Video Games: good hobby or bad hobby

[heathward]

Originally Posted by andyman1970

They are a complete waste of time. Only a bunch of NERDS and overgrown children who can't let go of their adolescence play video games. Not to mention the people who lose their grip on reality and try to live out the game in reality.

i hope you are kidding, because your avatar screams out HUGE NERD. i also see you are a buck rogers fan? you should look in the mirror first before calling any of us a nerd.

i'd like to add that soccer moms all over the world are pledging allegiance to the Wii and claiming that the video games have brought their family back together. still a waste of time?

i know i've posted about this before, but Discover magazine did a large piece about the benefits of video games in an attempt to put all the propoganda and bad karma to rest once and for all. this is not Maxim, or Men's Health, or Sports Illustrated...this is Discover: a scientific publication describing, analyzing, and applying the results of actual research.

A host of new studies suggest that video games build rather than diminish cognitive skills. Research reveals that typical teenage gamers are anything but addlebrained. "We had a hard time finding kids who were bad at school, but good at games."

Complex video games require far more than simple hand-eye coordination. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, the latest installment in a popular Tom Clancy–inspired series, taxes stealth and navigational skills as the player explores huge virtual environments in the guise of an undercover federal agent. To complete the game, you need to think simultaneously on four distinct levels.

1. MANUAL INTERFACE

To control the movements and actions of your on-screen character, you must memorize several dozen distinct button combinations on a video console handset or a PC keyboard. That’s a far cry from the simple jump-or-shoot interfaces of primitive arcade-style games.

2. CHARACTER VIEW

As the game progresses, you take in a shifting landscape of information about the virtual world, such as the sudden appearance of enemies, visual cues that suggest the existence of a puzzle to be solved, and overlaid interface elements that track your character’s health.

3. INTERNALIZED MAP

Most games involve exploring vast worlds as you struggle to learn the rules. You must remember all the twists and turns you’ve made, or you’ll get hopelessly lost. Lose your bearings on this giant ship in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and your character may end up dead.

4. BALANCING ACT

Playing complex games involves juggling multiple objectives, choosing what to prioritize and what to defer. The goals affect decision making on other conceptual levels: which buttons to press, how you interact with other characters, and which areas you choose to explore.

Among all popular media today, video games are unique in their reliance on the regime of competence principle. Movies or television shows don’t start out with simple dialogue or narrative structures and steadily build in complexity depending on the aptitude of individual viewers. Books don’t pause midchapter to confirm that their readers’ vocabularies have progressed enough to move on to more complicated words. By contrast, the training structure of video games dates back to the very origins of the medium; even Pong got more challenging as a player’s skills improved. Moreover, only a fraction of today’s games involve explicit violence, and sexual content is a rarity. But the regime of competence is everywhere.

[Augustine864]

I've often cursed video games for making me a piece of garbage who is antisocial and I wish I hadn't talked my mother into buying me that NES at a yardsale those many years ago. But truth be told, I have never turned down a social situation to go play video games instead. Exception: If I'm already at a social gathering and I THEN deem that it sucks... I have been known to leave on at least one occasion and ended up playing games instead.

I think I'm just a person that doesn't care to hang out with groups of people. I am easily annoyed by the acts that people put on and I don't want to be around them. People change when they are in groups and it drives me nuts.

Video games are just an excuse for not being good in social situations, they aren't a reason for it. For me anyway.

[RWebb74]

Unless your hobby is charitable in some way or serving the greater good in some way, all hobbies are otherwise equal. All hobbies serve the same basic purpose, whether they are watching movies, playing games, gardening, skiing, hiking, playing sports, reading, etc... What specifically one person chooses to do with their idol time is irrelevant and always good, as it brings stress relief, joy, relaxation, and inner focus. If we did not have things to take us away from the work in life, we would all go insane, or at least live much shorter lives.

[Gamekid]

Originally Posted by RWebb74

Unless your hobby is charitable in some way or serving the greater good in some way, all hobbies are otherwise equal. All hobbies serve the same basic purpose, whether they are watching movies, playing games, gardening, skiing, hiking, playing sports, reading, etc... What specifically one person chooses to do with their idol time is irrelevant and always good, as it brings stress relief, joy, relaxation, and inner focus. If we did not have things to take us away from the work in life, we would all go insane, or at least live much shorter lives.

I can't disagree with what you're saying. Having a hobby or two brings us benifits.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Gamekid

I think that video games are a good hobby, only if you don't let them make up most of your life. There are benifits to video games, some more unusual like being a good stress releiver....

Originally Posted by Gamekid

I can't disagree with what you're saying. Having a hobby or two brings us benifits.

English apparently isn't one of those benefits.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

English apparently isn't one of those benefits.

shhh dont point things out that hurt the cause

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by supersix4

shhh dont point things out that hurt the cause

Doh! Sorry. Whut waz I thanking?

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Doh! Sorry. Whut waz I thanking?

I know right us video gamers are s-m-r-t

I mean s-m-a-r-t

[ifuwereahotdog]

Originally Posted by RWebb74

Unless your hobby is charitable in some way or serving the greater good in some way, all hobbies are otherwise equal. All hobbies serve the same basic purpose, whether they are watching movies, playing games, gardening, skiing, hiking, playing sports, reading, etc... What specifically one person chooses to do with their idol time is irrelevant and always good, as it brings stress relief, joy, relaxation, and inner focus. If we did not have things to take us away from the work in life, we would all go insane, or at least live much shorter lives.

My hobby does serve a greater good...Folding @ Home .

[Tsmith13]

good hobby if your asking me

bad hobby if you asking my gf

[Sloan78]

Video Games are fine, just like with anything else in life moderation is key. You don't wanna be like the kid over in Eroupe that played WOW for 26 hours straight and had to goto the hospitial.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by Sloan78

Video Games are fine, just like with anything else in life moderation is key. You don't wanna be like the kid over in Eroupe that played WOW for 26 hours straight and had to goto the hospitial.

or the guy that died from exhaustion http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/17/i....ap/index.html

gotta love games tho

[toef]

[Marquoz]

Gaming is a great hobby, it teaches cognitive reasoning, hand eye co-ordination, puzzle solving, mapping techniques, organizational skills, how to read a stupid code ring, timing, math, reading, and many other things. It all depends on the games that you play.

[BIGMERF]

I limit my kids to one hour a day weekdays and to 6 hours on weekends.I, since i am disabled game all the time. It helps me keep my mind off of being half the man i was before i ended up not being able to work. For this reason I think gaming is awesome. lol

[Rovic]

Its good when you know how to control your playing time...when it becomes an addiction thats when it becomes a problem...

[ScarredLungs]

Originally Posted by Rovic

Its good when you know how to control your playing time...when it becomes an addiction thats when it becomes a problem...

+1 There is nothing wrong with video games as a hobby, as long as it is kept under control. Anything whether it be sports, sewing, working out at the gym, video games etc is bad when it becomes an addiction and starts to take too much time away from the things in life that matter (Faith, Family, Friends etc.)