A collection of things as random as my mood and personality.
Videogames – good or bad?
Yesterday I was reading about a few things on the internet, and a very disturbing thing caught my eye, a teenager shot up his school… As sad as this may be, in the article I have read that video games are to blame! And so I started reading around, it appears that most cases blame violence on TV, bullying, and video games. That got me thinking, is that true? Are video games threats? Or can they help us learn? Just to be clear, I’m going to talk about games that most teenagers play these days and I won’t take any sides until the end, so expect some sort of a “for and against” thing.
Since the dawn of gaming, people split up into two sides, there are those who think that games are a waste of time and that they numb the minds of those play them, and of course the passionate gamers who would do anything to get a new game in their hands.
I’ll talk about the positives first, for me video games are a great form of relaxation and stress relief. For instance, after a hard day at school there’s nothing else I would rather do then play my favorite games in the world, Half-Life and Counter Strike. It’s a very easy way to forget all your worries for a couple of moments as you have to focus on the goal, and helping your team. Plus, as games become more and more realistic, kids, teens and adults alike can learn about firearms, and other type of weapons without actually owning them or causing any potential danger.
Another thing I like about video games is complete anonymity (or anonimacy whichever way you prefer), in video games you can have complete confidence in yourself, since people don’t know who you really are, and chances are that they never will (if you won’t let them). And that’s the fun part, you can talk to anyone you want to, about anything you want to. Games are a great hobby, since there are so many of them, you can do whatever you want with them, buy them, download them (even though you have no intention of playing) and collect them.
And the fact that there are so many of them helps the average gamer stay busy, from big company titles, to small indie games. The variety can only be matched by the number of activities one can participate in.
From shooting people in a fps game, to building the contraption of your dreams.
Games have so many good qualities that it would take all day for me to name all of them, but what about the bad ones? Although it’s fun to get away from it all and play a game, some are just too addicting or unrealistic and can actually harm the mind of a young player.
Let’s take World of Warcraft as an example, over 10 million people play it, but how many people play it non-stop for hours, or even days? The game has a very interesting storyline, something I can’t say about other mmorpgs. It also has a very vast, beautiful world. Some of the best voice-overs in MMO history and some well thought out quests. But that’s what gets players “hooked”, so they neglect reality and their social life becoming outcasts.
Last year a man by the name Craig Smallwood sued NCSoft (the guys behind Lineage 2 and Aion) for making “Lineage 2” too addicting and ruining his life. Craig claims that from the year 2004 to 2009 he played more than 20,000 hours! What was more ridiculous was the amount he sued NCSoft - 3 million USD. Unfortunately for Smallwood, the judge has granted the company’s motion to dismiss.
Not every game is “bad” just because it’s good, some games just fuel their playerbase by shocking them.
For instance – “Manhunt” an EXTREAMELY violent game, where players are placed in the shoes of a psychopathic killer who slaughters everyone with unorthodox weapons like plastic bags or shards of glass. Where this game really “shines” is it’s cinematic murder scenes. (I’m not saying that the game is bad or anything, just don’t play it if you don’t think you’re ready.)
The game was banned in Australia, after a boy was murdered and his parents claimed that the game had influenced the killer. In these type of cases, as tragic as they are, we can often see game names like “Call of Duty”, “Counter-Strike” and a few other well known titles.
It’s a shame that not everyone can enjoy video games, and have fun playing them. I personally am ready stand my ground as in my opinion games are a good thing, just think about it…
How many gamers go to the other side in the world, just to visit events like “E3”, “Blizzcon”, “Quakecon”, “Gamescon” or “PAX”? If something attracts such a mass of people to one place, it has to be a good thing, right?
Conclusion: everyone has their own opinion on video games, but no matter what’s going to happen, video games are, and will always be a huge part of our culture and lifestyle. Just don’t forget that the whole point is to have fun, and don’t get carried away.
Thanks for reading,
TheConArtist
And as always, if you have any ideas on future articles, or just like a good discussion, feel free to send me a message on elitepvpers, or at
(that’s my personal email, so you can add me as a friend).
Since the dawn of gaming, people split up into two sides, there are those who think that games are a waste of time and that they numb the minds of those play them, and of course the passionate gamers who would do anything to get a new game in their hands.
I’ll talk about the positives first, for me video games are a great form of relaxation and stress relief. For instance, after a hard day at school there’s nothing else I would rather do then play my favorite games in the world, Half-Life and Counter Strike. It’s a very easy way to forget all your worries for a couple of moments as you have to focus on the goal, and helping your team. Plus, as games become more and more realistic, kids, teens and adults alike can learn about firearms, and other type of weapons without actually owning them or causing any potential danger.
Another thing I like about video games is complete anonymity (or anonimacy whichever way you prefer), in video games you can have complete confidence in yourself, since people don’t know who you really are, and chances are that they never will (if you won’t let them). And that’s the fun part, you can talk to anyone you want to, about anything you want to. Games are a great hobby, since there are so many of them, you can do whatever you want with them, buy them, download them (even though you have no intention of playing) and collect them.
And the fact that there are so many of them helps the average gamer stay busy, from big company titles, to small indie games. The variety can only be matched by the number of activities one can participate in.
From shooting people in a fps game, to building the contraption of your dreams.
Games have so many good qualities that it would take all day for me to name all of them, but what about the bad ones? Although it’s fun to get away from it all and play a game, some are just too addicting or unrealistic and can actually harm the mind of a young player.
Let’s take World of Warcraft as an example, over 10 million people play it, but how many people play it non-stop for hours, or even days? The game has a very interesting storyline, something I can’t say about other mmorpgs. It also has a very vast, beautiful world. Some of the best voice-overs in MMO history and some well thought out quests. But that’s what gets players “hooked”, so they neglect reality and their social life becoming outcasts.
Last year a man by the name Craig Smallwood sued NCSoft (the guys behind Lineage 2 and Aion) for making “Lineage 2” too addicting and ruining his life. Craig claims that from the year 2004 to 2009 he played more than 20,000 hours! What was more ridiculous was the amount he sued NCSoft - 3 million USD. Unfortunately for Smallwood, the judge has granted the company’s motion to dismiss.
Not every game is “bad” just because it’s good, some games just fuel their playerbase by shocking them.
For instance – “Manhunt” an EXTREAMELY violent game, where players are placed in the shoes of a psychopathic killer who slaughters everyone with unorthodox weapons like plastic bags or shards of glass. Where this game really “shines” is it’s cinematic murder scenes. (I’m not saying that the game is bad or anything, just don’t play it if you don’t think you’re ready.)
The game was banned in Australia, after a boy was murdered and his parents claimed that the game had influenced the killer. In these type of cases, as tragic as they are, we can often see game names like “Call of Duty”, “Counter-Strike” and a few other well known titles.
It’s a shame that not everyone can enjoy video games, and have fun playing them. I personally am ready stand my ground as in my opinion games are a good thing, just think about it…
How many gamers go to the other side in the world, just to visit events like “E3”, “Blizzcon”, “Quakecon”, “Gamescon” or “PAX”? If something attracts such a mass of people to one place, it has to be a good thing, right?
Conclusion: everyone has their own opinion on video games, but no matter what’s going to happen, video games are, and will always be a huge part of our culture and lifestyle. Just don’t forget that the whole point is to have fun, and don’t get carried away.
Thanks for reading,
TheConArtist
And as always, if you have any ideas on future articles, or just like a good discussion, feel free to send me a message on elitepvpers, or at
(that’s my personal email, so you can add me as a friend).
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