What affects do you think gaming has on us?

am doing my dissertation on trying to establish whether the supposed negative affects associated with playing video games outweigh the good. I would like to know as many peoples opinions on any good that they have experienced from playing games e.g gained friends, better coordination ect. You could also give me about any bad that has been caused due playing games such as leaving your dissertation to last minute then asking question on forums to help research, social disengagement, become aggressive ect.

Reply 1

DeadEnd_96

Quicker reflexes :biggrin:

Reply 2

Boss_Rhythm

It kills you! Literally

Reply 3

urbanlocations

I just had to lay on my bed for 20 mins as I am shattered and addicted to CSGO.

Reply 4

Hanvyj

Well, gaming got me my career.

Playing games led me to making levels, led me to making games, led me to programming, got me my first job and a career in software development.

So that's good.

I do see negative aspects though. Games these days especially, remind me of gambling. Companies are getting savvy to how the brain works and how things feedback to keep people playing. The rise of "micro-transactions" in games and increased development costs as people expect more and more has changed the business model significantly. Games have adapted, and companies have very aware of how they mesh with our psychology... it's so similar to how slot machines work. Small repetitive tasks taking small amounts of money that feed back some meaningless reward that our brains just crave.

Even the games without this monetary transaction are falling down the same trends. Grinding in MMOs, repeating things constantly to provide this little ticking counter of "XP". A lot of these games have so little content, so little creativity, but they hook people like narcotics! Ultimately, I think they can be quite damaging, even if that's offset by other aspects (MMOs can be great for social situations, interesting economies and factions etc).

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

francismcgowan

Original post by Hanvyj

Well, gaming got me my career.

Playing games led me to making levels, led me to making games, led me to programming, got me my first job and a career in software development.

So that's good.

I do see negative aspects though. Games these days especially, remind me of gambling. Companies are getting savvy to how the brain works and how things feedback to keep people playing. The rise of "micro-transactions" in games and increased development costs as people expect more and more has changed the business model significantly. Games have adapted, and companies have very aware of how they mesh with our psychology... it's so similar to how slot machines work. Small repetitive tasks taking small amounts of money that feed back some meaningless reward that our brains just crave.

Even the games without this monetary transaction are falling down the same trends. Grinding in MMOs, repeating things constantly to provide this little ticking counter of "EP". A lot of these games have so little content, so little creativity, but they hook people like narcotics! Ultimately, I think they can be quite damaging, even if that's offset by other aspects (MMOs can be great for social situations, interesting economies and factions etc).

Wow what an amazing reply. I will include this in my dissertation . :biggrin:

Reply 6

Optimum_

It's excellent at wasting your time. I do play games, not as often as I use to but I do every other day or so. However I never let it get in my way of my studies. I'll have it off for a week or more if need be, however it is still a time waster. I love playing it, but I realise I go out less and less because of it.

In terms of effects, it's good entertainment. Can be stressful if you're getting your backside whooped on COD or if you're stuck on a level and can't get passed or if you have crap teammates on Rainbow six Seige. Experience? As others have mentioned, apparently CS:GO improves reflexes (some of my friends have told me the same thing), I don't play it so I'll take their word for it. Depending on the game you play, you could improve communication. It also allows people who may be shy in real life, to make friends and have a good time without actually meeting anyone face to face.

Apart from the noob's you run circles around on COD that send you a message saying 's*ck your mom d*ckhead', I haven't experienced anything bad while gaming. I've been playing online games for the best part of 10 years, gaming in general for longer.

Reply 7

Plagioclase

I feel tempted to say that it's had a very negative effect of my life because of the vast quantities of time I've wasted on them, but on the other hand it's likely I'd have found something else pointless to waste my time on in the absence of video games.

Reply 8

Joep95

Original post by francismcgowan

Gaming does not make people more aggressive, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest this.

Good: distracts from uni work for a while
Bad: distracts from uni work at bad times

Reply 9

Mathstatician

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130821094924.htm

[video="youtube;dE1DuBesGYM"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM[/video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfBpsV1Hwqs&list=PL5lo6g_GZWyyDaj_X8L_bQSjXT kdVj7f9

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 10

BinyQuan

cyka blyat

Spoiler

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 11

username1560589

Affects? I'm not completely sure what you mean. Also "ect".

Reply 12

username2387497

Thanks to LA Noire, I now want to be a police detective.
But addiction is a negative, people play for days without stopping and get ill from it. People also seem to get sucked into a virtual world and forget about reality. This isn't good because they stop contacting people they know and they end up on their own in a fake world.

Reply 13

francismcgowan

Original post by morgan8002

Affects? I'm not completely sure what you mean. Also "ect".

I did give examples of what I meant and everyone else that responded also seems to know what I meant. I was meant to write "etc" and not "ect" sorry

affect¹əˈfɛkt/verb

have an effect on; make a difference to."the dampness began to affect my health"synonyms:influence, exert influence on, have an effect on, act on, work on, condition,touch, have an impact on, impact on, take hold of, attack, infect, strike,strike at, hit;
More

touch the feelings of; move emotionally."he was visibly affected by the tragedy"synonyms:upset, trouble, hit hard, overwhelm, devastate, damage, hurt, pain,grieve, sadden, distress, disturb, perturb, agitate, shake, shake up, stir;More

Reply 14

username1560589

Original post by francismcgowan

I did give examples of what I meant and everyone else that responded also seems to know what I meant. I was meant to write "etc" and not "ect" sorry

affect¹əˈfɛkt/verb

I understand what affect means. I don't understand how you can use a verb like that.