Is gaming bad for your mental health?

[ALuckyChance]

Reading text in a game doesn't compare to reading a book. A book you actually have to visualize in your mind and understand the ideas, a game has it all spelled out for you.

Please, play some Planescape Torment.
Now.
And you're being annoying. I think I'm going to call you an ass for that

Wow you can name one arbitrary game that involved reading.
That sure proved me wrong, because all the kids are playing planescape torment. This is just sad, people really think games make you smarter?
Whats next, chocolate is really good for you? oh wait they already try selling that load to us.

Eh, just calm down already. I simply said that one of your points was wrong. I could even agree with you, if you weren't such a ***** an insufferable genius.

Calm down? You seem to be the only one getting angry. Of course I have no way of telling how angry you are based on text on a screen, but usually somebody saying "calm down" when nothing insulting was said is a pretty good indicator.
My point was, that one game is not a good indicator for the rest of gaming. My point still stands that imagination in gaming has been dead for a while.

The thing is, you switched your argument immediately after hearing of Planescape Torment, and then acted condescending; most people don't like that.

By the way, what exactly do you mean by 'imagination?' Do you just mean it in general, or in terms of story, or gameplay, or graphics, or what?

EDIT:

And seriously, can somebody explain to me how video games "teach us valuable lessons in life"?

They build reflexes, they can encourage thinking (at least tactically; ever hear of the Total War games?), they can teach history (WWII games, any game set in ancient-medieval history) and they usually make you realize that the world isn't a place filled with sunshine and rainbows.

Of course, this is all "can's" and "maybe's", but the only games that don't include the above are the ones meant for children.

 

[jhaughton]

games can give you "food for thought" take games like bioshock (1 not 2)
games can also have piss nothing to say andjust be their to play
no matter which one it is i dont see how games could be bad for your mental health
if a game is realy that bad you would not of bought it in the first place
if you did you would just stop playing it

Not really true with....anything that's addictive. That's like saying if unprotected sex was dangerous, we wouldn't do it.
Some things can feel good while creating an unhealthy addiction at the same time. That's usually how that stuff works.

while it is true that things like this are adictive if someone was truly woried about their mental helth they should find something that is compelling and make them think. and if you are aware of it deminishing you mental health and still play it will damiage your mental health and you would of deserved it
going back to what you said "if unprotected sex was dangerous, we wouldn't do it"
while this is not true if you do partake in unprotected sex knowing what would happen you will get an std and would of deserved it

 

[ALuckyChance]

I never claimed to have scientific evidence, just common sense. If you spend your whole life preoccupied with books, movies, or games, it can fuck with your head. It's not natural, pure and simple.

Common sense =/= fact.

Of course being preoccupied with something for a long while is natural. If it wasn't, then every writer/filmaker/video game designer would be raging psychotics.

If you want to base your beliefs purely on what is "scientifically proven" then your going to be left back on a lot of things. It takes time for things to be proven with science, just look at how long it took them to recognize lucid dreaming as an actual thing.
You can say my opinion has no merit because I don't have a study that is completely unbiased that supports my view, but really you couldn't either. Your opinion has no more merit than anyone elses.

Science has already determined that video games do not cause psychological issues. See, my opinion has merit because people who actually study how the brain works agree with me.

If you say that anybody who very much enjoys a form of entertainment is mentally unsound, then I expect evidence other than 'common sense.'

And he made his views very clear, he immediately assumes somebody is trying to attack his precious hobby again. Not trying to "insult" anybody but I find that annoying as hell.

No, he simply stated that he wasn't insane from playing video games. All you did was read between the lines that didn't happen to exist.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Gaming wasn't the cause, it was your attitude towards the games. This may sound callous but it seems your problems were caused just by both other people around you and your disregard for "social standards". This then led you to game more as an escape. But don't think for a second that this was caused by gaming.

 

[Unstoppable Wall]

I don't think a gaming is bad for your mental health, in excessive amounts it can be, but that's the story with a lot of things. Personally I play some games as a form of therapy, popping someones head off from across the map with a sniper round can be quite stress alleviating in my opinion. I agree with Woodsey on page 1, if you can balance things, games aren't an issue, I've been through the whole, socially inept thing, through much of elementary school I had around 3 friends, I haven't changed, I've simply learned to balance my time much more efficiently and be around people more, now I'm on good terms with much of the student body at my high school.
Off-Topic: Haven't posted here in forever, god it feels good to be back.

Vidi, Volui, Mihi est
-Unstoppable Wall

 

[ALuckyChance]

When you read something, nobody is showing you what's happening. Your given a basic outline of what's going on and you have to create the scene or universe with your mind. This makes the experience yours and yours alone, and it could also help develop your imagination over time but that's just my theory on the subject.
This is a quality that games use to have back when you had to imagine what the weird pixilated shape was and what it was shooting at and why they were fighting. Now everything is there for you, and something about it feels so bland after a while. Sometimes I'm able to create my own experience with sandbox games where I can make my own goals and have my own story playing in the back of my mind but usually it's just "follow the arrow, kill everything, move on. Mini game, mini game, hold the hill, kill stuff, protect that thing, move on".
Not saying it should return to atari style graphics, just that when imagination is taking out of the equation maybe something beneficial should be used in it's place. The only thing I could thing of would be a game that molds the story and world based on every action (and no not like fable, more like deus ex on crack) but that's probably not going to be seen in this lifetime.

I agree, actually. However, books most certainly do not give you a 'basic outline of what's going on.' In fact, the beauty of books lie in the detail they present to you, to make your imagined experiences more detailed in of itself.

Really, games are in a different medium from books. Books rely more on thought for entertainment; games rely more on visual perception for fun. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.

They can help to build reflexes, but doing actual productive work could do that and so much more.
They can teach history, but honesty I don't see much of a point to that when so much of our history is contradictory and "heresay" but I guess that's my opinion.
A few games (total war would probably be one of them) can help develop tactical skills, but how does that translate into a real world skill?
And believe me, you don't need video games to teach you that life sucks. Life does an even better job of doing that. If anything, modern day games are avoiding that lesson my making everything easy and "fair" so nobody gets hurt feelings. God forbid kids see a game over screen anymore, and of course hard mode isn't that much of an improvement when you still have enough checkpoints to make the entire game nothing but trial and error. If anything, that probably makes the player even worse at video games since they no longer have to think or strategize.

Thinking tactical means you can think ahead, and sometimes make plans on the fly. Obviously, that's a good thing, and is why chess exists.

I personally don't believe games are meant for teach us much to begin with. Rather, their sole purpose is for entertainment. It was the reason games were first made, and is the reason games are being made today.

 

[ALuckyChance]

I never claimed that my opinion was fact, although you seem to be doing that with your opinion.

You said that "it's not natural, pure and simple." I think that qualifies as you stating your opinion was fact.

Yes they have done studies that say there is no effect, they have done studies that say there is a negative effect, it doesn't matter because I haven't seen one study that has observed long term obsession. I really don't care if you think your opinion has merit because people agree with you, the fact is that nobody can know for sure meaning anybody's opinion on the subject has merit.

Fair enough.

And no it isn't natural. Sitting down and staring at a box that emits bright light for most of your nonworking life is not natural at all. If you think it is, you seem to have a very twisted view of what nature is.

You forget that 'nature' is the thing that creates obsessions and disorders in the first place. In fact, such things ARE natural, as they represent a common deviation from normal human behaviour. If such a thing wasn't natural, then it wouldn't exist.

Even then, an obsession/addiction isn't necessarily bad, either. Love, for example, is addictive, and it also gives a person enjoyment (though of course at a completely different level and form).

I never said people who "enjoy" entertainment are insane, I'm just saying that obsessing over entertainment can push you there.

'Can.'

Read between the lines? What the hell are you talking about? the guy admitted that he didn't read it anyways, he just assumed somebody was attacking his hobby. He entered the thread with hostility so he brought it on himself.

I'd rather not argue with you on someone else's opinion, so fine.

 

[Tanis]

I really wish someone would start posting sources...

 

[ALuckyChance]

They may go into detail but the world itself is always up to the reader to create. The descriptions are meant to get it started, making the world more vivid and adding important elements that will usually pop up later in the story. It's like a guided lucid dream or something, your being pushed in one direction but the world itself is being made by your mind and how you interpret things.

I agree.

I understand that they were not meant to do anything but entertain. Still they use to do so much more, now every game seems like an interactive Michal bay movie, even the ones with "good" stories are pretty mediocre compared to other mediums. Usually nothing very stimulating, just the basic good vs evil type thing. When a game tries to go deeper with things like morality, it usually ends up making the evil side a charecture of supervilliany.
Movies are not much better but at least there are occasionally a few movies that can change the way you look at the world. Twelve monkeys, total recall, fear and loathing in las vegas, the running man (don't judge me) I mean those are just ones that affected me personally but I'm sure everyone has their own, and I don't see games achieving that level. I haven't seen a game in a while that really made me rethink the world around me.A few games have done this for me but nothing recently, I think that's pretty sad.

Just because you don't see games ever having a good or emotional story doesn't mean they don't exist. Again, take Planescape Torment, or anything by BioWare, or the Baldur's Gate franchise.

Even then, games aren't like books in that they rely purely on telling a story. Think of it a bit like a very emotional music video: The lyrics are the story, and the things you see merely add emphasis to it. They might shove conclusions into your face, but you would have most likely come to the same conclusions anyway.

EDIT: I'm not saying every video game needs to be a transcendent masterpiece, I just think it could be so much more than it is right now.
And I just realized I forgot about one game, alan wake. Gameplay wasn't revolutionary but the way the story comes together and the way it works on these different realities, i would put it right up there with twelve monkeys or dues ex. One of those pieces of art that made me rethink my reality.

Well see, there you go. I'm glad Alan Wake changed your mind, at least somewhat.

EDIT:

I really wish someone would start posting sources...

You mean me or him? Or both of us?

 

[RandomWords]

The voices in my head say no.