Vig-E-O games

[Edwardo Piet]

Non-reality. Hyper-violent non-reality. Hyper-violent non-reality that puts you in a meditative trance state and wastes you precious time on earth.

YOUR precious time maybe.

I like reality the way it is.

I don't. Life isn't perfect. It isn't as if it's made by some all-loving super-being you know. A lot of life is fucked up. And unfair.

I prefer the gaming world

(I can't do it too much any more because it's not healthy ('too much' of anything is unhealthy. That's why it's too much). But BOY does it make me HAPPY.)

EvF

[fr0d0]

Gaming is part of life.. and is kinda interesting in a mind numbing kinda way... you just gotta watch out for them decaying brain cells and resist the drug when it's doing you harm. Just like fat and sugar it can be bad for you too

[Edwardo Piet]

Indeed. Sadly it can be bad for you :p

EvF

[Pippy]

Fat is essential for brain function, and sugar is absolutely necessary for blood and organ function. But too much of them can be sickening, when not used in moderation.

Video games are also bad for you, especially in excess. It is worse than TV for imposing a trance-like state. All the time you spend in front of the idiot box is time you are hypnotized. In the 'use it or lose it' world of neurology, you literally get stupider as you sit there in a trance and make no new synaptic connections. They are also non-reality. It saddens me to hear you say that life is hard and cruel and unfair, but video games make you feel good. Life is what life is, if it's anything it's multi0faceted and complex. Life is unfair and cruel, but also beautiful and miraculous. But to recluse into virtual reality instead of spending our limited time and energy on something more real or constructive is a waste.

And as part of TV culture, video games are an obvious control mechanism. If you are not in control of your thoughts, something else is.

I would urge you, and any other geeks here that have admitted an unhealthy relationship with the objects that are video games to try reality now and again. Try something less flashy and hyperactive, lest you do long-term damage to the function of you mind.

That is what being the devil means. It is evil. It is an object, we are subjects. It mkaes us treat it like the subject, and ourselves like the object. you guys can say 'oh, they're just video games', but i assure you that you are underestimating the power of the boob tube.

[Dotard]

.....imposing a trance-like state. All the time you spend in front of the idiot box is time you are hypnotized. In the 'use it or lose it' world of neurology, you literally get stupider as you sit there in a trance and make no new synaptic connections. They are also non-reality.

AGAIN I ask you. When you are reading a book are you not imposing a trance-like state? Is it not equally valid to say the time you spend staring at words on a page is time you are hypnotized? Are you not literally getting stupider as you sit there in a trance reading fiction and making no new synaptic connections?

Most of the greatest reading material are also non-realities.

With that in mind some of the great games of today you are essentially directing the main character through out the story.

[theVOID]

Fat is essential for brain function, and sugar is absolutely necessary for blood and organ function. But too much of them can be sickening, when not used in moderation.

Yeah and drinking too much water can kill you, we get it.

Video games are also bad for you, especially in excess.

More correctly - Video games are only bad for you in excess. Then again, so is water.

It is worse than TV for imposing a trance-like state.

Fuck off it is, video games require (and develop) reaction times, motor function, problem solving, lateral thinking, cause and effect etc. Games that involve storytelling often (with RPGs almost always) present philosophical problems for the player to encounter and decide upon, it requires you think out these hypothetical scenarios, evaluate the effects your decisions will have and then anticipate how they will play out - These things are anything but a trance like state (I'm an acid head, i know trances like the back of my hand), they involve active analysis and reaction to the game, whereas in a trance you are more like a sponge.

All the time you spend in front of the idiot box is time you are hypnotized.

It doesn't resemble hypnosis in any way.

In the 'use it or lose it' world of neurology, you literally get stupider as you sit there in a trance and make no new synaptic connections.

And you know nothing about neurology, not surprising.

1) Being inactive does not stop synaptic connections forming between neurons.

2) Not forming connections would make no change to a persons intelligence.

3) Video games are (as i pointed out above) an efficient tool for learning.

They are also non-reality.

So is fiction, but i bet you read fiction books right?

It saddens me to hear you say that life is hard and cruel and unfair, but video games make you feel good.

But i bet you don't find it strange if someone reads for comfort right?

Life is what life is, if it's anything it's multi0faceted and complex.

And Video games are part of life

Life is unfair and cruel, but also beautiful and miraculous.

Aside from the miraculous part I would agree.

But to recluse into virtual reality instead of spending our limited time and energy on something more real or constructive is a waste.

Who are you to tell people what they can and cannot enjoy doing with their own lives?

And what do you do with your spare time that is so important?

If non reality is a waste of time then Art, Music, Fiction, Movies etc are all in the same category, they all offer a level of escapism.

And as part of TV culture, video games are an obvious control mechanism. If you are not in control of your thoughts, something else is.

1) I chose what TV i watch and what video games I play as well as what decisions and actions i take inside the game, nobody decides these things for me, rather i select a number of possible shows and games against my own preferences.

2) If i am not in control of my thoughts then nobody is.

3) Even if i was forced to watch pre selected programming and play pre selected games, how does that in any way give someone else access to my thoughts?

I would urge you, and any other geeks here that have admitted an unhealthy relationship with the objects that are video games to try reality now and again.

1) Nobody here has said that they have an unhealthy relationship with games (EvF said he thought he was heading in that direction and cooled off), for you to supposed they do based on your dislike of video games is sheer arrogance.

2) You suggest we try reality every once in a while, sure, because i never stop playing games, reading fiction and watching movies... You're an idiot if you genuinely think that people who play games are unfamiliar with reality, we engage in it all the time, the majority of the time in fact. You seem to have this bizarre idea that video games are something more than entertainment which is certainly not the case for the vast majority of people who play games.

Try something less flashy and hyperactive, lest you do long-term damage to the function of you mind.

And you once again demonstrate you know nothing of neurology.

That is what being the devil means. It is evil. It is an object, we are subjects. It mkaes us treat it like the subject, and ourselves like the object. you guys can say 'oh, they're just video games', but i assure you that you are underestimating the power of the boob tube.

You truly are one weird, pathetic little man.

---

Also, anyone looking for a f2p FPSRPG, check out this one:

http://parabellum.xg1.net/

Parabellum is a hell of a lot of fun, currently in Open Beta.

[Pippy]

More correctly - Video games are only bad for you in excess. Then again, so is water.

I said exactly what I meant. Video games are bad for you. They are also very bad for you in excess. They are bad for you, by that I mean the opposite of good for you, and are only worse in overuse. Water is a terrible analogy, we don't need 8 liters of video games per day to survive. A better comparison would have been cigarettes. One is bad for you in a minuscule way. No portion is good for you. Get it?

Fuck off it is, video games require (and develop) reaction times, motor function, problem solving, lateral thinking, cause and effect

Ha! They develop fake reaction to fake stimuli. They improve motor function, of your thumbs. The rest of you is not getting any more fit sitting on the couch all day. May be if you play a lot of Wii, but sitting in a chair all day long is not in any way helpful for your 'motor function'. The problem solving of retarded psudeo-reality, that has little to do with problem solving in real solid reality. I mean the thing itself is bad problem solving. EvF (who I hold in high regard) said he plays video games because 'life is unfair', is he exhibiting healthy problem solving by playing video games? Are these video games teaching him anything more than the blue key opens the blue door? Lateral thinking, while being hypnotized and half asleep...

Video games either do not do these things, or do them in such a slanted, minor way as to be laughable.

It doesn't resemble hypnosis in any way.

It does in every way. Repetition, fight or flight stimuli overload. The flashing light in your TV is the biggest part of the hypnotic state, but since you can't see it flashing with your naked eye, it must not be doing that at all. Your TV flashes between 60 and 80 times a second, and that pushes your brain to adapt to that rhythm, and pushes your brain wave state from alpha to beta. Your brain literally slows down, enters what is usually referred to as forced hypnotization. Your eyes focus, your breathing slows noticeably. You lose the ability to pay attention to the outside world, all you see is the TV screen. Then comes the brain training, as your video game character jumps you mind thinks' jump!'. If something is flying towards you, you cringe.

So you are demonstrably in a semi-sleep state playing games (or watching TV), and you're unable to rationally consider what information and experiences you are uploading through the idiot box.

Video games are (as i pointed out above) an efficient tool for learning.

So is hitting your hand with a hammer. There are much better ways to learn than being hypnotized and crashing cars and killing dudes.

So is fiction, but i bet you read fiction books right?

We have been over this. Fiction itself is not bad, but bad fiction is. Reading a book is not the same as watching TV. Firstly there is no blinking light, and you don't get as mesmerized. Secondly you are not reacting the same way. If you see a moving picture (with sound) of a duck quacking, your mind reacts to duck, it sees duck. But if you read about a duck than your mind has to remember and conjure up said idea of a duck, therby strengthening synaptic connections.

But i bet you don't find it strange if someone reads for comfort right?

Of course not, and I don't find it weird that you play video games. I just think it's unhealthy.

If i am not in control of my thoughts then nobody is.

I strongly disagree. It is not possible for us as complex humans in this modern paradigm to have "no one" in charge of our thoughts. There are two options. You are in charge, or they are in charge. If you outsource your cognition to the boob tube, then I find it hard to believe that you or nobody is in charge.

Even if i was forced to watch pre selected programming and play pre selected games, how does that in any way give someone else access to my thoughts?

Because it controls the thoughts you do and don't have. It creates it's own causal chains. If frames the decisions you make with it's own information.

You truly are one weird, pathetic little man.

Because I don't play video games or watch TV because they are demonstratively unhealthy? And you think no one is controlling your thoughts for you? So you take full responsibility for your own stupidity then?

[Tiberius]

You see, if we had a thumbs down button I know I wouldn't be able to help myself and just vote down every post Pippy makes.

Pippy, you clutch at straws; you attempt to make arguments out of nothing. Problem solving "pseudo-real" problems is the same thing as problem solving "real" problems. They use the same section of the brain, the same skills are developed, etc, etc. We are attracted to solving problems in various forms because we don't get enough of them in everyday life. There aren't that many real-world scenarios I can think of where I'd have to work out how to arrange specific items in an order that uses the least space, but "pseudo-real" problems give us the opportunity to encounter such problems. I daresay this is why games were invented in the first place (other than the entertainment factor).

Games develop our ability to work out things, to strategise, and to think both logically and laterally. The only difference between the games we do on paper and the games we do on consoles is that the consoles stimulate our brains more by giving us more input, and opening up a vast arena of new problems to deal with which simply cannot be done on paper.

You don't watch tv or play computer games, and you think you are the expert on such things? Why do you always seem to talk as if you are a master of something you have no experience in? I've played video games for years, watched tv for longer, and I can't report any such "hypnotism" you speak of. I'm focussed on something more than I possibly would be than other tasks, but only because my brain is being stimulated with so much information.

What I find most ironic about this is that according to your profile, you have spent just over 4 days on these forums, in front of a screen that flickers at either 50 or 60 times a second, being bombarded with information in both graphical and textual format, yet you don't seem to complain about this?

[Rhizomorph13]

Warming up to the idea are you?

[Pippy]

Hey Adrian, thanks for joining in.

They use the same section of the brain, the same skills are developed, etc, etc.

I would have to point out that even if you are right, you are mincing. Let's say you sat in your chair all day learning form your TV, computer and video games. Sure it might lead you to make or keep a few synaptical connections. But does it lead you to make as much as or more than if you were learning in a more active and reality based way?

If what you do in front of the tube is slip into a trance state (which none of you seem to even notice, creepy) and sit still for hours, then there is no way you can compare that to a learning paradigm that included physical motion and cognitive awareness (ergo no trance). So the argument that games help you learn is fallacious, because they break down your ability to learn, to hold and process information while they are 'teaching; you. And that is apparent in the hyperactivity, that is a sign of decreased, or at least changing brain function.

Games develop our ability to work out things, to strategise, and to think both logically and laterally.

What would be a better way to learn to strategise, and thing logically and laterally? Oh, to have a learning system not based on hypnosis. It pains me that no one here comprehends the state of mind they are in when watching TV or playing video games. You really feel as spry as when you are out and about? Play games or watch TV for an hour. Is your breathing rate decreased? Are your eyes heavy, and you blink a lot less often? Are you kind of dreamy, having trouble holding thoughts? Are these all sign that the electrical rhythm in your brain is being pushed closer to the sleep side of the scale? If you don't think you're being hypnotized, than I don't know where else to start.

You don't watch tv or play computer games, and you think you are the expert on such things?

Same as the sex argument. Why do I hate video games and TV? Because I went through it. I watched hours and hours a day of TV. I played days and days of Starcraft. I still catch a little here and there, if only to try to be up and up on the world the others around me live in. My expertise is in the fact the I lived these things, thought them through and realized them for what they are.

I've played video games for years, watched tv for longer, and I can't report any such "hypnotism" you speak of. I'm focussed on something more than I possibly would be than other tasks, but only because my brain is being stimulated with so much information.

I would urge you to look into hypnotism, brain wave function, and the effect of TV and computer screens on the mind. If you don't notice when something is sapping your life energy, you must not be paying enough attention. If it feels like "more focused" to you, and it because your brains is so over-stimulated, then I would suggest you re-think what those statements mean.

This is kindergarten stuff here. TV is bad for you. You don't think so, that's your own problem.

You do bring up a good, but misplaced point about time on the computer. I spend time here, I have other forums, I check the underground news every day. I write Emails to family. I try to limit my time on the box though, because I am able to comprehend what it is doing to my mind. But that it makes me some kind of hypocrite is fallacious to the core. I say 'TV is bad for you, it rots your brain', and you take it all personal and come back with "Yeah, but you use a computer... so... there!" That has absolutely nothing to do with the point I am making. I know the computer rots my brain too.

Thanks.