Wait just a second.. We were wrong! Gaming is bad for kids! (Well in my experience)

Sm0gg

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Aug 20, 2009
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If you wanted to play Guitar or Sports you woulda, you were a Gamer, don't feel bad about it. I'm glad you are changing your priorities, we all change, good luck in the future.

Oh, and being a good Guitarist is no big deal ultimately, much better to focus on your studies and a Good Job, that is what will make the biggest difference in your life.
A good job is everything- you better believe it!
 

mad825

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Mar 28, 2010
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RetiarySword said:
This is mostly down to jealousy. I'm at university now, so I've met many talented people, violin players, guitar players, piano, saxophone, etc. The sportsmen with their great level of physical fitness, the schollars with vast amounts of knowlege. What can I pass on to other people, apart from 'Watch out for the snakes on level 6!'?
this paragraph pretty much summed up your opinion.

Playing computer games has never been about performing social activities nor should it be a reason for a person to get involved with computer games.

like other people said "it's just a hobby" But if you feel socially out of loop because you have individual traits then leave gladly, because gamers don't need the image that they are desperately seeking for attention from other people.
 
May 21, 2009
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Its not the games fault you have to manager your time. I was about 5 when I started playing games but it was simple kids games and those educational games and didnt start playing r16 games till I was 11. Its just a matter or the person who is playing the game some people get addicted some hardly play I find that I manage my gaming time and study time very well.
 

Apryl Higgins

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Jul 30, 2010
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I got introduced to gaming at age nine, and then introduced my brother to video games when he was seven. The interesting thing is that I've stayed really casual with it, playing it on average about an hour or two a day. I'm really not that interested in getting really good at games, but I do love getting very interested in a really good story. Because I stayed casual, I got very interested in other endeavors, like acting and music.

My brother got pretty much obsessed. While I just play through a game once, he'll play it several times, get all the acheivments, and 100% it. But he's made a lot of friends through the gaming community and is getting ready to go into a career in networking.

I think both of our interests were shaped by gaming. He was inspired by the technology to further explore it and figure out how everything works. I was inspired by the story-telling and wanted to tell my own stories.

So while gaming does need to be taken in moderation, I believe that it can be very beneficial in shaping a child's future interests.
 

Fidelias

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Nov 30, 2009
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Like others have said, it isn't gaming that's the problem. ANY hobby you would have chosen would've probably led to the same issue. I manage to have a successful life while gaming, I just game at night or on days when I don't have much to do and want a break.
 

SimpleChimp

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Jun 11, 2009
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The games made you who you are. Live life with out regrets, everything we do shapes us. Hell if you never picked up the game maybe you would have picked up drugs, or got a girl friend who broke your heart and you killed yourself. Or maybe you would have realised you sucked at those other things. Maybe you would not have met the people you met, learned the things you learned.

I am a gamer, i have been since my first nintendo, i've also done other things with my life. Learned martial arts, joined ROTC, got into music, been in riots, tried drugs, drank, fucked, been fucked over, fought, played rugby, enlisted in the Army. Each one of those things made my life richer, more full. If you dedicate your life to only one task you become a one trick pony. Imagine if i never touched a game counsel, i would have never made the friends i did today. I would have thought they were odd and game nerds, or i would have waited till later to get into gaming then let it consume my life. If i never tried Karate, i would have never got into that first fight, my dad would have never started BJJ, i would have never taken BJJ evolving into me never meeting the instructor who helped shape me, i would have never wrestled in competitions, never met J.J. Machado, Tito Ortiz, or Randy Couture. I would have gotten into MMA way to late (probably being a bro), i would have never started Muay Thai. That would mean i never met Pong, or the Ekyotin family i developed. I would never have had the skirmish that destroyed my testicle, meaning i would never have had that joke to fall back on which (oddly enough) built up my self esteem. I would not have met Victor who developed my interest in the Armed forces. I would not have joined ROTC or the Army.

Hell i wouldn't have got my first girlfriend either. Or knocked out the bully. or had the guts to stand up to my father and brother.

I'd be fundamentally different. All because i lost out on that one little thing in my child hood.

Tell me, would you want to lose who you were just so you could "fit in" at the university?
 

crudus

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Oct 20, 2008
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RetiarySword said:
I'm now giving up gaming (Well for the most part) as its become too much of a distraction from studies and a dusty social life.
So what you are saying is that you are bad at doing something in moderation? Even if you drink too much water it will kill you. Too much of anything is bad for you. It is not something's fault that you get too much of it. It is good to see that you admit you have a problem and are at least trying to take care of it though.

teisjm said:
i'll put myself up as a counter-argument.
Ok seriously people: the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Why do so many people think it is?
 

MrJohnson

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May 13, 2009
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Littlee300 said:
kordan11 said:
Sorry for the bluntness mate, but if you let gaming get in the way of all the things you wanted to do... it's not the games' fault.
Game developers try to addict the players.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html
Cant...stop...playing...
Everything you can do ever addicts you, in case you didn't no. There is no such thing as "addictive personality", almost every thing in the world is addicting. Because of the hormones and endorphins our body releases from doing those activities, and the ones they repress if you don't.

Besides, my gaming and book reading has helped me more than hindered. Inspired change in my life, made me look at things in a new light, ignited interests in things I didn't even know existed, gives conversation topics, made me look at marketing and writing and countless other careers in a new light, and gave me a drive to get into an industry I actually WANT to be a part of.

If I wanted to have a better social life I could have, but that better social life would have been by other people's standards since too me my social life was perfect.
 

Blind Sight

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May 16, 2010
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No offense to you at all, good sir, but if you can't game while entertaining other hobbies or achieving your goals, then it's probably a good idea you stopped, because it doesn't seem to be the games' fault. Someone's clearly projecting their own shortcomings onto objects and blaming them when a good look at yourself is needed. /pseudo-psychological rant

I game regularly, but I'm still writing a book, learning to play piano, posting videos on youtube, going to university (when September rolls around) and I currently work at a metal factory with lots of options for advancement. Yeah, can't say that gaming slowed me down that much, I guess you just have to make sure you diversify your hobbies.

EDIT: In fact, come to think of it, I wouldn't have gone on to study history and political science at university if it wasn't for games like Rome: Total War and Age of Empires encouraging my love of history.
 

shticks

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Jun 8, 2010
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veloper said:
It's a hobby.
If you're going to give up gaming you're going to need to find another hobby. That or live for your work like a lemming.
And hes going to need to get past that initial phase of not being good at it.... and considering he is dropping video games because he doesn't think hes good at anything.

As for his profs. the have YEARS of research and knowledge to fall back on.

As for his classmates they have those years of practice in those hobbies as well.

All that's going on is you are feeling depressed about "wasting" your life. I've been there.

Its easy to see other peoples lives through rose colored glasses.
 

RatRace123

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Dec 1, 2009
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I thought it was all the sex and the violence.

No offense my friend, but it sounds like you spent a large number of years not doing much else other than gaming. A little moderation is always good.

I think my life is at about the same level it would be without gaming, if I didn't game I'd probably just have found another hobby that filled the void.
 

recoverytwo

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Sep 27, 2009
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RetiarySword said:
A wise man once said that "Time you enjoy waisting is not waisted time"

I'm going to skip everything ells and go strait to the kids thing.

So because you liked gaming so much you are not going to let you kids play them until they are at least 10 ? You want your kid to be that kid (If its a boy) who is has no idea what the other kids are talking about when they talk about Super Mario Jump Fucker 5 (or what every kids will play in the future) ? That would probably make them at lest slightly socially awkward (especially in the winter). Every body has a thing like you said some play music,sports, or are gymnast, In the social eye playing video games might not be the coolest use of your time but if you enjoy it who the hell cares.
 

Kukakkau

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Feb 9, 2008
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That's not really proof gaming is bad for kids - it's just proof that it was bad for you

It's the same with those guys who play sports all the time during school then fail their exams because of it and don't get where they want.

Also you said you got rid of your console because it was too big a distraction yet you wonder if you should've stuck with guitar, karate and football. Think about that three things you need to keep on top of and do in your spare time.
 
Apr 29, 2010
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Have you ever considered that video games were not blame here? That perhaps it wasn't their fault, but instead it was yours? Now, I know this might not be true, but maybe you lacked the self-control necessary to be able to put the controller down and do something else.
 

AmayaOnnaOtaku

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Mar 11, 2010
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Funkiest Monkey said:
Games are not the source of your problems, you are. You lacked the motivation to get out there and now you're using the videogames as a scapegoat for your "failures".

Gaming is a legitimate hobby and is something that is accepted in the mainstream media nowadays. It's no more addictive than any other hobby can be. You could have easily done any of those things you wanted and still played games.

But you know what? It's never too late. Take up the guitar, join a sports club, do whatever you want! If you want to do something, go and do it! Nothing is stopping you. There's a world of opportunities out there and it's up to you to go find them. Carpe Diem. Seize the day.

Or, alternatively, you can sit at home and ***** about how games have fucked your life up.

Me? I'm gonna carry on gaming, do whatever the hell I want to do and enjoy myself. Not dwelling on "what might have been".

P.S. Don't deprave your future kids of videogames. It's up to you as the parent to monitor and control what your children get up to at an early age. With the correct guidance, they could very well do sports or learn an instrument, while enjoying videogames occasionally.

Shit. I'm not usually this motherly and serious. Sorry if this came off as "holier-than-thou" aswell, I was just trying to help. My position isn't perfect either, y'know. But with the right motivation you can do anything.


Exactly. For example in my office most ( I would put it at 80%) of the Data team and IT department are gamers. Also I have seen how gamers have been a benefit for younger children.

Case in point: My son is 3 and is on the autism spectrum he is very shy and withdrawn that is until you fire up Professor Layton on the DS or Plants vs Zombies on the PC. I let him tell me what plant he wants to use and assist in the puzzle on Layton. I also was able to get out of my own shell thanks to WOW.

Conclusion:Gaming can be beneficial but self control is needed if you have addictive traits. And from your post you are blaming games for your insecurity
 

brunothepig

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May 18, 2009
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JuryNelson said:
I've been playing video games much of my life, too, and I know I didn't stay inside because I wanted to play video games, I played video games because I wanted to stay inside.
Well done. Just, perfectly worded. This is it. Would you be any different if you learned karate? I don't do sport because I prefer videogames. It's a hobby. Some people play sport. Some people learn martial arts. Some people craft, or paint. Some people learn instruments. I've tried all these things but, apart form learning keyboard, I always thought "I could be playing games right now".
I'm only 17 now, so I'm basically a kid, and certainly was. So yeah, some kid out there who decided videogames aren't for them may one day go on to play soccer or cricket or football... But I could (and probably will, at least for fun) join a metal band, or work in the games industry.
Also, are you saying having a hobby or two is bad? That everything we do should be working towards one final goal? What is it? Dream job. What happens when you get it? Me, I set myself little goals. Right now, survive year 12. And finish Half Life 2 Ep 2. And plenty of others.
 

supagama

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Jul 25, 2009
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well i play video games, and im astonishingly smart, pretty strong, and have plenty of friends. they never caused problems for me
 

ShrooM_DoughKiD

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Jan 14, 2010
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RetiarySword said:
Yep, I think the doom sayers might of been right. Before you jump in hear me out;
I've been playing games for more than a decade now, I would say around 14 years. I've defeated the robots, shot countless holes into hordes of aliens, found the master sword and saved the brainless princess, so I've been around you might say.
I'm now giving up gaming (Well for the most part) as its become too much of a distraction from studies and a dusty social life. I've sold my xbox, selling my gaming rig for a simple laptop (which can play steam games. I'm not crazy) and trading in all of my games.

Part of the reason for this is I want to become successful, well financed, and all those things which build up power and I see gaming blockading that dream.
This train of thought led me to the question; 'What could've I achieved if I didn't get that SNES?'. I started gaming when I was seven, big thing back then as I was captivated by the stories, entertained by the halarious phrases and quirky characters. But what if I done the normal kid thing, went outside, played the sports, learned the guitar.. Where could I be now.

This is mostly down to jealousy. I'm at university now, so I've met many talented people, violin players, guitar players, piano, saxophone, etc. The sportsmen with their great level of physical fitness, the schollars with vast amounts of knowlege. What can I pass on to other people, apart from 'Watch out for the snakes on level 6!'?

I don't know, but I look back and think if I stuck with the guitar lesson, played football, continued karate lessons, I could've been well.. more.

What do you think? I don't think I'm going to let my future kids touch games. Well not until they're at least in their early teens, or have a sport or hobby to draw them away from the digital wasteland. I definitely think that seven is too young. Maybe my parents or even I should of paid attention to that +13 sticker on the box?
I don't know, just something I wanted to throw out there.

'In short for the people with the "If it's more than 6 lines, I'm going to skim it" attitude (I've been there too) here the question:
What do you think you could've accomplished if you let the princess rot in that cell?

EDIT: I do have social skills, and gaming didn't hamper my social time.
Feeling a little down OP? We all could've done great things, some of us probably are doing great things. I don't know about you guys, but I could be doing awesome shit right now, I could be a programmer, graphic editor, concept artist, Satellite TV Technician, Retail Manager or even an Admin Supervisor.

Sure I hate the idea that I gave up on those things to peruse my level 40 mount in WoW or desired to finish Bioshock 2 without saving or taking a break. But it was me that made those choices, and not because of some addiction. If you're going to blame anyone, let it be yourself. Don't shield your kids from an important life lesson in self control and time management.