Video Games Options

[Kontroll]

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?

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.

[USCavalry]

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.

[*Steven*]

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).

[coconutter]

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..

[Amaranthus]

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

[illriginal]

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 =\

[*Steven*]

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 :)

[Sumiaki]

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!

[rejakalu]

Is it possible to be addicted and have a girlfriend/social life?

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.

[Anephoria]

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?

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

[MeanBastard]

Games are generally bad. So are forums.

[shoryuken]

this thread...

comee on ppl... aint hard...

[rejakalu]

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.

[xxk]

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.

[LovableGullible]

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.

[illriginal]

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.

[whoahitznikki]

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.

[BadCraziness]

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

[RoyalSwagger]

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