Uhm...that could happen with any hobby at all. That happened to me with my writing. It isn't the fault of the games, it's the fault of the player.
Wait just a second.. We were wrong! Gaming is bad for kids! (Well in my experience)
- Thread starter RetiarySword
- Start date
If you can't juggle social skills, gaming, and studying, then you're going to have to give one up. It's not gaming's fault, because the same could be said of a football player who spends so much time at practice or working out he doesn't have time to study.
You could also argue that studying has gotten in the way of your gaming, because it's now difficult to game when you've got to do all this studying.
You could also argue that studying has gotten in the way of your gaming, because it's now difficult to game when you've got to do all this studying.
I've played games for a long time and often. I learned to play trombone and piano and am at college with no feelings of inferiority or regret. Of course, your life may very well have been better without them, but don't try to blame games or assume they would have the same effect on everyone or even most people.
interspark said:
I admit it was my fault, I couldn't turn it off because I didn't know better. In a way I can see why parents don't lets kids touch them. They don't want them to have that.. loss of fufillment I have. I don't see it so much as a mistake. Now I think limiting or even banning games is going along the same line as 'Eat your vegetables, or you're not getting up from the table'.
Nope, but I would give it my best shot to be better. Thats the fun about time travel, you don't know how kitted up on knowlege you will beZeithri said:
Past tense. You really don't live anymore?Ertol said:
[sub]sorry, just had to chuckle and reply, once it read it[/sub]OT:
It is just a hobby like any other hobby. Why would you be more succesful in 'life' if you were good at playing the guitar?
I think it all comes down to the fact that you think people with other hobbies are better than you are. You believe that having a hobby, like gaming, isn't giving you the 'rewards' that, say guitarplaying, would give you. Think of it like: You could give a serenade to some one you love if you played an instrument but you can't because you 'took the wrong turn' and became a gamer, which doesn't give similar noticeable or admiration you wanted it to give?
[sub] just my 2cents[/sub]
Wow OP the nail was hit on the head in the first post.
Again OP I have been playing games since I was a little kid with an Atari who loved space invaders. I still found time to join the military, complete college, and start a buisness which hasn't done all that bad in the middle of this recession.
You know he would have just found something else to waste his time on if videogames where not around. Even it would have just been chasing squirrels with a stick.kordan11 said:
Again OP I have been playing games since I was a little kid with an Atari who loved space invaders. I still found time to join the military, complete college, and start a buisness which hasn't done all that bad in the middle of this recession.
Maybe you could have been something more, but would you have enjoyed playing guitar like you had enjoyed playing games? Why try to be more when you don't like what you're doing? You played video games for a reason. You liked them.
You should do what you like, and not worry so much about what could have been, beacause, in the end, it wasn't. Gaming is something people do because they enjoy doing it, just like any other hobby. (Like playing football, playing the guitar, etc.) You may not be getting any benefit from it, per say, but you are getting enjoyment from it, which is what a hobby is.
You should do what you like, and not worry so much about what could have been, beacause, in the end, it wasn't. Gaming is something people do because they enjoy doing it, just like any other hobby. (Like playing football, playing the guitar, etc.) You may not be getting any benefit from it, per say, but you are getting enjoyment from it, which is what a hobby is.
I tend to believe that those of the "if it's more than six lines I'm going to skim it" don't belong in message boards to begin with, and they also tend to annoy me. But then again I tend to constantly write very long messages and tend to get two or three jokers telling me TLRetiarySword said:
R each week. That said, I disagree with you about your conclusions. Don't take this the wrong way, but most of the people your comparing yourself to are people with talent. Ordinary people who don't have any exceptional talent oftentimes look at those that do and wonder if that could have been them if things had gone differantly, it's very normal. A lot of people go through issues like this when they reach college, and oftentimes again during middle age. Heck, people write books and make movies largely about this kind of thing. There are tons of movies about the ordinary guy/loser who goes to college with nothing exceptional about him and winds up being surrounded by the ultra-nerds, super-jocks, and gorgeous cheerleaders and such, typically as the backdrop of a surprising success story (which usually doesn't happen for real people) simply because most people can relate to it to some extent. The thing that your missing when looking at your situation is all the people just like you. Your concerns about what legacy you'll leave are not unfounded, pretty much everyone thinks about that to some extent largely because so few people are able to leave any kind of mark, and it can be pretty depressing.
Video games are doubtlessly a scapegoat in your mind because that is what you personally decided to do. You'll find that anyone having similar thoughts is going to feel the same way. Your going to have the guys who did nothing but drink beer, make bad jokes, and hang out with similar losers who thinks maybe he shouldn't have done that, people who did nothing but listen to music and smoke pot, people who got obsessively into comic books, people who think spending all of their time writing bad poetry for their websit was stupid, people who think they should have read more books based on fact rather than fantasy novels, and everything else. Video games are fairly common for this generation so they are both used as a target for society's problems, and an excuse some people will use (like you see to be doing) as to why you aren't as successful as that other guy you envy. The reality is that if you really think about it you played games to pass the time, and could not have done a lot of these things that other people did to begin with.
I'm largely saying this because there are people who never really get over this realization, you wouldn't be the first person to blame something you chose to do for being ordinary. Many parents have done things like decide their kids would never listen to rock music, or read comic books, or whatever the boogieman of the time was because "obviously" that was what made them ordinary or below average, and they feel they are protecting them. If anything it leads to misery and even more problems. People like that come along every generation, when your sitting there and all these smart people are ranting about the latest boogieman in the media, it's easy to fall in to that hype.
I'll also be somewhat blunt in saying that if you look at some of the people your talking about, you'll probably find that a lot of them played video games too. Albiet in many cases they wound up having an exceptional talent as well (and trust me, contrary to some stories, when you have one you tend to realize it pretty quickly. Talent is not something you learn, but are born with. This is why despite constant effort nobody can simply choose to play ball like Michael Jordan, or kick butt like Brock Lesner). You'll also realize that in college you are surrounded by people just like you, who made the same desicians. Even if your well below average (and face it, some people just are) you'll see others like you as well.
While I am defending video games specifically here, I will say that the real issue as far as I'm concerned is "societal boogiemen". There is always something society blames for complicated and irresolvable problems, or society simply being what it is. Inevitably there are people who believe this, and mess up their kids by doing stupid things ranging from limiting music, to not letting them have toy guns "so they won't be as violent and anti-social as I turned out to be, since that attitude held me back".
Every person believes they are somehow special and could have done more than they did. This is rarely the case as we all develop in a certain way for a reason. Escapism, and video games are a form of escapism, is something that lets a lot of average and below average people get by, and deal with who they are.
Granted, I don't know you, but I can virtually guarantee that if you wound up playing video games like you say you did, tht if you had instead spent all your time working out and playing sports or whatever you still wouldn't be attending school on an athletic scholorship. Ditto for becoming a "brain" by spending time in the library. If such was the case you would have felt it long before now and simply would have turned out differantly.
This is depressing, however I think it's a problem affecting society in general, and leading to a lot of problems in general. To some extent I blame a competitive and capitolistic society that for whatever reason has a public education system based on "self validation" and telling kids as soon as they can think that they are special and can do anything. Something that continues well after all of the relevent testing and so on have picked out the ones with talent and potential. While many people criticize the idea of an education system designed to turn out ordinary people or what some cynically refer to as "worker drones", when you consider that society needs far more people at the bottom than the top, and competition means that no matter how good the "average" is not everyone can succeed. We already have a society with people with college degrees begging for change, and digging ditches. I think a lot of problems, self criticism, and even depression (in a personal sense) could be dealt with if the educational system did more to prepare people for reality, than lionizing everyone and setting them up for disappointment when they run into the people who really were exceptional down the pipe. Souless and impersonal as this might be, think about it some time.
I might not achieve much in my lifetime, but I never saw money, power or fancy stuff as the goal of my life. I'm here to enjoy myself, and games are part of that enjoyment. So I will keep my gaming stuff, I will keep sinking hours on end into games. Because when all is said and done I won't get to keep anything, but at least I'll know I had a fun ride.
Video Games are an escapist activity, and can be done to avoid things. They allow us to waste hours of time we could be doing soemthing productive, or at least helpful to our future.
Most people don't give up things they like for video games, but rather, go to video games to put off things they don't like. You don;t quit playing an instrument you like for a game. You don't ignore your homework to play video games. You put these things off because you just don't want to do it and video games is a way to both ignore something and feel rewarded for not doing it.
That's not to say they destroy every life they touch. Just that people with less self control then others will end up pushing things to the side for them.
Why spend 2 hours a day practicing an instrument that could take months to be good at when you can boot up a game you can beat in five hours.
Most games offer ways to see tangible increases. FPS games rank you with ratios, RPG games tell you how powerful you are in levels, RTS games have you progress through the game with an ever expanding tech tree.
Real life has nothing like that. No constant rewards. People who lack the ability to internally reward themselves have the most to watch out for. You can practice a guitar for months and still suck. You can beat a game in a week and get an ending video and a pat on the back about how awesome you are.
You find the same problem with things like TV and movies.
Yes, you can become obsessed with a sport or an instrument however both do have benefits.
Sports have health benefits unless you dip into drugs.
Playing an instrument has been shown to help people in areas like math or science since it builds connections in the brain.
Video gaming has difficulties saying the same thing.
I'm not saying "Beware of video games they are your doom!" because that's stupid. However introducing video games to a child young can have the same effects of just plopping your kid in front of the TV everyday. Its not healthy.
What amuses me lightly is how angry people are getting over someone suggesting that video games have a side effect. Yes, he needed to exhibit some restraint, but the amount some people are getting defensive? Hes talking about himself, not you. He's saying that he has had problems with self control and he is giving up most of his crap in an effort to focus on gaining other skills.
Yet people are insulting him. Why? Because he dared to say "Maybe spending all my free time doing this is bad?"
People are over exaggerating what he is saying. He isn't saying "If you didn't play video games you'd be a superman that has mastered every instrument and has a Doctorate at 15 years old." He's saying he feels like crap for wasting some much time on something.
HE feels like an idiot.
HE feels like he wasted his life.
HE feels like he could have done so much better.
Yes, you can multi-task between video games and and everything else and are super successful in everything you do. Some people can't, and that's what he is talking about.
There ARE negatives to playing video games obviously. It's always funny to hear people instantly rip into the person before admitting something they are doing might have a single negative side to it. Yes, some self control would have helped him but games are designed to keep you playing. They make more money if more people want to play there games and pick up DLC or there sequel.
On a side note: No. I'm not going to to drop my kid in front of a console as a little kid anymore then i will drop him in front of a TV or pop in a movie to keep him quiet. I'm going to play as active role in his life as possible. Encourage him to take up an instrument and/or sport, on weekends take the kid to museums, to the park, to the pool. Keep him active and having fun and trying different things. Kids need to be running around and exploring new things. Not sitting in front of a flickering screen pressing buttons. There will be time for that when he gets an office job.
Most people don't give up things they like for video games, but rather, go to video games to put off things they don't like. You don;t quit playing an instrument you like for a game. You don't ignore your homework to play video games. You put these things off because you just don't want to do it and video games is a way to both ignore something and feel rewarded for not doing it.
That's not to say they destroy every life they touch. Just that people with less self control then others will end up pushing things to the side for them.
Why spend 2 hours a day practicing an instrument that could take months to be good at when you can boot up a game you can beat in five hours.
Most games offer ways to see tangible increases. FPS games rank you with ratios, RPG games tell you how powerful you are in levels, RTS games have you progress through the game with an ever expanding tech tree.
Real life has nothing like that. No constant rewards. People who lack the ability to internally reward themselves have the most to watch out for. You can practice a guitar for months and still suck. You can beat a game in a week and get an ending video and a pat on the back about how awesome you are.
You find the same problem with things like TV and movies.
Yes, you can become obsessed with a sport or an instrument however both do have benefits.
Sports have health benefits unless you dip into drugs.
Playing an instrument has been shown to help people in areas like math or science since it builds connections in the brain.
Video gaming has difficulties saying the same thing.
I'm not saying "Beware of video games they are your doom!" because that's stupid. However introducing video games to a child young can have the same effects of just plopping your kid in front of the TV everyday. Its not healthy.
What amuses me lightly is how angry people are getting over someone suggesting that video games have a side effect. Yes, he needed to exhibit some restraint, but the amount some people are getting defensive? Hes talking about himself, not you. He's saying that he has had problems with self control and he is giving up most of his crap in an effort to focus on gaining other skills.
Yet people are insulting him. Why? Because he dared to say "Maybe spending all my free time doing this is bad?"
People are over exaggerating what he is saying. He isn't saying "If you didn't play video games you'd be a superman that has mastered every instrument and has a Doctorate at 15 years old." He's saying he feels like crap for wasting some much time on something.
HE feels like an idiot.
HE feels like he wasted his life.
HE feels like he could have done so much better.
Yes, you can multi-task between video games and and everything else and are super successful in everything you do. Some people can't, and that's what he is talking about.
There ARE negatives to playing video games obviously. It's always funny to hear people instantly rip into the person before admitting something they are doing might have a single negative side to it. Yes, some self control would have helped him but games are designed to keep you playing. They make more money if more people want to play there games and pick up DLC or there sequel.
On a side note: No. I'm not going to to drop my kid in front of a console as a little kid anymore then i will drop him in front of a TV or pop in a movie to keep him quiet. I'm going to play as active role in his life as possible. Encourage him to take up an instrument and/or sport, on weekends take the kid to museums, to the park, to the pool. Keep him active and having fun and trying different things. Kids need to be running around and exploring new things. Not sitting in front of a flickering screen pressing buttons. There will be time for that when he gets an office job.
Without video games I'd probably be of average intelligence because I never really had to think before Pokemon and Red Alert. Then through these games I learned words and developed my individuality. Sure I could have been doing something 'more productive' but I didn't and I'm still in the higher ups of my class and okay at most sports.
And it's not video game's fault its yours stop looking for excuses.
And it's not video game's fault its yours stop looking for excuses.
