Gamers less likely to study at uni. *article*

[Still Life]

Gaming has actually gotten me more into literature. Modern games like Mass Effect draw some inspiration from classical literature, as well as other influences.

I think games with engaging art direction and deep fiction really complement study... As long as you moderate yourself.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

God I love how this site (and my father) look critically at every media piece put in front of me. It's so refreshing to see how many people on the first page already picked up that the correlation was backwards. Duh, like lazy people who play games all day are not likely to go to university. So what? I read books now, 10 years later, but before I went to university all I did was smoke weed and hammer games. And that's basically all I did while at uni. It's like saying people who have accidents are more likely to be drinkers.

Article title:

"Gamers Less Likely to Study at Uni"

Direct quote:

"Playing computer games frequently did not reduce the likelihood that a 16-year-old would be in a professional or managerial job at 33, the research finds. "

So what exactly are you trying to say, from what "the research finds" Mr. Vasagar?

 

[ronald1840]

School Work > Family > Employment > Social Life(party) > Sports Recreation > Gaming.

Did you refine those priorities from playing Persona 4?

Hellz yea

 

[Vault101]

INb4 Manchildren try and defend their childish obsession

gaming a childish obsession? people who play games man children? what are you doing on this site?

haha anyway well Im not going to cry "thats crap!" I actually saw this on the news a few nights ago, anyway like any study its not like you can make sweeping conclusions based on this study alone it just takes a little common sense

if you have a kid who reads alot then thats sign (and just a sign not a clear cut fact) that that kid is a little more acedemically/intulectualy focused

video games I guess....well that could be the trait of a "slacker" but not in every case, no you still get big reader intulectual types who also play games (they are called nerds)

anyway we are all induviduals and even gamers know that playing games for too long is harmful

anyway I also find it a little insulting in your assuptions in regaards to gender...women can be gaming manchildren too!....womanchildren?...girl child?, I dont know, eather way I shoud know

 

[Evil Tim]

FREQUENTLY playing computer games appears to reduce a teenager's chances of going to university, while reading enhances the likelihood that they will go on to study for a degree

I notice they don't point out if the people who read will get useful degrees or we're just missing out on more people coming out of uni tens of thousands in debt with polysci degrees and no idea what they're actually going to do with their lives.

 

[Meggiepants]

People born in 1970!? Too much Pong or something?

I'll wait for the study that looks at people who played in their teen years when games were just a tad more complex than that.

Edit: I've decided this is a stupid study regardless of what year it starts. You could also do a study that would find that people who play video games exercise less. Here's the problem with these kinds of studies. Correlation does not equal causation. Slackers may play video games, but that does not mean playing video games made them slackers. I would think it obvious that people who have no interest in college would sit around and do any leisurely activity more than they should.

 

[Jmurray21]

As said before how are they studing teenagers who were born in 1970. They are 41 years old. Most of these 17,00 people would have stopped playing games and many have degrees.

What I'm getting from the Article is
A) If you involve yourself in a leisure activity, games, you will not go to college or University.
B) You will be lazy and lack the ability to read if you play video games.
C) Who ever wrote this article is mental.
D) Oxford is full of fun haters.

Fun is dead. Take the kids and run.

 

[googleback]

nope. I'm a gamer and I dont want to go to uni. but I could Go easily, I have all the grades.

BUT I CANT FUCKING AFFORD IT. MONEY. NOT GAMES. this is just a deflection.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

Did both when I was younger. At university now, still have to read, still game.

If anything gaming at uni is just a massive distraction from doing work.

 

[Evil Tim]

What I'm getting from the Article is
A) If you involve yourself in a leisure activity, games, you will not go to college or University.

B) is actually "You need to go to university for some reason." I recall an old Times article saying the average salary for a new graduate is £14,000 at a time when a trainee manager at McDonald's got a package worth £18,000 and someone without any degree at all could pull down £80,000 a year as an air traffic controller.

We put way too much emphasis on going to university just being the thing you do after going to school rather than something you do for some actual reason.

 

[Fragged_Templar]

I read and play games, so .. I guess they cancel each other out?

I should think so, I play games and read a lot, and I just started on a master's degree.... So yea, I'd say the two cancel out.

 

[googleback]

What I'm getting from the Article is
A) If you involve yourself in a leisure activity, games, you will not go to college or University.

B) is actually "You need to go to university for some reason." I recall an old Times article saying the average salary for a new graduate is £14,000 at a time when a trainee manager at McDonald's got a package worth £18,000 and someone without any degree at all could pull down £80,000 a year as an air traffic controller.

We put way too much emphasis on going to university just being the thing you do after going to school rather than something you do for some actual reason.

EVERYONE i know is going only because they don't know what they want to do. I'm trying to become an actor and i'm good enough without needing to study the history of drama in some uni course that'll put me in debt coming out with nothing but useless knowledge.

I dont know what to say to anyone who goes without a reason, itll be fun i guess but VERY expensive.

 

[Maclennan]

Hell, im in university right now and love video games. I'm in a friggen professional program not sliding through on a worthless arts degree. I haven't meet any guys at the university that don't have at least one counsel that they use regularly.

Don't take too much offense if your in an arts degree, here its worthless 16+ thousand dollars a year and it only qualifies you for more education to teach art, making a whopping 40 thousand a year before taxes, or to serve food which you can do without the 64+ thousand dollar education.

 

[Jmurray21]

What I'm getting from the Article is
A) If you involve yourself in a leisure activity, games, you will not go to college or University.

B) is actually "You need to go to university for some reason." I recall an old Times article saying the average salary for a new graduate is £14,000 at a time when a trainee manager at McDonald's got a package worth £18,000 and someone without any degree at all could pull down £80,000 a year as an air traffic controller.

We put way too much emphasis on going to university just being the thing you do after going to school rather than something you do for some actual reason.

EVERYONE i know is going only because they don't know what they want to do. I'm trying to become an actor and i'm good enough without needing to study the history of drama in some uni course that'll put me in debt coming out with nothing but useless knowledge.

I dont know what to say to anyone who goes without a reason, itll be fun i guess but VERY expensive.

Some degrees you do need. Take law for example. Studying the subject and taking a course is going to make you a lot more important in the field and an makes it easier for an employee to decide who to hire. Many other areas, such as acting, shouldn't require a piece of paper. It should take talent.

 

[icyneesan]

Load of crap, I know tons of people that play video games rather regularly and we are all going to post secondary education, either because A.) We are smart enough for it or B.) Because our parents forced us.

 

[ScourgeOfHell]

Helloo, i spend like 2 hours a day on both, where do i stand

 

[Chased]

I'm in Uni studying Film, just registered for next years classes.

I also read and play video games, I'm amazing I know!

 

[Evil Tim]

Some degrees you do need. Take law for example. Studying the subject and taking a course is going to make you a lot more important in the field and an makes it easier for an employee to decide who to hire.

That's not quite true, you can qualify as a solicitor from being a legal executive (a paralegal, in US terms) without ever actually needing a degree; it just takes longer. Then again, some people learn better by doing than by studying.

 

[InLikeFlynn]

Hm. Graduate students are just above slave on the paid work scale. Also, many individuals pursue degrees because they sheepishly believe that degree=success, a formula which leaves many in debt, unfulfilled, and pursuing feverishly, in a (no doubt) tight job market, a career about which they are not passionate.

Case in point, I am a very successful... plumber, and my A gas ticket lets me pick jobs where I work on fires the size of elephants. Awesome.

Meanwhile, my B.Sc. in Molecular genetics has done squat for me. Oh, except ruin my dreams of gen-enging a flying snake. Yeah...

I guess my point is, even if this were a study proving causation (which I doubt), it hardly seems relevant, or important. Success isn't defined by others, and it's something you can get started on at anytime.

Success makes people successful. Be happy

 

[Dastardly]

Doing anything not related to school curricula--and the refinement of reading skills always is--will detract from your ability to achieve high grades.

Also, a lot of kids who play games a lot come from families where parents are divorced, not affluent enough to enroll their kids in programs, busied with work, or any combination of these. So the issue has as much to do with demography as anything else.

Agreed.

The two phenomena (frequent gaming, not attending a university) may share a root cause, rather than one causing the other. The flu will give me a fever and a cough, but the cough isn't causing the fever.

Children who are gaming all that much are likely doing so without supervision, for whatever reason (Parents are disinterested, parents are too busy, parents don't know what the hell to do, take your pick). In all likelihood, those parents show the same lack of interest in the child's schooling. If the parents aren't interested in school, the kid won't be.

(We're not programmed, as a species, to challenge ourselves unnecessarily... and if no one makes us believe academic achievement is necessary, we're not going to bother with it.)

So gaming isn't causing a problem. It's taking advantage of an empty spot, a void in the schedule. If gaming wasn't available, some other leisure activity would fill that void. TV is probably the most likely culprit... and wasn't TV the kid-killing boogeyman of years ago?