Video Game Addiction Linked to Asperger's Traits

[Emporius]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/22/video-games-autism.html

The more time a person spent playing video games, the researchers found, the more likely they were to show three specific traits usually associated with Asperger's syndrome: neuroticism and a lack of extraversion and agreeableness.

"It is definitely not true to say that playing games can cause Asperger's syndrome."

"Video games don't prepare them for interacting with real people," she said. "You can't walk into a college interview and say that you are really good at playing Xbox."

You mean I wasn't supposed to tell them that?

 

[bam23]

WTF!


Those guys are playing CS with just a keyboard.

 

[Shamrock]

WTF!


Those guys are playing CS with just a keyboard.

That was my first thought, too.

Those guys are ****ing idiots.

 

[Asus]

The pic looks like from the research place. Bet they tell them to use keyboard controls so they don't have to learn the mouse and aiming. "Aim at the stomach!"

 

[theotherguy]

Correlation does not imply causation.

It might very well be that people who tend to have aspergers also like to play video games, or that a totally different factors: childhood, athletic ability, friends, attractiveness, affect both.

 

[Dekstar]

WTF!


Those guys are playing CS with just a keyboard.

They're in the buyzone, so they're buying stuff, noob.

Also I thought this was common sense (though not aspergers based, just shit social skills which is a defining trait of Autism). Unfortunately it's not true for everyone. I for instance think I can be social enough when I want to. The fact that I play games regularly (and my upbringing in general) has taught me that I don't need to be social all of the time, though. I enjoy spending hours alone with myself, playing games or not (usually I end up writing). For the most part, I find youth society (people my age - 18+) to be in real trouble. Most of them would be classed as alcoholics, and have trouble socialising themselves unless pumped full of cheap vodka and/or drugs.
This is just a personal observation of many youth around me. I find I get along better with people older than my age group.

EDIT: Seriously, none of you can even recognise Chateau's buyzones from a picture? I pity you guys.

 

[Kula Meenur]

They're in the buyzone, so they're buying stuff, noob.

EDIT: Seriously, none of you can even recognise Chateau's buyzones from a picture? I pity you guys.

Lol good observation :thumbs:

 

[Que-Ever]

They're in the buyzone, so they're buying stuff, noob.

Also I thought this was common sense (though not aspergers based, just shit social skills which is a defining trait of Autism). Unfortunately it's not true for everyone. I for instance think I can be social enough when I want to. The fact that I play games regularly (and my upbringing in general) has taught me that I don't need to be social all of the time, though. I enjoy spending hours alone with myself, playing games or not (usually I end up writing). For the most part, I find youth society (people my age - 18+) to be in real trouble. Most of them would be classed as alcoholics, and have trouble socialising themselves unless pumped full of cheap vodka and/or drugs.
This is just a personal observation of many youth around me. I find I get along better with people older than my age group.

EDIT: Seriously, none of you can even recognise Chateau's buyzones from a picture? I pity you guys.

I don't see a buy menu. Noob.

also, I know a kid with asspergers. He's the most irritating human being I've ever met.

 

[Raziaar]

When I buy shit I still had one hand on the mouse. It doesn't take two hands for me to buy shit.

 

[Shamrock]

When I buy shit I still had one hand on the mouse. It doesn't take two hands for me to buy shit.

QFT.

5charcoal.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Correlation does not imply causation.

It might very well be that people who tend to have aspergers also like to play video games, or that a totally different factors: childhood, athletic ability, friends, attractiveness, affect both.

Exactly. It seems much more likely that kids who have aspergers syndrome will seek out video games for entertainment. I hate studies like this that show correlation yet fail to show causation.

 

[Teta_Bonita]

"You can't walk into a college interview and say that you are really good at playing Xbox."

I told them I was good at making shit in garrysmod and I got into Cornell's School of Engineering. Bitch!

 

[Raziaar]

Correlation does not imply causation.

It might very well be that people who tend to have aspergers also like to play video games, or that a totally different factors: childhood, athletic ability, friends, attractiveness, affect both.

cum hoc ergo propter hoc

 

[Saturos]

I am most definately tired of video games being the center of everything that's wrong with our society. *Sheesh* /facepalm

*Insert the usual rant about improper parenting here*

On a side note, do any of you guys know any older people (born in the 40s' and up), that say mental disorders like assbergers is just an excuse made up by physciatrists to demoralize the current generation into thinking that they will never amount to anything and make tons of money while having their names on the front page of some medical journal?

They might say stuff like, "back in my day, there was no SLD or assbergers, you were just an idiot."

That by giving the excuse of, "oh, but he has assbergers and SLD", they are creating a mental block on those affected that they won't possibly have a chance at anything because of these disorders and that they should get "special" treatment and government aid?

Such thinking is true to a degree. There were many famous physicists and artists that had such disorders back then when there wasn't a name for them. They got scorned and ridiculed for their odd behavior(s) and disorder(s), but still managed to become the creme-of-the-crop well after their time(s). But today with so many educated mental doctors trying to give an excuse for everything, can there still be an Albert Einstein or Picasso? It's really unnerving. I say let people develope their own way (as long as proper parenting is involved) lest our generation succumb to a society of excuses. (Too late though really)

I told them I was good at making shit in garrysmod and I got into Cornell's School of Engineering. Bitch!

It's obvious that the article is nothing but political propaganda. How can people be so ignorant anymore about the lucrative opportunities video games has to offer? You case might be different though as you must indeed by older than 14 yrs. Many younger kids show no interest in video game development, just playing them. At least out of the hundreds I've known. If they show greater interest beyond just playing games, then I don't see the harm in gaming. Younger kids need more than just playing games, they need to be shown opportunity. As they grow older, (17+) and have shown they can handle having responsibilities, (no Ds Cs or Fs on their report card) then gaming wouldn't be as great a factor anymore and should be given some breathing room with less restrictions. No parent want's their kid(s) to be a bum you know.

 

[Trevelyan]

meh, this article blow chunks. Analysing people diagnosed with Asperger's should be included in this research. "Neuroticism and a lack of extraversion and agreeableness" are symptoms commonly felt by most human beings to a certain degree. People diagnosed with Asperger's feel these states of being to the nth degree & nearly all of the time, making rudimentary tasks impossible. By way of the the University's study group's own admission that Asperger's does exist, they should offset the 400 participants tested with a test sample of people who do in fact have Asperger's diagnosed. Disclosing the empathetic based questionnaire & statistical data I assume was gathered would also help the article imo. Any true understanding will come from analysing the figure's involved as well as using one's own psychological insight into the empathetic data, but one would be hindered imo as there are no test subjects with Asperger's diagnosed.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I think people (especially Saturos) are misinterpreting the article; there's no causation applied. The correlation of videogames and assburgers-like traits is a no-brainer, because playing videogames a lot will not make you a very social person, generally speaking. That's true of any prolongued indoor lonesome activity, from reading to crunch-time death-schedule revision. And the reverse is also arguable: people with poor social skills are much more likely to stay indoors playing games.

Saying "it's like arseburgers" is a bit stupid tbh, but probably done because A. it's more attention-grabbing than just saying "people who play lots of games often have trouble in social situations", and B. because just saying that would engender a universal response of NO SHIT, SHERLOCK.