Rewards of Being a Gamer

Phyroxis

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Apr 18, 2008
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There is too much negativity around being a gamer. The media paints us as bomb throwing, carjacking, fanatics with a thirst for the blood of anything living (or recently dead). Parents are quick to hide their children when they hear what we do with our free time. (Okay maybe thats a little extreme.. but hey, gotta be a little sensational here)

Personally, I'm tired of saying "I'm a gamer!" and receiving negative reactions, be it verbal or even just a sneer. I'm proud of being a gamer. I feel like playing video games is something that has had a great, positive, effect on my life. Naturally, we can all boast about our massive collection of plastic disks in plastic boxes, but I think we all get a little more out of gaming than anyone else is willing to acknowledge.

I am much slower to jump to conclusions when something happens, I take my time to investigate my surroundings (must be all the RPGs I play) and make calm judgments. I got a kick-ass sharp eye. I notice TONS of stuff that other people miss. I have a thirst for knowledge. I love learning about stuff (most things..) a trait I credit, mostly, to AoE games.

Now, I started playing games extensively when I hit the third grade and my teacher actually rented games out to us! (This was back with Windows 95, when there was no DRM) So I may have grown up in a totally different way were it not for these little gems. Even if video games didn't instill these qualities in me, they certainly stoked and nudged those what were already there.


And, for the record, when someone pisses me off my first reaction is not to grab the flamethrower but to go play some game in which I grab a flamethrower.... Clearly I do not know the difference between reality and a work of entertainment.

What are some traits or characteristics you have that you credit to gaming, wholly or in part?


And hey, if any thing else: Just wait until wars are fought completely by remote... (a la Enders Game)
 

Smyter

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Aug 10, 2008
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Thanks to games i useually have a random quote that makes people feel good. most recently "courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality"
 

Flying-Emu

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Smyter said:
Thanks to games i useually have a random quote that makes people feel good. most recently "courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality"
"Oh darn, you've fallen in love with me too, haven't you? The ad DID say that it would affect men and women alike."
ending immaturity

I think you've just had a bad experience. I've yet to meet someone who looked at me in a negative light because I play video games. Some of them may look at me a little odd, but then they just move on like it's not important. Because it's not.

On the other hand, when I mention that I play DnD or World of Warcraft, I automatically get a bunch of screaming mothers/random people calling me either A) a Satanist or B) an amorphous blob of flesh and cheetos.

Point is, don't worry what other people think.
 

Good morning blues

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Sep 24, 2008
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I'm sorry, what the OP says to me is "I am psychologically affected by video games but ONLY IN GOOD WAYS," which is ridiculous. Sure, video games might give you slightly better hand-eye co-ordination, but you can't claim that they make you take time to investigate your surroundings but that they don't, say, normalize aggressive military action.
 

geldonyetich

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Aug 2, 2006
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Gaming has done a lot for me. Thanks to my incredible gaming skills, I'm now able to dismember and hide a living person in under 15 seconds. It goes without saying that my carjacking is phenominal, but I usually don't bother to carjack because I can jump 200 feet with my incredible hand-eye coordination.

These great skills come in handy because my absolute desensitization to violence requires I be exposed to a constant stream of carnage lest I go into convulsions, so I'm constantly needing to create giant piles of dismembered bodies and jump over them.

Of course, I can no longer speak rationally, and I must now scream obscenities into my X-Box live headset even when I'm offline and jumping through town. I'm screaming obscenities so much right now that I need to pause every minute to wipe the steam off my LCD monitor with deft motions of my button-mashing fingers.

So, as you can see, the rewards of being a Gamer are far better than the media has made them out to be.
 

Blank Verse

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Nov 17, 2008
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My hand-eye coordination is deadly. I can shoot from hip fairly well.

I've also noticed that people who've been gaming since a young age are generally calmer than anyone else-- around SW Virginia, anyway.

Here's a question worth researching: Are video games more likely to better instill moral and ethic values upon children than competitive extra-curriculars?

The wholesome video games, I mean. Stuff like Lufia 2. Or Portal. Not mindless curb-stomping.
 

Smyter

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Aug 10, 2008
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Flying-Emu said:
Smyter said:
Thanks to games i useually have a random quote that makes people feel good. most recently "courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality"
"Oh darn, you've fallen in love with me too, haven't you? The ad DID say that it would affect men and women alike."
ending immaturity

I think you've just had a bad experience. I've yet to meet someone who looked at me in a negative light because I play video games. Some of them may look at me a little odd, but then they just move on like it's not important. Because it's not.

On the other hand, when I mention that I play DnD or World of Warcraft, I automatically get a bunch of screaming mothers/random people calling me either A) a Satanist or B) an amorphous blob of flesh and cheetos.

Point is, don't worry what other people think.
Yay someone who knows my quote you get a cookie to bad humans can't eat cookies anymore
 

Ronwue

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Oct 22, 2008
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Flying-Emu said:
Smyter said:
Thanks to games i useually have a random quote that makes people feel good. most recently "courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality"
"Oh darn, you've fallen in love with me too, haven't you? The ad DID say that it would affect men and women alike."
ending immaturity

I think you've just had a bad experience. I've yet to meet someone who looked at me in a negative light because I play video games. Some of them may look at me a little odd, but then they just move on like it's not important. Because it's not.

On the other hand, when I mention that I play DnD or World of Warcraft, I automatically get a bunch of screaming mothers/random people calling me either A) a Satanist or B) an amorphous blob of flesh and cheetos.

Point is, don't worry what other people think.
Considering the quote I am happy that I only get "games are for kids" instead of satanist or amorphous blob of flesh and cheetos... mostly because I'm an atheist, and mostly because I'm so thin I need rocks in my pockets so the wind doesn't blow me away.

However, I feel with the OP on this one. I get many reactions like "Games are for kids, you're 21, how long are you going to continue playing?" Yea right... gimme a break. Play the damn thing first, get some experience in it and then after you actually touched the damn thing, if you still feel it's for kids then... fuck, don't play it, but leave me the damn alone.
 

Flying-Emu

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Ronwue said:
However, I feel with the OP on this one. I get many reactions like "Games are for kids, you're 21, how long are you going to continue playing?" Yea right... gimme a break. Play the damn thing first, get some experience in it and then after you actually touched the damn thing, if you still feel it's for kids then... fuck, don't play it, but leave me the damn alone.
I find that, if people don't do/enjoy something, it obviously means that there is no way any entertainment value could be squeezed out of said thing.
/sarcasm

But I refer to my previous comment. It doesn't matter what people think. Do what you want, as long as its within the parameters of the law.
 

Phyroxis

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Apr 18, 2008
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Good morning blues said:
I'm sorry, what the OP says to me is "I am psychologically affected by video games but ONLY IN GOOD WAYS," which is ridiculous. Sure, video games might give you slightly better hand-eye co-ordination, but you can't claim that they make you take time to investigate your surroundings but that they don't, say, normalize aggressive military action.
I'm sorry thats what you read, but thats not at all what I said. I feel there is too much negativity as is, so this thread is focusing on the GOOD things. Certainly there are legitimate negative effects, but I didn't want to address them here because they are already everywhere else.
 

DeathsAmbassador

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Mar 7, 2008
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I gain a lot of thing from video games actually,my hand eye coordination has gone up significantly since I started playing games, and I'm never bored, I always have something to do. But the most significant affect that gaming has had on me is that I spend a good amount of time online, and because of this I am very informed about what is going on in the world and I think it has made me a more open minded person as a whole, and I don't think I would have ever spent as much time online as I do now if it weren't for my interest in almost everything tech, which started as a simple liking for video games.
 

vede

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Dec 4, 2007
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Flying-Emu, I've had negative reactions to being a gamer also, so I doubt it's any specially bad experience. Maybe you've just had a good experience?

I once was talking to a girl on a band trip on our band bus, and we were really getting along. You know, I felt good about myself. "See, self, attractive people can like you!" Then the conversation got further along and I mentioned that I wanted to make video games, and have actually already started learning a bit. "I don't see how people can play video games. They're just so stupid and pointless."

"Pointless? How?"

"Well, you know, it always seems like there's something better you could be doing, like school or sports or something."

"What if you're not in school currently, and you're not at a game or at practice?"

"You're doing homework or playing outside with your friends."

Very disappointed, I was.

And for no real reason, either... there's no way it could possibly have led to any sort of sexual relations, she was a senior, I was a freshman (technically an eighth grader, I was in the middle of skipping), she was the average cell-phone talking girl who lost sanity over randomguy42. Maybe it's just some subconscious, psychological thing. Losing the opportunity to really be able to converse often with an attractive girl - regardless of conversational skills of either party - has some sort of unreasonable, innate negativity. That's what I guess...

Also, the reactions to D&D have been much worse than video games. When parents actually don't let their children hang out with you because you play D&D... it sucks. He told me it was really just about the D&D thing, so I was like, "Do they even hardly know what it is?"

"No."

So I (because this is just what I do when I'm confronted with things that I feel strongly about) wrote a four-page essay about D&D. Made a cool-looking cover, got it all flashy-looking. "Here, see if you can get your parents to read this. Maybe prove that I'm not some retarded freak, but actually a person who has some sort of merit."

They didn't read it. They hardly even saw it. The whole thing (according to friend) consisted of them seeing it, reading the front, seeing "Dungeons and Dragons," and throwing it away. I was pissed. I didn't even have my own copy to reuse or anything like that! That was a good write-up about D&D! GAH!

EDIT: Oh, right! The main question! Forgot about that!

What's a good thing that I credit to gaming? My fascination with Russia, my interest in the Russian language, my interest in Russian culture and media, my interest in the Cold War. All of that? That leads to learning, reading, thinking, then learning more. What sparked all this? STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.
 

geldonyetich

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I'm a pretty exceptional example, myself, having been a pretty dedicated gaming addict for some 26 years. In terms of benefit, having constant computer game practice has been pretty good for mental growth. On the downside, I have to say it hasn't been that great for social or motivational skills. I guess it goes to show that there's always such a thing as too much of a good thing.
 

Shellsh0cker

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Oct 22, 2008
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geldonyetich said:
I'm a pretty exceptional example, myself, having been a pretty dedicated gaming addict for some 26 years. In terms of benefit, having constant computer game practice has been pretty good for mental growth. On the downside, I have to say it hasn't been that great for social or motivational skills. I guess it goes to show that there's always such a thing as too much of a good thing.
Well yeah, of course; all things in moderation. Too much of anything is bad for you, and gaming is no exception.

I know that online shooters have taught me the importance and effectiveness of working as a team. And, of course, among other games, Psychonauts taught me that shooting things is fun and useful. (Just kidding, of course)

geldonyetich said:
Gaming has done a lot for me. Thanks to my incredible gaming skills, I'm now able to dismember and hide a living person in under 15 seconds. It goes without saying that my carjacking is phenominal, but I usually don't bother to carjack because I can jump 200 feet with my incredible hand-eye coordination.

These great skills come in handy because my absolute desensitization to violence requires I be exposed to a constant stream of carnage lest I go into convulsions, so I'm constantly needing to create giant piles of dismembered bodies and jump over them.

Of course, I can no longer speak rationally, and I must now scream obscenities into my X-Box live headset even when I'm offline and jumping through town. I'm screaming obscenities so much right now that I need to pause every minute to wipe the steam off my LCD monitor with deft motions of my button-mashing fingers.

So, as you can see, the rewards of being a Gamer are far better than the media has made them out to be.
Good bit of satire there.
 

ChocoFace

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Nov 19, 2008
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Ronwue said:
Flying-Emu said:
Smyter said:
Thanks to games i useually have a random quote that makes people feel good. most recently "courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality"
"Oh darn, you've fallen in love with me too, haven't you? The ad DID say that it would affect men and women alike."
ending immaturity

I think you've just had a bad experience. I've yet to meet someone who looked at me in a negative light because I play video games. Some of them may look at me a little odd, but then they just move on like it's not important. Because it's not.

On the other hand, when I mention that I play DnD or World of Warcraft, I automatically get a bunch of screaming mothers/random people calling me either A) a Satanist or B) an amorphous blob of flesh and cheetos.

Point is, don't worry what other people think.
Considering the quote I am happy that I only get "games are for kids" instead of satanist or amorphous blob of flesh and cheetos... mostly because I'm an atheist, and mostly because I'm so thin I need rocks in my pockets so the wind doesn't blow me away.

However, I feel with the OP on this one. I get many reactions like "Games are for kids, you're 21, how long are you going to continue playing?" Yea right... gimme a break. Play the damn thing first, get some experience in it and then after you actually touched the damn thing, if you still feel it's for kids then... fuck, don't play it, but leave me the damn alone.
ditto.
My dad said "games are for kids." i was like "really?",he went "yes." i asked "so how come there are games for people over 18, as in adults?". my dad's head blew up from thinking at that exact moment. Lesson: not all games are for kids, heck, most aren't
 

Pigeon_Grenade

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Close Combat 2 and 3 made me want to learn more about WW2, and AoE made me want to learn more about history
 

Flying-Emu

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vdgmprgrmr said:
Flying-Emu, I've had negative reactions to being a gamer also, so I doubt it's any specially bad experience. Maybe you've just had a good experience?

Also, the reactions to D&D have been much worse than video games. When parents actually don't let their children hang out with you because you play D&D... it sucks. He told me it was really just about the D&D thing, so I was like, "Do they even hardly know what it is?"

"No."

So I (because this is just what I do when I'm confronted with things that I feel strongly about) wrote a four-page essay about D&D. Made a cool-looking cover, got it all flashy-looking. "Here, see if you can get your parents to read this. Maybe prove that I'm not some retarded freak, but actually a person who has some sort of merit."

They didn't read it. They hardly even saw it. The whole thing (according to friend) consisted of them seeing it, reading the front, seeing "Dungeons and Dragons," and throwing it away. I was pissed. I didn't even have my own copy to reuse or anything like that! That was a good write-up about D&D! GAH!
'tis quite possible. I mean, I hear things every once in awhile, but it's not anything like what you guys say.
Wait.
A possible variable could be the fact that most people who aren't gamers tend to not talk to me.
I suppose that could be a negative reaction.

And as for the DnD thing; that's just horrible, mate. Darn bigots, thinking it's Satanic. For the love of cheese, I FOUGHT Satan once (well, it wasn't really him, but it was Asmodean, so pretty much Satan). AND I WON. And Pelor was all like "Cool, bro."
But seriously. If they even more than cracked the front cover, they'd realize it's more good than bad. Helps expand the imagination.
Helped me with my acting skills!