- by Amanda "Mandifesto" Orneck
- Posted on October 7, 2011 @ 7:59 PST
Gamers are getting a bum rap these days. We choke each other, sue each other, tear each other down for not being hardcore. But I refuse to believe that there isn’t a positive side to games. There’s an entire serious games movement (PS3 owners just look at your Folding@Home section on the XMB to see what I mean) out there, with gamers and scientists coming together to create a better world. I regularly play Free Rice because I know that someone out there will eat more because I played a game.
But do the games we play improve us as players? Many would say no. Saturated with violence, sex and depravity, we entertain ourselves with some of the worst of human behavior. So what do we learn from our games that makes us better people?
Here’s my answer. Let’s hear yours.
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The games we play only improve us in the genre the game is categorized in, for instance the well known Call of Duty series only makes us better in first person shooting games, it doesn't make us better in Need For Speed. As people, I don't think we are better with games. Hop onto MW2 and join a lobby where people have their mics in and are speaking to each other. You won't hear them being nice to each other, little kids will be talking in their high pitched voice and someone older will be cursing at them. This doesn't make us better as people: little kids being introduced to shooting games and bad language.
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Well, children figure out the difference between fantasy and reality in their early stages in their lives. I played Grand Theft auto vice city when I was 13 and that never made me steal a police car and run people over. Games are more of a stress reliever. If I get angry, I pop in dead rising and kill some zombies. I mean, it makes us nerds more social as well. I knew Ken aka Chaobo from high school. Then I added him on xbox live but he was just there on my friends list for a few months. I decided to join him cause I noticed he was playing Modern Warfare 2. We played every day and got to know each other better. Now me and him are good friends. So no, gaming does not make us bad people.
I also believe that the man that strangled the child was just doing it to become famous and have articles all over the place about him. I get angry at call of duty sometimes. But I get over it in a matter of minutes. Another thing is that playing call of duty with MLG games online has taught me that team work, positioning, and call outs in games are everything to win a game. But it also taught me that the strategy of positioning and call outs applies for every game as well as basket ball, football, airsoft etc. So games make you more social and make you smarter in a way. People are just over exaggerating that video games have a negative outcome.
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I think that all depends on the person playing the game. It's not a game that will turn one evil, it's ones actions.
I'd like to see statistics on choices made in games that have some form of moral compass in them. Perhaps the bioware games would be a good chart to look at. I'm just curious.
As a gamer I find it hard to choose the so called "evil" path in games that clearly give me a choice. If I see a group of merchants being gunned down in Fallout 3, I instantly sprint to their rescue without much of a thought to my own safety. In these games I always want to help and save people, even when offered choices to exploit or kill them.
On the other side of the coin if I play a game like GTA, I care nothing for the story and only want to run around in my vehicle and blow stuff up till I get a 5 star rating. Why? I just want to see how long I will survive.
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I dunno, gaming hasn't really changed my personality other than my personal tastes. But you can learn a lot about who people are because it shows in their gaming... how they talk, act, play, it's not hidden in gaming.
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I personally feel that games have no bearing on whether or not someone is a good/bad person. Many believe that games have a negative effect on the ones playing it and can inspire violence. I think that is completely untrue and that the opposite isn't either. If it can't effect us for the negative I don't see how it can for the positive.
I think that games can help others learn teamwork but that is the most it can do for you as far as positive effects. I believe it could be a valuable team building exercise for those in the workplace, on sports teams, etc...
As far as negative aspects go, I think they are pretty minor. If someone more impressionable is playing games with large amounts of cussing it can affect that person's vocabulary in a not so positive way. Other than that, I think they have little to no bad effects on those who choose to play them.
Certain games can inspire positive values in those who play them while others can do just the opposite, it's a pretty mixed bag. But all in all I think they have very little effect on whether or not we are good/bad people.
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Pomopwner, I just read your post and it doesn't make much sense to me. First you say " I personally feel that games have no bearing on whether or not someone is a good/bad person." Then you go onto say what you think the good and bad are. Am I just reading your comment wrong?
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Sorry for being confusing. My point was that games have such a minute effect that it doesn't even really have that big of an impact. Their are small things, such as what I wrote previously, but not enough to affect the person as a whole
