Step Away From The Controller

[BoilingLeadBath]

To paraphrase some things, and then address them:

1) "Sedentary recreational activities, in excess, cause obesity"

In theory, yes, in practice, no; exercise does increase metabolic needs (both directly and through the requirements needed to support the increased muscle mass)... yet, though we get more exercise in recent times than 40 years ago (this is well established), our obesity rate is higher. Thermodynamically, the only explanation would be increased consumption - which, again, is well supported.
It's not surprising that a society that likes to blame the dopamine-agonists (cocaine, nicotine, opiates, amphetamines, in roughly that order) for the addiction has something of an unbreakable addiction with a powerful dopaminergic drug, quickly metabolized food, but it is the problem.

2) "We can crackdown on gangs effectively"

Well, yeah, China showed us this... then again, and this is a false dichotomy, I think I'd prefer the gangs to what China had to do.
(Far more effective methods are available, (think "defunding") but we'll have to wait a while for the downfall of the economy to make them attractive...)

3) "We can eliminate the gangs by separating them from the host"

Propose specific programs so we can laugh at them.

4) "Women are identical to men!"

Yeah, whatever... fathers having a significant role in raising children, beyond contributing genes, is about as young as the Holocene. That's a mere 10,000 years or so for evolutionary pressures to teach men parenting skills, although they had an advantage (serial monogamy being closer to the goal than any of the r-type mating strategies)

And, guess what - there are significant aptitude differences between men and women.
I don't get it anyways... effective child-bearing is what makes humans humans. How the fuck is it an insult to suggest that someone should preserve the foundation of our culture?

 

[randommaster]

Nice article.

This has been discussed previously, but it's nice to read something that is organized coherently instead of forum arguments.

 

[AgentChunk]

The thing is I play video games all day, but I also run xcountry. In about an hour I have to run eight miles. So I spend most of the day up in my room in the dark playing TF2 then go out and run in the dark. That's how nerds exercise properly.

 

[Suikun]

Snip.

Well, I can't disagree that it isn't the most wonderful idea to immerse yourself in a world other than our own for extended periods of time and the like, but hell, you can't deny it is quite a bit about our childhood.

Look at the bullies and popular kids in grade school, they're still the same people come high school. The outcasts are the same way, unless they did something so drastic that it put them in another group.

YES, you can say that it's partially the kid-getting-picked-on's fault, but that's like blaming someone for getting cancer because someone thought it would be funny to put a radioactive isotope of plutonium in their mattress. Nature vs Nurture, I suppose, but you can't deny that if you spent your entire childhood being the brunt of everyone's jokes, you'll either turn to a medium to ignore that (i.e. videogaming) or become one of these new-age emo kids who immerses themselves within their despair in a desperate attempt to get attention and sympathy.

EDIT: Well, there is a third (possibly fourth) option, but neither of them are particularly a good idea... Columbine, Virginia Tech, et cetera are things that I'd really not think to encourage kids to do. And yes, you can tell kids to stick up for themselves, but when it comes to get to physical abuse, around the time when the apathetic teen doesn't take the psychological abuse anymore, then it's hard to say "Oh well, they're just big, dumb idiots," and brush it off like it's nothing. END EDIT

So, which would you rather America be? Wrist-cutting, drug-overdosing delinquents who spend most of their day whining on their Facebook that nobody loves them, or a quiet gamer who spends their time doing the equivalent of reading a book or watching TV, just on an interactive, virtual scale?

(Note: Please don't come in and say "well, I'm an emo kid (scene if you prefer), and I don't do that stuff," because then you're either A: lying your ass off, or B: part of a distinct minority in that clique.)

 

[Tears of Blood]

To say we become physically unhealthy from playing games too much, I can believe that.

To say we become mentally unhealthy, well... From purely an intelligence point of view, I totally disagree. From a sanity point of view, some points can be made.

A lot of people say that games turn your brain to mush, and that's just simply a lie. Nobody ever got stupid from playing games. maybe if they let it consume them. Refuse to go to college or do homework because of them. But I've never played a game where I wasn't using my own mind, exercising it.

It may be a naive opinion, but I think games can teach you games and are a fair form of mental gymnastics.

Obviously, moving your hands isn't good exercise. I'm not saying that, but I hate this "Games make you stupid" argument.

But I do agree with Obama. Maybe not the article writer, though. I think people should go out and make friends as much as possible. Do things other than games and television and such. But, there's a clincher here. Sometimes, you just can't help it. Sometimes you're socially inept and it's not because video games made you that way, it's because you simply aren't liked by others. It has certainly been this way for me. I have dropped my games every chance I have gotten in order to do social activities, and they always go awry for me. Had a girlfriend once, but I have never kept a friend for more than a few months.

Quite frankly, some people like me are simply lost to society. We can't make friends. This is just what I believe, it could be totally unfounded. I try to prove it wrong all the time, but it always rears it's ugly head.

 

[Grand_Poohbah]

"President Barack Obama has been enjoying an extended honeymoon with voters. With no major gaffes in his first six months in office and the world, crumbled economy notwithstanding, maintaining a stable if somewhat tense holding pattern, there's been little reason for voters to begin questioning their pick for the nation's top banana."

I couldn't read the rest of the article after this point. I was too busy laughing my ass off at the joke in bold.

 

[Kiutu]

Obama: Get outside more and play less video games.
All other politicians: Video games cause crime and murder and should be banned and done away with.
Hillary Clinton is an anti-game crusader, Obama is not even close.
It does annoy me him saying these things, but he does not worry me like Mrs Clinton.

 

[lizards]

i will call anyone a retard that says video games make people mass murders but i have to agree why would the kids want to go outside and throw snowballs? they can just throw grenades at eachother in an online snow map for halo

 

[lizards]

To paraphrase some things, and then address them:

1) "Sedentary recreational activities, in excess, cause obesity"

In theory, yes, in practice, no; exercise does increase metabolic needs (both directly and through the requirements needed to support the increased muscle mass)... yet, though we get more exercise in recent times than 40 years ago (this is well established), our obesity rate is higher. Thermodynamically, the only explanation would be increased consumption - which, again, is well supported.
It's not surprising that a society that likes to blame the dopamine-agonists (cocaine, nicotine, opiates, amphetamines, in roughly that order) for the addiction has something of an unbreakable addiction with a powerful dopaminergic drug, quickly metabolized food, but it is the problem.

2) "We can crackdown on gangs effectively"

Well, yeah, China showed us this... then again, and this is a false dichotomy, I think I'd prefer the gangs to what China had to do.
(Far more effective methods are available, (think "defunding") but we'll have to wait a while for the downfall of the economy to make them attractive...)

3) "We can eliminate the gangs by separating them from the host"

Propose specific programs so we can laugh at them.

4) "Women are identical to men!"

Yeah, whatever... fathers having a significant role in raising children, beyond contributing genes, is about as young as the Holocene. That's a mere 10,000 years or so for evolutionary pressures to teach men parenting skills, although they had an advantage (serial monogamy being closer to the goal than any of the r-type mating strategies)

And, guess what - there are significant aptitude differences between men and women.
I don't get it anyways... effective child-bearing is what makes humans humans. How the fuck is it an insult to suggest that someone should preserve the foundation of our culture?

holy shit man welcome to the escapist

high 5

 

[zombie7775]

Are games bad for the health of people I would say to a degree yes. We all know about the seizure warnings and that after several hours of button mashing your fingers might start to hurt but if anyone was to say that getting rid of video games solves everything I'd have to disagree. Video games might be helping kids along to bad health but I'm sure that the soda and chips that they're eating while they do so isn't great either. I play a lot of video games but I'm not really out of shape at all because when I'm not playing video games I'm either walking all around campus at school or at least staying semi active. I also hardy eat anything outside of lunch and dinner. Its been done over and over but the parents need to limit it a little better in my opinion more than just taking them away. I don't think he is trying to remove video games completely but I kind of think he is going more along the lines of what I said to limit them and get kids out of the house more often.

 

[theultimateend]

Step Away From The Controller

Is Obama on an anti-gaming crusade?

Read Full Article

Someone who talks about Obama without coming across as an uneducated jackass. Holy crap you must be the holy grail of the internet.

Every single global chat channel on every online game I've played in the last few months has been nothing but jackasses ranting about things using nothing but one liners from news stations or newspaper headlines .

I play games but I also exercise. The humor for me is that I have two torn menisci and it sure as hell isn't from gaming . Course it was entirely my fault for not rotating like the instructor said . The best part! He said "People tend to tear their menisci when they don't rotate." Well I'll be damned...he was right on the money there.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

and here is the big class gap,

while Obama talks about the upper class kids to get their spoiled butts out to the street there are lots of social workers trying to get the poor kids OFF the streets and preferably not to breaking into the houses the rich kids just left because Obama said so

While some play GTA some others have to survive the Ghetto.

This is 'nearly' funny!

Gaming is one of the least problems we have.

And oh yes - the next one suggesting to "read a book" instead of gaming gets their head smashed!
Reading Harry Potter or Stephen King or some Vampire shit is not taking you anywhere. Reading stupid books doesn´t make you smart! As long as you just take consumption behaviour to other place you won nothing. This is not going to be a succesfull strategy.

 

[metalmmaniac]

I know its already been said many times, but parents need to stop using games and tv as a babysitter. My parents let me and my brother play 1 hour of games a night. we would go outside and play when we couldn't play video games anymore. simple as that

 

[DaMan1500]

Yes, video games should be played in moderation, but the same goes for every other hobby ever. I can't help but get a little peeved when the candidate I supported in the election goes out of his way to alienate me and my game playing friends.

 

[Crimsane]

Always amused to read replies that, even after reading the article, still don't understand that he's not assaulting video games, he's attacking bad habits and those that nurture them (in this case, parents) in general. Gaming just happens to be one of the most popular habits amongst children. Playing games all day and not doing much else isn't healthy (common sense.) He's not alienating anyone, unless you're someone who actually does what he's saying to avoid and you're in denial that it's unhealthy, clinging to your lifestyle like someone with lung cancer to their precious cigarettes.

 

[Cavouku]

Alright, I may just take the liberty to shorten up the arguments here, now let's see...

"Obama doesn't like video games"; Possibly true, and?

"He's using video games as a scapegoat"; I don't think "example" is equal to "scapegoat".

Is that pretty much it? Moderation is the end hold, and I have high doubts that Obama is on an anti-gaming campaign. Merely a more physical activity one, and arguing against that because he brings up video games is being an ass about a positive movement.

But why am I complaining? I'm Canadian. Still, until Obama outright says he bans all games, I can't say there's anything to worry about. Whether or not he likes video games shouldn't let people jump to conclusions.

EDIT; Now if you'll excuse me, we're going camping for the weekend, to breathe some fresh air and play on the beach. Though when I return I plan on playing a bit of NFS: PS.

 

[True Nero]

this is actually a fantastic point. i think people do need to go out and actually do something every once in a while. you can't just sit infront of a tv all day and not expect someone to get off your lazy ass. unless your getting paid for it, it's gonna happen. but does a person really want to earn a living playing a game that will end up being outdated in 5 years when the next blockbuster comes out, revealing a new champion that will leave you in the unforgetten waste land of "who gives a damn"? go out and make a name for yourself in the real world, not the virtual one

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Just on a side note, I find it telling how many people blindly lashed out at the merest hint of criticism on gaming. Does having a knee-jerk defensive reflex make gamers mainstream now?

 

[Cid Silverwing]

He's not on an anti-gaming crusade like all the soccer moms are. He's just telling people to stop obsessing with games and their universally proclaimed bad effects on health (over half of which aren't true, I must say).

 

[Kstreitenfeld]

I met a guy on an MMO some years ago who played his character with a keyboard that he could only work with his mouth. And he was still a good player, which takes a lot more dexterity than I have.

I hope he cleaned his keyboard often.