Study in my country: boys+games=zero will to read books

[F-I-D-O]

I recently finished reading the LOTR series, Tale of Tom Bombadil (title of a collection of short stories), Fahrenheit 451, all the Dune books (originals and new), a 100 story collection of Bradbury's writings, Martian Chronicles, the Halo books, Republic Commando books, a plethora of movie adaptations, Animal Farm, 1984, the Odyssey, Mogworld, and a collection of Lovecraft's short stories. In the last three months.
And I play games. Part of it is DUE to the fact I play games. I never would have discovered Delta Squad and the gray area of star wars had it not been for Republic Commando. Nor would I have picked up Ghosts of Onyx if not for halo.
I see a connection (albeit small) here. And it's not what they want.
Plus, this is a slow time for me. Not a lot of books have come out that I want. So, naturally, I turn to well done stories in video games. How many novels was Dragon's Age said to have? How about KOTOR or even the Fallout games? And people who play games aren't reading?

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

well im from america so i can't really be too harsh on this but i read all the time as a kid, i loved reading all kinds of books and when i started to get into video games more i might have read a bit less due to lack of time, but i still loved books, hell if anything, stupid fucking english class with the most boring and dry books on the planet are what deterred me from reading as much as these days, i fucking hate that class with a damn passion and the amount of facepalm involved in it is starting to make my hand grow onto my face. From time to time i do pick up some good books every once in a while, and when i find a good one you will find my face smashed into it at every waking moment i can till i finish it.

and no offense, but those boys they are asking could just be all a ton of athletes or have other hobbies as such (not saying athletes or anyone else are stupid or anything, just saying reading can really fall to the bottom of the list of things to do when you have lots of other hobbies on your plate).

 

[Nieroshai]

I can only speak for my fiancee and myself, but we're avid gamers AND bookworms. I at least don't THINK we're unusual cases...

 

[lokun489]

I just haven't found a good reading book in a while personally, though the last book i read was a few months ago , just in a slump.

 

[deathbydeath]

I play games.... and read.

Must be special.

Or their research is faulty... I'm gonna go with the special story though.

same here. wait, this means none of us are special!!!!!

 

[WaderiAAA]

I like to read, but it often seems like my gaming life (on top of school and training) leaves no time for books.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Books are great, and I am a gamer too. But, the problem being is that a lot of the good books are a bit expensive. (a lot of them average $15-$30 here). Although I will admit some of the books for my English class (Siddhartha being one) were relatively cheap, and very good.

 

[ohellynot]

Hmm. I think it has less to do with video games and more to do with other factors. For example:

1. More forms of entertainment. Sure, video games fall under this, but there are generally more movies and TV shows now, along with the internet.

2. Parents pushing their children to read less. When I was a child I was encouraged to read a lot by my parents, and I feel that all children should be taught and encouraged this way.

3. Literary 'classics' not being updated. Sure, things like Pride & Prejudice will always be classics, but I feel that schools should make more effort to fit modern books into the curriculums too. Much of Jane Austen's work doesn't really apply to society any more and, as a result, it's harder for people to engage with the story or characters.

Quoted for truth. Particularly 2&3.

I was always encouraged to read too and was read to at a young age and then encouraged to read on my own. Personally, I think a mixture is good. Shakespeare should be here to stay. Period. But we need a mixture of books. Currently for an English class I'm studying Dancing at Lughnasa (An Irish play written by Brian Friel about a century or more ago), Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (the book, not the film) and Billy Elliot (A 2006 British film). For another English class I'm studying Shakespeare's Hamlet and loving it.

Like wise, for my GCSE in english we read and worked on a book called heroes (no relation to the tv program/comic) about a 20 something war veteran who had his face blown off. We were ging to do to kill a mocking bird but the teacher just prefered this book.
right now im reading the horror classics, finnished Dr.Jeckyll and Mr.Hyde(and the merry men and other stories) and once my exams finnish i'll start rfankinstein and dracula.

 

[Lucifus]

The problem I see is how expensive books are relative to their popularity...

I love books, but I'm reluctant to spend £12 on one, when something brilliant like Mogworld was released for £5.

Bingo. £18 for something that will be finished within a couple of days. Can go into Steam or a games store and pick up some discount games for the same price and will keep you occupied for days/weeks. I love reading but its costly in comparison to my other enjoyments.

 

[Anonemuss0]

As an american I would recommend that more people get out and read but personally I read like a madman and love video games. If there is a load screen? Read a few pages. Bored with games? Read a book.

 

[Bloodstain]

I play video games and I read a lot. Like, a lot.

 

[Ham_authority95]

If the extremely literate majority of this site means anything, that study is a bit crap.

 

[Yopaz]

Well, having been through the Norwegian school system I know what kind of books they want us to read. I've read nothing interesting that hasn't been my choice in school since 4th grade. They're just trying to find excuses for the declining quality and since it's convenient to blame video games, just like they do with violence, they do it. Norway's school quality has been going downhill ever since 1994 when AP (political party that ruled at the time for none-Norwegians) decided that anyone could run the school politics. We went from being the best country in the world in most subjects, we tied with Sweden in math if I remember it correctly. Then when they stopped letting teachers decide how the schools were run and rather let those who knew nothing about teaching take control it all went downhill.
As a future teacher in chemistry and biology I feel a responsibility to take back what has been lost in those subjects at least.

Well, I'm American, but I enjoy reading. I'm currently reading "The Phoenix Unchained" by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. Granted, I don't read often for the heck of it, but I do read before work and during breaks.

Great book, btw. I'm hoping I get part 2 for X-mas.

I love fantasy novels. Take me into different worlds and love them, all the while giving me ideas for D&D, helping my role-playing, and just telling a good story.

You should check out The Wheel of Time if you haven't. Great series.

I don't know about Norway but in America the reading lists for schools are mostly a bunch of girly crap, so it makes sense that boys aren't interested in reading.

In Norway we usually get to read a bunch of crappy old classics. There's no humour in them, no excitement. Once we had to read a book be a great authour, he's funny and writes the way kids of both genders like those books. We had to read what is probably the only boring book he's ever written.

Games are probably a factor though. I wonder what would happen if every parent let their kids play one hour of video game after one hour of reading though... Could help if they follow it through...

 

[Snotnarok]

I enjoy reading webpages, games, and comics/graphic novels, not so much books. Call me ignorant but I enjoy pictures as an artist, I get with books you get to paint your own pictures and what not but I do enough art. I want to see another persons vision.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Well this sounds completely ridiculous.. I have one of the highest gamerscores on my friends list but still read 6+ books a month.

The problem I see is how expensive books are relative to their popularity...

I love books, but I'm reluctant to spend £12 on one, when something brilliant like Mogworld was released for £5.

Studies such as this do not say "People who play games never read" but rather it simply asserts that "People who play games tend to have less interest in reading than those who do not". That you still read does not undermine this conclusion.

And, from my perspective, I'd say it holds true. I'm one of the only people I know who plays video games and still reads regularly for fun. Hell, I'm the only male I know that considers the act of reading a book to have inherent value.

 

[master m99]

hold on im a gamer and i read all the time, my friends who do not game never read and those who do read are also gamers, ya... this study reeks of bias and bullshit (ya i know that last statment was hypocritical =P)

 

[jamesworkshop]

Now, the results for the PISA tests have been published (that is the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment: http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/0,2987,en_32252351_32235731_1_1_1_1_1,00.html ), and my country (Norway) ranked as number 12. After the release of the results, a study was conducted, and it seems that the experts say that there is a big difference in the will to read and appreciation of literary works between boys and girls, and thus they recommend giving boys books for Christmas, and not games, as they feel this is what is keeping boys from reading, and so their reading skills are low.

*considers* I feel that people are a bit quick on the trigger to blame games for this, as always. Wouldn't it be better to embrace and appreciate the masses amount of text that every person who plays games have to read to progress in the story? Also, what do you think about this? Is it the same in your country?

Honestly I don't see the problem when we are primarly an oral culture, most videogames would be incomprehensable to anyone without some knowledge of maths and reading, Pokemon or Mass effect.

Books hold no inherent value they are simply the physical medium the written word was established, now we have text messages and forum and e-books on e-readers or ipad devices.

Nobody growing up in the modern age could ever be illterate hell the internet holds far more value than the limitations of an entire library of books could ever hope to contain

People think text speach display an inability to understand launguage and yet the grasp of launguage is so strong that the building blocks called letters can be left out as gap, in effect the replacement of number for letters shows the individual having such a grasp of language that they can play with it and mold it which is how language developed in the first place.

Print media is being abbaddoned because it hold no value, it's starting with newspapers and will eventually happen to books.

 

[Loop Stricken]

I don't remember a time I've never had a games machine to hand, and yet BOOKS! HOUSE FULL OF BOOKS!