Video Games and how they influence you.

[JUL3]

I require the assistance of the community..

So I'm about to sit a SAC (School Assessed Curriculum) in my Year 12 Media class and I'm a little bit stuck.
The subject of discussion is Media Influence. A large portion that comes under fire here, obviously, is video games. So who better to ask then a community of gamers?

The obvious question I wish to ask all you avid gamers is this: Do video games, specifically: violent games (e.g. Half-Life 2), influence your real lives? To what extent? In what way? I'm trying to get as much information as possible here. What is your opinion on video games' cultural status as being for nerds and psychopaths only? (Stereotypically speaking, of course). Discuss, all perspective here is helpful to me.

Alternatively, I need real world examples to discuss in my essay response. The obvious case study is the Columbine Massacre, but everyone seems to go there. Any links and/or discussion on this is handy too! I was thinking the Oslo massacre? The Grand Theft Auto copycats? What do you think?

Thanks heaps!

 

[Acepilotf14]

Violent video games haven't made me any more violent. I'm a passive person by nature.

However, video games did inspire me to take my current career choice, which while that can sound a little silly it's true and I wouldn't take anything else.

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

I run up and down stairs like Big Boss.

 

[Remus]

The obvious question I wish to ask all you avid gamers is this: Do video games, specifically: violent games (e.g. Half-Life 2), influence your real lives? To what extent? In what way? I'm trying to get as much information as possible here. ).

Video games have influenced my career path. I went from wanting to become an architect in primary school, to wanting to work with digital FX in highschool, and finally what I'm doing now, freelance artist working in the games industry.
Video games have not made me more violent, even though I love me some ultra-violence.

One interesting effect that video games have on gamers (which is backed up by studies), is the way they react when they have nightmares. While an average person would feel powerless in a nightmare, a gamer would take control of the situation and fight back.

What is your opinion on video games' cultural status as being for nerds and psychopaths only? (Stereotypically speaking, of course).

If that is still the general opinion, then popular opinion is in the stone age. Even my father plays video games. FEAR, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the Quake series are some of his favorites.
Video games are an art form, as valid as any of the others, to claim otherwise would be a slap in the face of all the talented artists that work hard to create vivid and detailed virtual worlds.

 

[Dinnesch]

I spend too much time on games(at the cost of important stuff), and it probably influenced my career choice that i want to be a programmer later(although likely not in the games industry).

video games' cultural status as being for nerds and psychopaths only? (Stereotypically speaking, of course).

Well, gaming has become pretty 'mainstream' these days, almost everyone does it so I guess it's not only for nerds. Except when you're a PC gamer.

 

[JUL3]

So I take it that here, on HL2.net, you're adults and video games have influenced you, though positively in your career choices?

How about as children? Did the original Half-Life have any negative effects? Or, Doom? Or whatever violent video games you might have been playing as kids? This is all really interesting.

One interesting effect that video games have on gamers (which is backed up by studies), is the way they react when they have nightmares. While an average person would feel powerless in a nightmare, a gamer would take control of the situation and fight back.

This is really interesting. I found this. It looks like it might be really helpful, thanks for that.
How does the HL2.net community feel about this? Do you feel in control of your dreams? Specifically as a result of gaming? I personally find games weave their way in everywhere, I've dreamed about Half-Life more than once.

If that is still the general opinion, then popular opinion is in the stone age. Even my father plays video games. FEAR, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the Quake series are some of his favorites.
Video games are an art form, as valid as any of the others, to claim otherwise would be a slap in the face of all the talented artists that work hard to create vivid and detailed virtual worlds.

Well, gaming has become pretty 'mainstream' these days, almost everyone does it so I guess it's not only for nerds. Except when you're a PC gamer.

I couldn't agree more. In class we watched a documentary called Gamer Revolution. The parts showing off the pro SC players in Korea was met with disbelief, non-gamers [the other students in my Media class] do not accept video games are sport. "That's stupid as" was the general consensus.
I've noticed nearly EVERY TIME Grand Theft Auto gets brought up by these 'experts', they always talk about "picking up hookers and killing them" - anyone who hasn't played GTA would assume that is what the game is all about. Anyone who does play GTA would know what a minor aspect that is, in fact hookers are more of an easter egg.
So I do agree, 100%. As a gamer I think it's disgusting how these 'experts', who likely have never played a game before in their lives, can declare things which people will believe. Violent video games cause violent people.

 

[dfc05]

I played Wolfenstein and Doom in elementary school because my dad played them. It never made me more violent. I always knew they were just games. It didn't influence how I acted or played with others as a kid. But I do remember feeling like I shouldn't mention playing violent video games at school for some reason, even when nobody ever explicitly told me that.
In middle school, Wolfenstein and other (nonviolent) DOS games were actually installed on the computers in the science classroom and people would play during lunch. This was during and after Columbine ('98-'01). I'm fairly certain that at least the science teacher knew about it, but nobody ever removed it or had any problems with it. Seems pretty strange now, but it was totally fine then. The school administration probably didn't keep tabs on what was on the computers.

Generally, I've never seen any stigma against playing games, aside from hearing stories that some of my friends' acquaintances failed classes because they spent so much time playing WoW. Most of my friends were just casual gamers though -- like they would play a lot of games but not really follow news much or join a forum. They were all very social non-nerds.

As for the "sports" thing, I would never consider gaming a sport. I also don't consider poker or chess to be sports. I think it's fine to televise it on a sports channel, but just as a matter of terminology, I separate games (videogames, card games, board games) from physical sports. They are distinctly different.

 

[Adabiviak]

Do video games, specifically: violent games (e.g. Half-Life 2), influence your real lives? To what extent? In what way?

I play them for distraction, entertainment, and fun. After work, I'll play games to push work out of my head. When work is over, I'm still thinking about the day's issues; when a game is over, my head is clear, so I use video games for that. Other games I play just because the storyline is interesting/engaging, the same way a good book is. By influence, do you mean, "is my behavior different away from the computer due to the games I play?"...other than better spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination, no.

What is your opinion on video games' cultural status as being for nerds and psychopaths only?

Is the cultural status of video games that they're played only by nerds and psycopaths? I think people believe a lot of silly things, and at least I can see where this one may have come from.

 

[ríomhaire]

Video games made me kill John Lenin.

 

[Remus]

Video games made me kill John Lenin.

Video games made me shoot the sheriff.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Lennon, John Lennon

...unless you're pretending to have shot some other person.

 

[Remus]

John Lenin.

Lennon, John Lennon.

John Stalin

lololol

 

[ríomhaire]

Lennon, John Lennon

...unless you're pretending to have shot some other person.

A) I was pretty tired when I wrote that.
B) I meant someone else
C) It was an intentional joke

Pick the option that sounds least stupid please.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

It happens to the best of us, Rhymes with Hair.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Heh, I remember back when I was doing that topic back in Media Studies at school.

When people say that video games are "for nerds and psychopaths" (if anyone does say that anymore), it's important to remember that most entertainment forms of the modern age faced similar persecution in their early days. If you look at the early days of cinema, and what people were saying about how it was going to affect people negatively, you can instantly see the parallels with what's happening today. Hell, you only have to look back a couple of decades to when VHS cassette tapes came around; there was a whole media frenzy surrounding "video nasties" and how letting violent videos into people's homes was going to cause violence in youths. Seems crazy that history repeats itself so quickly, really.

But no, I don't think that video games cause violence. I think they can be used as an outlet for violent impulses, but no more than any other form of media; the using of such media is an effect, not the cause. The Oslo massacre is a prime example. You only have to look at the vast portfolio (or whatever it was) that the guy published beforehand to see all the outlets for his warped thinking that he was using, and how video games were just one of those outlets. But the video game factor gets more media coverage, because that's exactly what happens in a moral panic; making people scared too often = profit. A better case example, if you're looking for good ones, would probably be the Grand Theft Auto homicide, the one that Jack Thompson got involved in. IIRC, there was at least a plausible link in that one that they were acting out things they enjoyed doing in the game.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

This is an interesting read: http://videogamewriters.com/heres-w...ter-karen-traviss-hasnt-played-the-game-23846

 

[Au-heppa]

After playing Half-Life 2 and opening Source SDK I pretty much quit studying and started to make vidya games. Now I can hardly pay my rent. Sad.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

After playing Half-Life 2 and opening Source SDK I pretty much quit studying and started to make vidya games. Now I can hardly pay my rent. Sad.

Another victim of the video-game machine.

ARE YOU LISTENING, VALVE? ARE YOU???

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

A) I was pretty tired when I wrote that.
B) I meant someone else
C) It was an intentional joke

Pick the option that sounds least stupid please.

Hahaha, <3

 

[Mogi67]

Interesting how unaware most people are about how they are influenced by certain things. As if sitting in front of a screen for hours on end every day wouldn't have any effect on one's demeanor or perspective. I think the way that gaming influences people is by privation - nondigital things and activities are far more stimulating and healthy than gaming: they provide far more opportunities to have novel experiences whereas with games equivalent experiences are near nonexistent.. MMO's are the most deadening in this sense since they are designed upon repetition. I could dedicate 20-30 hours to gaming per week, a significant portion of time, and it would provide me with little that is beneficial, besides some abatement of boredom. However boredom only really comes from a lack of activity, a lack of stimulation. Gaming is influential not in the sense that it can incite a person to violence, but in the sense that it can distract and disarm a person from having meaningful and inspirational experiences which lead to emotional, intellectual, physical, and societal growth.

 

[Stigmata]

John Stalin

lololol

NO JOHN YOU ARE THE STALINS

And then John was a Nazi.