Gaming as a force for good!

[Xaffax]

Ok just read the egosoft recomended article gaming as a force for good.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFrien ... 51,00.html

Just as I'm making a neat name for myself a a totaly psycho pirate I'm told that I'm playing a game that coeld somehow make me decent.

Even more scary it's listed along the sims, wich should have sort of similar effect. Just when I beat my sister up because she came at me with a knive for uninstalling the bloody thing and erasing every trace of it from my harddrive. X2 could make me become like her?
Suddenly I'm verry worried about playing X2.

Somehow my spacefuel runs, my love for unpaid for ships and cargo.Maybe an assasination or two might make me responsible.

Hmmm I thought I wa on the right track by starting my Boron genocide. But now I don't know? It might make me law abiding and that would leave me without income from dealing drugs

All I know is that you can't be too carfull as a kid these days. Maybe some other games are safer than X2.

Which one would safe my fragile psychopathic little mind best?

This might really dent the sales of the upcomming X2 expansion

[Rathgar]

I'll think on this the next time I sell a ship load of tourists into slavery....

[Logaan]

I think X2 is brilliant, many a time recently i have been remarked for my business like planning, however all Ive really been planning on is cornering the market with something like Crystals

[holo_doctor]

mmm now I have even more reason to playe even later into the night thanks

[Dunners]

Just trade peacefully and if you feel the urge, just strap a dead Boron to the front of your ship!

Jack Dunners

[Maximum476]

That article hardly surprises me to be honest. I've known for ages that playing games like X2 has positive effects on your mental abilities, the people that condemn games as mind numbing and a waste of time need to open their minds a little and maybe actually try it themselves before passing judgement.

[4d]

That article hardly surprises me to be honest. I've known for ages that playing games like X2 has positive effects on your mental abilities, the people that condemn games as mind numbing and a waste of time need to open their minds a little and maybe actually try it themselves before passing judgement.

I absolutely agree 100%, I am the most politicaly aware, buisiness planning student in the entire of the year, and I must say that computer games are more than half to thank for this. I must say my history knoledge is 99% thanks to Age Of Empires and my english skills come partly from all the books that I read, but also games like X2 that totaly encourage writing with their massive story potential. My buisiness like manner is thanks to Roller Coaster Tycoon, etc and my purely sarcastic manner thanks to the characters in games. People that claim PC's are mind numbing, etc are wholely incorrect, have no experience whatsoever with games or the computer in general. I find it laughable when people (well, one person in general) tells me that I am 'bugering my life away'. Let me tell you something I never told anyone: my ICT teacher said I could take my ICT A level last year --- I was 12. I laugh at you pathetic 'pc's are a waste of time' comments.

[Z0diac]

Let's face it: EVERYONE who plays games knows that you automatically learn from em.

Like in Doom III - Never, EVER try to take on a Hell Knight with just a shotgun.

I did notice some annoying, typical "newspaper trying to talk about games" errors though. Building a city in Civ? Hmm, thought it was about building a whole civilization, but perhaps I am wrong.

Raise the taxes in the Sims? And here I was, trying to make money by working...

But its nice to see not ANOTHER article which rambles on and on about how Doom 1, with its ULTRA REALISTIC graphics caused a shootout on some hillbilly redneck school in America, or made some granny faint.

[frymaster]

I think the newspaper got their inaccuracies from that uni bid they quoted, that was the impression I got anyway.

and, 4d, I'm afraid that says more about computing education at school than it does about you

and my purely sarcastic manner thanks to the characters in games

actually made me choke on my water, that did

[MAD_COMMANDER]

Gaming isn't a Force for good. i sick playing X2 till 5am in the morining and gettign 5 hours sleep before work. it kinda makes me a little tyred and stressed out but hey addictions are good! no?

[Maximum476]

Well thats your fault

Of course if you do too much of one thing it can be bad for you, no matter whether its work, partying, or playing computer games. But eventually it normally balances out.

[Rathgar]

Actually, my earlier sarcastic comment aside, I do think gaming is healthy. I've worked in the mental health profession for a long time. The gamers amongst us (my wife included) rate the lowest on stress scales, have stayed in the field the longest (we see a lot of burn-out in my line of work), and generally seem the happiest. Don't have any published articles to prove it, but it seems to be what we find anytime someone decides to do some in-house stress eval.

I've always believed gaming is good for the mind and spirit (if not the waistline). Helps you get your stresses out in a way that is healthy rather than going out and taking it out on your fellow human beings.

My grandfather had a saying... "Everything in moderation, including moderation." A little harmless goofing off is good for you. The occassional all night binge gaming session probably is too (unless you are doing it every night and ignoring your health, family, friends, job, pets, etc.).

[Tsar_of_Cows]

OFcourse gameing is good, its better for you than films and TV Because you learn all sorts of things, it improves your concentration, hand I coordination and you use both sides of your brain at once

What i can't stand is how peopel dismiss games totally like they are some underground thing... the Gameing industry is getting as big as the film industry, and soon peopel are going to have to stop dismissing it and see it as a valid form of entertainment.

[Knucles2]

... A little harmless goofing off is good for you. The occassional all night binge gaming session probably is too (unless you are doing it every night and ignoring your health, family, friends, job, pets, etc.).

When I first started this game I was right at the top of this catagory...
But now that the "newness" has worn off a bit ( 4 months later) I get a little more sleep, my wife is talking to me again and I now remember my kids names ( though the 3rd one still suprised me).

To avoid these problems when TR comes out, Ive made some plans.
First, so that I don't forget that the 2 big teens -that have been bugging me to buy them a computer of their own - and the cute little moppet have a reason to be calling me "Dad", I've made some ID badges with their names and DoB's on them. Signed by me so that I can't say they're fake (this is the first real use I've found for MS Works!).

Next, I bought a little voice activated recorder set to respond to my wife with the standard answers, " mmmm hmmm", "yes dear, I heard you" and " sorry about the headache, dear, the Tylonol is in the cabinet..."

And, finally, when TR comes out, I've saved 4 sick days and my floating holiday for the first week of "binging" that I know I have no power to resist, so when the fever passes, I should still be gainfully employed...

Hmmm, looking at how long this post has become, I think I just might have written another "Newbie Must Read" for those who have nontech, family oriented dificulties playing this game. If the mods feel it's "Sticky Worthy", they are free to move it to the appropriate thread...

[(/\)arped]

Games:

Pros: It can increase your general knowledge of certain subjects, like history (Age of empires, Civ III) english (Just about any game with text in... which is just about all of them) and one I want to mention in particular-maths. Why? 'Cos X2 is in a way very mathematical. On a regular basis I find myself tring ot work something out, like how much will that M2 cost me?
Gaming is also a great form of escapism and stress relief. I know someone, who when stressed, will happily go to the nearest arcade to shoot some zombies.
I have been gaming since a very young age (2 I think, maybe three.) and I seem fine. (Just realised... thirteen years of games... whoa...) Except for one thing.....

cons: ..... My eyesight is bad. I am shortsighted. This is possibly caused by laying games too much, or it could just be natural.
However, my main point now is this: When you here about "Doom 3 caused such and such a person to go on a killing spree" this is probably because the person is mentally unstable anyway. This mad outbreak could have been caused just as easily by a violent film.

So, I suppose that games are good if you are a relatively sensible person who will play them when they have the time. (i have stats coursework to do, but I'm breaking it up with internet and X2, so it doesn't get annoying and boring.)

Whoa... long post....

[lukethegordie]

I agree that computer games like x2 and civ give you valuble skills that will help you deal with every day life. For example x2 gives you a basic idea of how a stock market works, and how buying and selling at the right time can make you profit.

On the other hand most fps will only benfit hand and eye cordanation and basic english skills. But any critic of computer games wouldnt know the diffence between sim and shootemup.

Who knows in another 10 years a video game class might be a compulsory lession in schools.

[Maximum476]

I can think of another con that affects me. If I don't play for a while I get no release and start to get tetchy. I usually play one of two games, X2 or sof2 (soldier of fortune 2, online that is), X2 is good for escapism and creativity, and sof2 is good for hand eye coordination and responsiveness/mental focus.

Actually recently I finished my final year of uni, where I had no adsl and as you would expect was quite stressed most of the time. Anyway one of my flat m8s went out and everyone else hung around for a while then went for some quiet time in their rooms. Anyway I decided to have a game of UT2004 for an hour or two for a change. My m8 who went out came back later stoned in a very happy mood. Thing is I was in virtually the same mood as he was after playing UT, gaming can be very theraputic indeed.

[Urashima Keitaro]

Which idiot said that gaming was bad for you this time? I'm dyspraxic, and games like X2 help with hand-eye co-ordination and give you a decent business-sense. Plus games like Homeworld help you become a tactical master...

You learn a lot from games, and in my opinion those people who are sick enough to kill someone, let's say, after playing Doom3 deserve to be put in a mental home, because they are FAR sicker and unstable in the head then I. And I mean FAR...

[pjknibbs]

If you read the thread, you'll notice that somebody is actually saying gaming is GOOD for you...

[4d]

I think the newspaper got their inaccuracies from that uni bid they quoted, that was the impression I got anyway.

and, 4d, I'm afraid that says more about computing education at school than it does about you

and my purely sarcastic manner thanks to the characters in games

actually made me choke on my water, that did

I wasn't inteding to make it seem like the article was about me, I just had to vent the anger thaks to that same person going on at me for using the computer all the time. Actually, to correct that person I would like to inform that person the I have no time on Mondays and Thursdays becasue I go to the Air Training Corps. And I am glad I borought a little happiness to your day .