I purchased him an Xbox and a Nintendo Gamecube. It was really strange at first because he had next to nothing in the way of social skills, but the kid was fantastic at game playing. All around, including non-game time, he would laugh and smile more and seemed to be communicating more. So in my opinion, games have been good. Of course, moderation should be used and I don't like him being in front of his games too long for obvious reasons (tired eyes, etc). Anyway, some anecdotal words regarding my personal experiences with game playing.

I also play an MMO (not WoW, sorry) and I love it. There's strategy, team work and economic skills that can be learned from an extent.

Video games are not bad. They may reflect negative images, but most of these images pertain to real life scenarios anyway. I think that video games can be very helpful, but at the same time everything should be done in moderation. Video games are supposed to be addictive, that is how corporations who make video games make their money. It's sad to see people stuck in the house playing video games all night and all day. I think it may make yonger children less sociable or sociable only with children who play video games, but it is possible to play video games and have a social life.

^Bingo. I have a very active social life, and still manage to play video games. I play against my friends on xbox live alot, because it is just a way for us to have fun if we don't feel like going out or something like that. Video games can also be a good social networking tool as well.

haha, are you going to play gta4 when it comes out in april?

I used to play every day.
Haven't in over 2 months I think.
Mainly because my mother hid it.

Still plan on pursuing a career in that field, though.

At the height of my game playing, I was able to beat The Warriors in a few hours. I am going to get San Andreas to prep for GTA4.

honestly i think strategy games really have made my thinking sharper. right now i'm currently playing disgaea for psp, pretty fun, and mind challenging, though in a minimal way.

it's weird though 'cause i start thinking about everything in a certain "strategic" way now. i guess it's made my life more organized?

He doesn't speak often, but he says a lot, despite the brevity.

Agreed! Games like graw, and cod4 have definitely made me a sharper thinker.

To think, I was just making spam legit topics because I was on mod preview...

Did you know that Doctors use Playstation in order to relax and warm up their hands before surgery? This was when PS2 was in her prime.

Video games also help hand and eye coordination, as well as eye reflexes which also promotes eye strengthening.

MMO (such as FFXI) helped me understand supply and demand, to the point in which I myself could control certain aspects of the economy by various items (buying and selling)

Because MMOs have realistic game play (such as economy) they can become very addicting. Again with FFXI, there was actual death rates in Japan and China because lack of nutrients (food and sun) and sleep. A game like FFXI can easily take the reality away from a person because the game in a sense is real, real enough to make fake money, become popular, have a social life, and the demand of time consuming responsibilities needed in order to succeed in the game.

That'll teach ya!

MMO's are extremely addicting, especially since there's so much social interaction.

MMO? What is that?

MASSIVE MULTIPLAYAR, ONLINE

Or something like that.

massive multiplayer online roleplaying game.

Haha, well this is a good question, because my friend plays WoW...Everyday for hours at a time. It's pretty bad. But, I was thinking about this the other night watching my friend play Vice City.

Games cannot be all that harmful. In Australia they have banned the GTA games, why? Because they promote violent behavior. But so don't movies and comic books and music. Doesn't mean that it will be the catalyst of a violent life style. Some other factor must have taken place.

I consider myself a well rounded person, I'm not usually an angry or aggressive person. I view death with respect. But when I see some one flying through the air after getting hit by a car in a movie or a video game, I love it. If it were the real thing, I might still love it, but not to the same degree I did if it was staged.

addiction is bad. video games that are designed to consume massive amounts of your time such as WoW are bad. i play a lvl 70 paladin w/ various alts and can say first hand that WoW is one video game you should definitely avoid.

the games where you sit down with friends and play are MUCH better in my opinion. if it weren't for WoW i might have kept playing college football, kept hanging out w/ friends that i no longer talk to, gotten a girl friend, risen my GPA, gotten a job, the list never dies.

I play WoW. I work. I have all As and Bs. I have friends, the ones I no longer talk to took paths w/ drugs etc. I have a girlfriend of two years. What am I getting at? WoW isn't that bad. It's people's inability to control themselves. I control my WoW play. I don't get involved in raiding. I don't set aside time to play WoW. I don't commit to things in WoW. I don't get emotionally attached. Simple fixes, my friend :) I have 3 70s and another up and coming 70, and I still have an eventful social life, good grades, and a steady income of money (for a college student).

Depending on the video games you play, no they're not making us dumb! I've learned a lot of new words playing WoW (the smartasses in guilds also help), and it's easy and fun to learn history if you're playing a WW2 game. If you play a game where you have to defeat evil bunnies, that might not be very educational..

^It could be, if it involves how many bullets it takes to kill an evil bunny.

I refuse to play FFXI or any MORPG for that matter. The game is addicting not only because it's fun, but because the maps are freaking huge, so it takes a while to travel through them. There's crafting, gardening, fishing, farming, mining, chocobo digging, chocobo racing, skilling up weapons, PvP, EXPing (gaining levels), exploring, killing notorious monsters, Sky, Sea, Dynamis, HNMs, lol the f**kin list goes on... there's just waaaaay tooo much shit to do =\

In WoW there's:

Skinning
Mining
Herb Gathering
All the crafts, and of course the Auction House. I liked the crafting system better in FFXI, but I prefer the WoW auction house. It's much more realistic, while the crafting is more realistic in FFXI. I wish in WoW you could craft + items.
Arena
Battlegrounds
World PvP

As to the PvP, I play WoW because I find their pvp system superior to FFXI, and that's one of the few things I like better about WoW.

Leveling
Instances (like 2000 of those)
Raids (like 10 different Raids)
Ganking (hahahahaha)
Rare Mobs
World Bosses
City Raids (attacking the other faction's main city)
A ton of gear diversity

List goes on :)

MMORPGs are really really addicting. Time flies when you play. Regardless, I am not one to say inanimate items are bad and I hate it when we, as a society, blame such objects. Misuse is totally the person's responsibility and not the object's.

Things I have noticed since playing MMO's...

1. WPM level up!
2. Grammar level up!
3. Bartering(econ) level up!
4. Foreign language level up!
5. Politics/government level up!
6. Math skills and critical thinking level up!

Haha. Well you get the idea. I have actually known a japanese player, among many foreign players, through an mmo that did not understand english and helped him through the game with broken english and broken romanji japanese. Now, he seems very proficient in english. As for me, however, I still am not as proficient in japanese as he is in english. I have, on the other hand, increased my Spanish proficiency!

My brother plays WoW [and various other videogames] with his girlfriend. :]
And he's in a band.
And has mucho friends.
Plus he's a super smart kid.

Yes. It is possible.

they are good and they do promote thinking (make me more conifednt in myself) and mmos promote economic thought.

and i can't answer the last question :D

Games are generally bad. So are forums.

this thread...

comee on ppl... aint hard...

I change my stance.

Videogames kill.

oh beautiful sin: what're you thinking about right now?
him: um
him: halo 3
him: cause thats what im playing
him: :D
oh beautiful sin: poopface
oh beautiful sin: :(
him: :(
oh beautiful sin: do you ever have thoughts about stuff other than videogames anymore?
him: BAHAHAHAHA
him: no
him: cause
oh beautiful sin: :[
him: im just that shallow
him: JUST KIDDING
him: XD
oh beautiful sin: agh. i still miss you.
him: i have no emotions
him: outside videogames.
him: again.
him: just kidding.




Poop.

I had to write a big essay about this for my HSPAs [standardized test] junior year...

To sum it up, I wrote that video games are for the most part, good and useful... even the non-educational-looking ones are educational in their subtle and subliminal ways. More or less generally speaking, they all teach you strategizing skills, puzzle solving and in some cases, cooperation and team work. Some video games can get addicting, which leads to problems, but willpower can easily over power.

I hate MORG's.....

My boyfriend use to play WoW i hated those days. He didnt want to spend valentines day with me because of that game. He has serious anger issues when he died in that game. He'd take it out on me and hang up the phone and be mad the next day. Honestly he was addicted to the point he would sometimes miss school. he wouldnt do his homework he'd rely on me to do it. He'd copy off me. It was ridiculous.

He got me into playing WoW but I really didn't get into it I thought it was kind of boring. Although my little sister did she was addicted to it.

Now that my boyfriend stopped playing WoW he wants now for me to get him Mass Effect an RPG game for his birthday. I'm seriously considering it not getting it for him for his birthday all i know is that he'll get addicted to that game too like he did with WoW.

It's practically an epidemic.

i loooove video games, but it didn't do much good for me today when i started to drive for the first time. i kept pushing the pedal all the way because i wanted to faster! :) it was very hard for me to keep my foot from not pushing all the way... especially since i'm so used to it.

BUT back to the topic

they can be good but only to the point where its entertaining enough, but below the line of addiction. in my avid class we read an article about how teenagers in japan are actually having to go to boot camp to get rid of their online gaming addictions!! AND many teens have already died because they did not attend school, eat, sleep, or even go to the bathroom because they did not want to risk their precious game...

sooooooo. i think video games are both good and bad. it just depends on your situation.

I believe in doing things in moderation.
If playing video games is infringing on your life and your ability to support yourself, you need to find an equilibrium.
Other than that, do whatever makes you happy.

And as for it making kids stupid, some of the most intelligent people I know play video games, and I'm one of them.

Pokemon is my anti-drug~*~*~*~* lmao

there addicting but they keep you mind running and solving puzzles and problems. Better then t.v.