Would we be better people WITHOUT video games?

[Raining_again]

I feel a lot of people with... lets say, less sane temperaments would be more of a risk if they didn't let out their frustration on video games. Or a lot of walls would have holes in them.

 

And all the "maybe we wouldn't be obese without video games" crap people spout... PFT, people are fat 'cause they are lazy, or eat too much.

[Hellfire]

 

...Stop for a minute and lets all do the bump... ^^

 

(Do you have that 'Holy **** Video games!' jpeg?)

 

Unfrortunately, I have no idea where I have it :/

[Guest Stefkov]

Without video games we wouldn't have shitty movie tie ins. So in a sense yes, some people would be better people for not making movies from video games. is probably

[The fish]

I would undoubtedly have better GCSE results, and probably better AS's too.

 

However, us lot would never have known each other without video games as a common interest!

[Coolness Bears]

I don't think i'd be a better person!

 

I don't let them get in the way of my work! but i can equally waste hours playing on them time well spent? I wouldsay yes!

 

I'd only have found something else to do!

[rokhed00]

Video games saved my life.

[DomJcg]

Honestly no, because, i don't think i'd get on with half the people i know if i didn't play a game with them, not only that, but i can control my game urges, i mean, 30 mins of GH3 or NMH and i'm happy for a week

 

So no

[Gizmo]

When I'm playing live against random people I wonder if videogames wouldn't be better without people.

 

Hahaha, touché my friend.

 

True. Pokemon did help me with thee ole 'electricity travels through water' trick. And now I know not to pit Flame Tanks against Sonic Emitters...<.<...

 

Command and Conquer made me pass a spelling test once. No joke.

 

How the hell else would I know how to spell Conquer?

[Daft]

Video games compliment my life. I don't go out my way to play them (Except recently, I borrowed my bro's PS2 to play MGS2 for the first time.). If I have time, I will.

 

And, BioShock is only overrated if you don't fully understand it.

[McMad]

And, BioShock is only overrated if you don't fully understand it.

 

No I was just bored silly by repetitive, monotonous gameplay which gathered all it's 'innovative' ideas from the superior System Shock 2.

[Daft]

No I was just bored silly by repetitive, monotonous gameplay which gathered all it's 'innovative' ideas from the superior System Shock 2.

 

I never played SS2, I don't really play PC games, so that might be a factor.

 

I only bought BioShock a month or two ago after reading this: http://kotaku.com/354717/no-gods-or-kings-objectivism-in-bioshock

 

In that context I found the game absolutely riveting.

 

I don't really see how the gameplay is that repetitive.

As for innovation, I agree, it's minimal but that doesn't stop what it does from being done really well.

 

Each to their own though.

[Emasher]

Probably not, before I started playing games I was in a very similar social situation as I am now, Its just got more complicated as I've gotten older. Gaming helps me more than its hurst though because Its helped me get though hard times in my life. I doubt I would get better grades if I didn't play games either because my only courses that I don't have 90s in are PE and a mandatory public speaking class taught by a pedophile (and I'm not just saying that because I don't like him).

 

The other thing is you learn so much from gaming, Playing strategy games can help you get better at math, playing RPGs and shooters that are more accurate to real world events can help you learn about history. Playing simulation games can help you learn to manage your finances better.

 

And the comment about people would be less obese, I don't do all that much physically and I'm extremely thin. It has way more to do with how much you eat and how fatty the food that you eat is than how much exercise you get.

[McMad]

I don't really see how the gameplay is that repetitive.

 

Having to constantly hack vending machines and turrets lost its novelty quickly and became a chore, and there was no feasable way of forgoing it if you didn't want to waste your money and I rarely found auto-hacks but when I did I saved them for desperate situations.

 

I found the resource management aspect of the game to be a drag. Ensuring you had enough health, eve and bullets to survive constantly disrupted the flow of play which annoyed me.

 

The gunplay was nothing novel and bullets being so scarce in the game forced you to either:

1. Make your own through the DIY machines, which in-turn you would have to hack to save money. That was not fun.

2. Use plasmids instead. They were not that much fun to use either.

Then when I eventually used up all my eve I was pretty much fucked.

 

In the end my hatred of Bioshock boiled down to the core element of the game design which was to collect things - over and over; something I loathe in videogames. (fuck you Pokemon)

 

In all fairness I didn't really immerse myself in Bioshock's narrative so nothing was driving me to progress through the game. The only reason I played as much as I did because I had some false hope that I would eventually find the amazing game that everyone had been raving about.

[Daft]

Having to constantly hack vending machines and turrets lost its novelty quickly and became a chore, and there was no feasable way of forgoing it if you didn't want to waste your money and I rarely found auto-hacks but when I did I saved them for desperate situations.

 

I found the resource management aspect of the game to be a drag. Ensuring you had enough health, eve and bullets to survive constantly disrupted the flow of play which annoyed me.

 

The gunplay was nothing novel and bullets being so scarce in the game forced you to either:

1. Make your own through the DIY machines, which in-turn you would have to hack to save money. That was not fun.

2. Use plasmids instead. They were not that much fun to use either.

Then when I eventually used up all my eve I was pretty much fucked.

 

In the end my hatred of Bioshock boiled down to the core element of the game design which was to collect things - over and over; something I loathe in videogames. (fuck you Pokemon)

 

Like quite a few games, I played this on easy. For the sole reason that I didn't really care about the action element to the game (I thought the plasmids were pretty weak). I just wanted to immerse myself in it . Putting the difficulty down just allowed me to meander at my own pace not worrying about health or ammo and I didn't really notice any of those things. People might laugh but I love playing games on easy (unless difficulty makes a real difference to the experience).

 

In all fairness I didn't really immerse myself in Bioshock's narrative so nothing was driving me to progress through the game. The only reason I played as much as I did because I had some false hope that I would eventually find the amazing game that everyone had been raving about.

 

Haha!! I see we approched this game from completely different directions! I bought it partly becuse it was so cheep at the time (£20) and ever since first hearing about it from half way through last year I just thought it looked really dull. I just couldn't see what the fuss was about. I though the demo was kind of cool but it didn't sell me the game, in fact it confirmed my thoughts that it was another linear shooter with nothing else to it. When I finally did buy it I had expectations but I didn't have all the background chat of "greatness" which puts me off most things. I am very happy that I didn't get sucked into the hype and that when I played it everyone else had moved on to the next big game.

[Rummy]

I've not read this thread, but without video games? No.

Without the internet? I honestly sometimes think we would.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

I've not read this thread, but without video games? No.

Without the internet? I honestly sometimes think we would.

 

...The internets made me look at things I wouldn't have done otherwise :/.

[Indigo]

I often think similar things, but about our technological mediums as a group - ie. videogames, television, internet etc.

 

I think without these things we'd actually be a much more contented or at least a more intellectually/politically aware society. I lament the fact we don't read as we should, due not only to our apathy but our lack of attention span - something I find as irritating about myself just as much as society generally.

 

We can't kid ourselves that videogames are as intellectually stimulating as a say a good novel or whatever. Videogames have barely progressed as anything close to an art-form.

[Monopolyman]

Not sure about society in general, but considering I hardly play games anymore, I wouldn't.

[Sheikah]

It depends...for some people, gaming is regular and rather obsessive (think MMORPGs). For those people, video games are definitely not good for them. For many though, people can enjoy games while managing other things. And often, games are played with real friends in sort of 'social environments'.

[Guest bluey]

i dont know about anyone else, but without *playing* video games i doubt my life would be THAT much different... to be honest i dont play that much... if i wasnt playing on my ds i'd just be reading a book or watching a movie or something... playing a game is something i do in my spare time, rather than something i set aside time to do... (thats why i have so much trouble COMPLETING games like zelda ~ i guess i just dont feel the same drive as other people do ^__^

 

but without the video games..uhm... culture(?) my life would be completely different !! nearly all of the friends i know now are people i've met from working at places like gamestation and game, or i've made friends with them 'cause we have gaming in common...

 

who knows how different my life would be....

[emikael]

King V, I think there are too many games that can really be bad for you because of their violence and all the other things that´s not good for us. If you think of it how many bad things there really are that happens only in games that doesn´t happen in our real world and still many of us thinks that world should be a peaceful and safe place to live. The world can´t never be a better place if even our minds are stuck in terrific things that you can do in some games. It´s like games entitles us to do horrible things but that´s not at all the way I think it should be.

 

And I´m not only talking about the bad stuff that are in the games but also some of us may really seek the feeling of succeeding or being something that we would like to be like heroes or something like that. But I think you can only be satisfied when you find something that´s real and never goes away.

 

The reason why I have mainly hanged onto Nintendo games because they have kept many of their games bright and I really can enjoy playing them.

 

I used to be addicted to games but Jesus helped me away from the addiction and now I can really feel childlike joy before my Father when I play games and that´s the joy that´s never going to disappear because it´s eternal and from Heaven. I can only be thankful and happy because He has helped me in a wonderful way.

[The Bard]

We can't kid ourselves that videogames are as intellectually stimulating as a say a good novel or whatever. Videogames have barely progressed as anything close to an art-form.

 

Then again, videogames have been around for what...30 years? There was a time when the very idea of a novel was laughable, movies for the first fifty years of their existence consisted entirely of slapstick silent films and documentaries. It's thoroughly unrealistic to expect a medium to fully mature in such a short time span.

[MoogleViper]

Shenmue ruined my life. Nothing can compare. And they won't even give me my third fix.

 

And all the "maybe we wouldn't be obese without video games" crap people spout... PFT, people are fat 'cause they are lazy, or eat too much.

 

Exactly. Why are we not allowed to blame people anymore?

It's not their fault they're fat.

Those children aren't naughty they have ADHD or too many e-numbers. Nothing to do with the fact that they've never been disciplined.

We shouldn't blame criminals we should look at what's wrong with society. What's wrong is the fact that they still have a head.

[Indigo]

 

Then again, videogames have been around for what...30 years? There was a time when the very idea of a novel was laughable, movies for the first fifty years of their existence consisted entirely of slapstick silent films and documentaries. It's thoroughly unrealistic to expect a medium to fully mature in such a short time span.

I agree, and I do hope that videogames can become more artistic as time progresses. There are some games that have shown potential for this - MGS2 comes to mind. The main problem is that the primary function of videogames is still seen as to amuse rather than to muse on. Rising budgets don't help either - publishers aren't going to want to finance risky artistic ventures unless such games would sell. So I suppose if consumers start buying and demanding more thoughtful and artistic games then maybe the publishers will follow. This would obviously require a big shift in the mainstream demographic from 12-18 year old males to say 22-30+ males and females. You could say that we are experiencing such a shift now, but it tends to be for the wrong reasons - i.e. new demographics buying a console just to occasionally have a bit of a laugh on Wii Sports or Guitar Hero.

 

Ultimately I think it comes down to this: Novels had the pattern of plays to follow; film had the pattern of the novel etc. They are all storytelling mediums. Videogaming is not such a medium, therefore how or if it might possibly develop as an artistic form is very hard to say.

[MoogleViper]

I agree, and I do hope that videogames can become more artistic as time progresses. There are some games that have shown potential for this - MGS2 comes to mind. The main problem is that the primary function of videogames is still seen as to amuse rather than to muse on. Rising budgets don't help either - publishers aren't going to want to finance risky artistic ventures unless such games would sell. So I suppose if consumers start buying and demanding more thoughtful and artistic games then maybe the publishers will follow. This would obviously require a big shift in the mainstream demographic from 12-18 year old males to say 22-30+ males and females. You could say that we are experiencing such a shift now, but it tends to be for the wrong reasons - i.e. new demographics buying a console just to occasionally have a bit of a laugh on Wii Sports or Guitar Hero.

 

Ultimately I think it comes down to this: Novels had the pattern of plays to follow; film had the pattern of the novel etc. They are all storytelling mediums. Videogaming is not such a medium, therefore how or if it might possibly develop as an artistic form is very hard to say.

 

What about Shadow of the Colossus?

 

And RPG games like Final Fantasy and games like Shenmue have excellent storylines which (with the user interaction included) can rival films and books.