266: Videogame Myths Debunked

[Mandalore_15]

I think that the social aspect of online gaming is much overstated. When I was at university, for a while all I did was work during the day and talk to friends via instant messengers and through videogames the rest of the time. While I was having lots of "social" interaction with them, I found I soon became depressed and irritable, started eating a lot less and avoided talking to people in real life.

It was only after I decided to kick this habit (which had probably started purely out of convenience) and get out and meeting up with people in the real world that I started feeling much better. I think social interaction through games etc. is simply a pale imitation of the real thing. We're social animals, and most of us need a degree of social interaction to function normally. "Social" gaming simply doesn't provide this.

 

[DTWolfwood]

I agree with most except the ones with no hard evidence. Game as art...yeah im gonna new more than 3 lines of text saying it is. Subjectivity has no place in an article about debunking myths.

yeh 40% women in gaming, i demand they come out of the wood works cause I don't see any playing the games i play. (To be fair I'm not considering social games every girl i know on FB plays some sort of flash game.)

 

[cerebus23]

tons of women play games, from the first mmo i played there was a decent amount of women that played, the new social gaming scene makes people gamers all over the age range and across sexes, but especially appeals to women since guys traditionally have been more heavily gamers.

i lest have no problem believing that 40% of gamers from all over the range of games out there are women, yea you will not see tons on your halos and call of duties, tho i had one girl where i worked that was incredibly evil in quake 3, so even they out there.

games as art they are art period artist work on games level designers, texture people, animators, i find it mind boggling that film is given a pass as art medium and is just as collaberative. But games are still looked down upon because of their interactive scapegoat.

but i am really shocked at the things this article omitted.

Gaming makes your sexual organs bigger, in online play.

Gaming and the internet in general gives everyone an inate knowledge of martial arts.

Gaming and the internet makes everyone loose weight get taller and better looking.

And gaming makes your real life job better.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Didn't agree with a fair amount of this article. Sorry, not an enjoyable read.

 

[blankedboy]

...

Okay, this article can continue to confusedly contradict itself, I'll continue having fun matches of games over the internet with people that I know.

Socially.

Suck on that, article.

 

[Flac00]

"Videogames make you smarter"

Well videogames have never really been fully exploited as the powerful learning tool they could be, there is this weird disconnect between 'learning' games and regualr games like there was some kind of schism in the mid 70s and they have been evolving in completely different directions.

Playing a game won't make you more smart but playing the right game can teach you a lot even if you don't realise it is.

Thanks to Mass Effect 2 many gamers will know what Irridium and Pladaium are. Thanks to the STALKER series many gamers will have looked up the incident, it's long term effects and have some knowledge of the vast areas still effected by the ecological disaster.

I know what you mean. Civ 4 gave me a lot of information that I could know. BUT that is not the definition of smart (for me at least). "Smart" is being able to figure things out logically or illogically if needed. Someone who is really smart and someone who is stupid could know the same amount of information but that doesn't mean the stupid person will know how to use that info. Because if just having info to make you smart then everyone with photographic memories would be the smartest people on the planet period, which they are not.

 

[Flac00]

OK, so about art. Games are not and are art at the same time. Just as with, music, movies, comics, etc. A whole genre is not defined by one simple word. Examples: Porn is not art yet pictures of flowers are, The Expendibles is not art but Its a Wonderful Life is, Disturbed is not art but Beethoven is. Art is completely based on what ever the subject is, not what the medium is. A game like Unreal Tournament is not art but Braid is. Games just need to decide which parts are art and which are not. Unfortunately this means sacrificing the freedom that many games offer. One difficulty with games being art is that Board Games are NOT ART. And board games are the only real comparable things with Video Games. This really will get resolved in 20 years. I'll check back on the futuristic Escapist to find out what happened.

 

[Captain Booyah]

More OT: That thing about around 40% of the gaming market are girls. Is that entirely accurate? Because I'd imagine that for some girls, qualifying as a 'gamer' would be mostly playing games like FarmVille, Wii Fit, etc.

That umm seems alittle sexist and insulting.

It wasn't intended to be, particularly as I am female myself, and said some girls; I can think of at least five or six girls off the top of my head I know in reality who think that being a 'gamer' equals purely Facebook games, and I've seen a couple on the Internet too. Also, about 60-70% of the casual gaming market is meant to be female; I can't find the source again, but I can promise that it wasn't Wiki.

 

[antipunt]

40 percent of gamers are women (42 percent in an online capacity)

I've said this before and I'll say it again. This is false. These statistics include girls who sit on facebook all day and play farmville as "gamers". If they sit around and play wii fit and sometimes play bejeweled online that they are a "gamer". These people are not gamers.

I agree with this. Also, I'm confused about gaming not being social. Granted, I don't play much multiplayer myself, but don't other people find online multiplayer akin to socialization? Heck, didn't some meet their significant others/friends this way?

 

[jimduckie]

gee i agree because i have bought games that suck so much,i keep them to remind me not buy such crap and learned to stay away from the discount bin when i go on a buying spree

 

[geldonyetich]

Hey now, I stake a lot of my identity on the idea that a video gaming lifestyle can make you smart, and that Navy study you linked seems to support that, those "certain skills" apparently encapsulating "problem solving" and "quick thinking" which are, lets face it, the overall whole of what potency in human intelligence means.

The catch is that it's not going to work in a "Brain Age will make you smart" marketing ploy sort of way. However, that doesn't mean "video can't contribute towards intelligence" it means "marketing ploys are marketing ploys." The test that refuted Brain Age basically tested it against other activities involving computer interaction, after all.

It makes sense games would help with intelligence. After all, regularly engaging in mental exercises (which games more certainly are) is certainly better than not engaging your mind at all. Yes, there's other mental pursuits which can test you just as much or more, but would they be as fun?

 

[Fr]anc[is]

...where are these mysterious girl gamers hiding? Seems like something I would be more aware of.

Who is saying PC gaming is dying? I see a bunch of counter arguments, but none of the original argument. That and the gaming PC I built myself plus the ~30 games I have, not much dying there.

 

[ssssuuuullll]

On the video games make you smarter topic i learned stuff about football (both versions)....

 

[Nouw]

Last time I checked, some games do make you kinda smarter. If helping you drive is...

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Good article. I agree with you on many of the points you raised, both against the bad myths and sometimes the good myths. However, there is one point where I disagree. "Gaming is not social".

True, single player gaming is the cornerstone of gaming as an entity, and yes, it does not need to be defended to people citing the old "antisocial" stereotype. However there are so many examples of gaming as a social medium. First off, later in your article you mention how WoW is one of the most popular games ever. I'm sure thousands of those users will testify to how they have met some really good friends while playing, with friendships that endure in the real world as well.
Secondly theres the whole aspect of console multiplayer. Theres nothing like a great evening in with 3 other mates, 4 controllers and a console with a rack of multiplayer games.
Finally theres the aspect of gaming culture which being a gamer allows you an insight into. These forums for example are social and active and all of this thanks to gaming. This can easily be applied to real life situations and conversations when gaming is often a great topic to chat about and compare experiences.

For these reasons I think gaming is social, and I hope some people will agree with me. Other than that though I enjoyed the article

this. regardless of single player games, me and my friends all go out and buy those games, then immediately (i can't believe im gonna use this word) gossip it up about those games and how awesome certain parts were. and that was all stimulated by the SINGLE PLAYER GAME. so added on to what the poster said that i quoted, gaming is a very well social medium if you accept yourself as a gamer and dive right in.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

"Videogames make you smarter"

Well videogames have never really been fully exploited as the powerful learning tool they could be, there is this weird disconnect between 'learning' games and regualr games like there was some kind of schism in the mid 70s and they have been evolving in completely different directions.

Playing a game won't make you more smart but playing the right game can teach you a lot even if you don't realise it is.

Thanks to Mass Effect 2 many gamers will know what Irridium and Pladaium are. Thanks to the STALKER series many gamers will have looked up the incident, it's long term effects and have some knowledge of the vast areas still effected by the ecological disaster.

I know what you mean. Civ 4 gave me a lot of information that I could know. BUT that is not the definition of smart (for me at least). "Smart" is being able to figure things out logically or illogically if needed. Someone who is really smart and someone who is stupid could know the same amount of information but that doesn't mean the stupid person will know how to use that info. Because if just having info to make you smart then everyone with photographic memories would be the smartest people on the planet period, which they are not.

this for sure. video games didn't raise my IQ, but they put me in unrealistic worlds with problems that i have to solve myself, by myself, on the spot (usually). that causes for stimulation of my brain and causes lots of thinking when i could be just sitting down watching a tv/movie or reading a book, which is all just watching/reading, not interactively being involved in it. so on that point i gota disagree, even though you did mention that smarter people tend to flock to gaming..which is mostly true from what i have observed in my years so far.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Try living in a house of game nuts. You'll find that while one person is playing a game, other people are watching him play and everyone's talking, often about the game being played. This seems to me far more social than reading a book (which no-one else can share in) or listening to music or watching a movie (you need people to be quiet).

My housemate and I are both gamers, though not really 'nuts'. A week or so back we had great fun on a game together without even playing multiplayer; he stuck Civilization: Revolution in his PS3 and we spent several hours strategizing, planning our moves and builds, discussing combat tactics etc. The current shift in multiplayer gaming seems to be more towards WoW or Xbox live style multiplayer rather than some friends sharing a sofa, but as you say you can have fun with a game even when you aren't the one playing it.

I think the trouble here is that the argument being made by either side is flawed. A single player game can be played entirely alone, certainly, and a multiplayer game offers at least a measure of social interaction. Of course, the problem is that one can often choose to experience either type of game in a fundamentally different way. I played through Heavy Rain with a group of people for example and often, if I don't have any friends online, will play a multiplayer game without ever once communicating with other parties. There is a measure of choice in determining if the medium is a social one or not.

Of course, this implies something telling I'd say: that the medium is not intrinsically social. One cannot play a team sport without partaking in social interaction or attend a party without at least engaging in some manner of human engagement. These are activities that are by their very nature social experiences. Removing the social portion of such endeavors changes their character entirely. A party without people is hardly a party, a game of baseball without a team is just a lonely person throwing around a sphere.

Of course, I can agree with the larger point being made: that gaming need not be ashamed of the fact that it is a personal experience. Art and its consumption is a solitary experience by default. One can pull in a social element in any such experience but that doesn't change the result. One can read a book alone and discuss it with friends. One can watch a movie in a theater and never once speak to another person about the experience. There is nothing inherently wrong with the fact that such things are personal or solitary.

The problem we have is not that gaming is a solitary experience but rather the simple perception that this is somehow a negative factor. The trouble I suspect lies in the simple fact that some visible portion of the population engages in gaming at the expense of any number of social endeavors. Such behavior would be considered suspect no matter what activity one was engaging in. A parent might be concerned if their child never left their room because they were constantly reading books in much the same way that they might be concerned that people never leave their room because they have to play Fallout 3 for another two dozen hours.

 

[greggman]

I agree with you.

I'd really like to see someone back up these stats. Go to a library and ask each person if they play games. Go to mall and ask. Go to a college and ask. Go to a bus stop and ask. I seriously doubt you'll find the number of girls that play even close to the number of guys.

Otherwise, everyone I know must live in some alternate reality because in my world, about 1 out of 20 women play games and about 1 out of 4 men play them. Every time I'm introduced to a new group of people I don't find those stats change at all.