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Published on February 24, 2007 By Jythier In Gaming
First of all, I'd like to say that the anti-social behavior this article is talking about has nothing to do with violence. Violence and video games is a completely different argument.

Video games allow a person to feel as if they have accomplished something without doing anything. So you beat every Final Fantasy. Nobody really cares, except other people that have played Final Fantasy, and even they don't care that much.

A huge problem is that a lot of women are not gamers. Some are, sure, but a lot aren't. These women tend to have very little respect for in-game accomplishments. That's why a lot of gamer guys want to date a gamer girl - because she is more likely to give him the respect he doesn't deserve. I know it's not a big deal to my wife that I can build a business in Capitalism 2, a theme park in RollerCoaster Tycoon(though I did get her playing that one) or that I can build a city in Sim City 4. Every time I say "Look what I did" she reminds me that I did nothing, which is the truth.

But it does not feel that way when I am doing it. None of it is worth anything in the real world, but it feels like it's so important. So I waste time with them instead of hanging out with my family, doing work, or spending time with God or on ministry.

You may say, "But I play video games and I do all those other things too." I say to you, are you doing those things while playing video games? If so, then there is room for them in your life. Sadly, in my life, my wife is not interested and my son is not old enough. Work has it's 40 hours a week, so that's not an issue. The only thing left is God and ministry. The only way I can do ministry through video games is to play multiplayer games, so all single player games are out. And God wants me out there doing real things for real people. So even multiplayer games are out.

So my video game time really is wasted time. But I'm not going to give them up yet. I'm not ready. I'm still addicted. I want to accomplish fake things, because it's fun. One may say to me, "Entertainment is needed too, so video games are okay in moderation." But really, I could have just as much fun playing with my son, hanging out with my wife, talking to God, or doing ministry. So I'm thoroughly convinced that these games are not needed. But it's just like any other addiction... it'll eat away at me until I give in, or I get over it. I'm still giving in.

Comments (Page 11)
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on Apr 04, 2007
There are many types of games software on in the web site.http://www.qweas.com/download/game/
With a strong search engine, you will find many software with discount or even free price.

on Apr 04, 2007

If you think of it on a cosmic scale we are nothing.


On a human scale, asbestos particles are nothing...physically. Judging humans only on their size relative to the universe or impact upon the universe's overall state will of course make them appear small and insignificant. Because by definition we are when compared to the universe or some imagined supreme being. But the fact that we are capable of making such observations and actually debating the meaning of those conclusions makes us special or at least relatively unique in some small way. Barring time travel, nothing in the future, not even the complete obliteration of the Earth and all human made things will change the fact that at this moment in time we are having this discussion. To say we are nothing is overstating our insignificance.

on Apr 04, 2007
To say we are nothing is overstating our insignificance


massively overstating.

i like this quote i'm gonna pass it off as my own round the tea machine in the office. (granted i hate the tea machine and refuse to use instead using the kettle i found in a cupboard much to the horror of the office manager and the health and safety people)

on Feb 25, 2008

EVERYTHING in moderation. Even religion.

Abuse and addition can occur in all things. Over zelous sports fans, car guys, artists, and yes faith. Everything can be over done and all consuming. Only when you leave time for other things and many things in your life do you express true joy. Above all else this is most important.

on Feb 25, 2008
Lazarus is back from the dead!
on Feb 25, 2008
True, there are better things to do than play video games. But there are also better things you could be doing that watch TV, read books, talk for hours with a friend (on a phone or not). Also, people need relaxing time. If a person has no time to relax and relieve some tension, the result may be worse than if they spent more time than they should doing that. If an animal is scared, but is not allowed to shake or whimper or anything, they die. Read it, the research has been done.

Of course, there is an addictive aspect to it, just as there is to many other things. Alcohol is an incredibly addictive substance, and yet it is a perfectly accepted part of the cutlure, and when you consume it, the risk is understood. It is a much larger liability than video games.

Now, if a person's life revolves around video games, then there is an addiction. When everything becomes about when they are going to get to play again, you have a problem. But this would only occur sometimes. The majority would get through without any issues.

Furhter, video games have the capacity to develop the brain and nervous system, more so than most anything in the past has. It has also been shown that two people playing against eachother in a game is perhaps one of the most social things they can do, as much as playing against eachother in a game of basketball, or soccer (football to the other 6 billion people out there).

I personnaly have a major genetic disposition (on both sides of both sides of my family) to addiction to just about anything. I play video games on a regular basis. Along with books and TV, it is one of my main forms of enjoying myself. And yet, I have no real issue with it. I can put the controller (or keyboard) down whenever I need to or want to. About the only time I display addictive behavior is when I rediscover an old game or get a new one, and enjoy it tremendously, in which case it is on my mind 24/7. But that could happen with a good book, or a new home theater you might have set up, or perhaps a new car.

FInally, every generation has something it is critiscized for. Dancing (believe it or not), TV, rock and roll, comics, arcades, D&D, and now, at last, the video game. You can find evidence of this in ancient Greece even. It's as old as civilization. And older gneration can't believe the behavior of the latest one (despite they did similar things in their youth), and find some major new cultural trend to blame it upon. In other words: don't instantly blame all the actions upon one new piece of culture. You did the exact same thing as a kid.

I do admit though, there is the very realy possibilty of a person developing a problem with video games, but probably only coupled with a disorder (which, by the way, almost every person has one. If you don't, then you are quite the fluke of nature).
I think Im done...
on Feb 25, 2008
OMG who dug this one up?
on Feb 25, 2008

If they could combine God and video games with any sort of fun, then you could kill two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately every Christian based game just sucks.  They're not fun, usually bugged, and their design leaves a lot to be desired.

 

As for addiction...I don't think I have a very addictive personality.  I love video games, but I only play them in excess when they're new.  After a week or so it's down to just occasionally.  I've taken months off from games and then come back and start playing again.  I suppose that's a good thing.

This article is a year old...who was rooting through the archives?

~Zoo

on Feb 25, 2008
9-5 Gaming, apparently.

I agree with you, Zoo. A lot of Christian based video games are crap. If they aren't crap, it's because it basically takes a good idea from someone else and made it religious.

Who wants to make a video game about 'turning the other cheek?'

I've got it. A religious game where you score points by doing good deeds for others in the name of Jesus while balancing your need for food, sleep, and other necessities. Kind of like Grand Theft Auto except without all the stealing.

You could pick up hookers, drive to a secluded area, and ... and... convert them.

I'd play it, especially if it meant I wouldn't have to help anybody for real!

Sigh.. there's the rub... Jesus doesn't say 'Play games about loving your neighbor.'
on Feb 25, 2008
I think the next time Hillary Clinton (nothing against her...I'd give her my vote if I were of voting age) goes up and bashes video games in front of a congressional committee, she should consider going up and bashing religion! If you look at the negative contributions the two have made to human histroy, you get something like this:

Video Games' negative contributions to human history:
-That incident in japan a few years ago
-You are Empty

Religon's negative contributions to human history:
-Crusades
-Jihads
-St. Bartholomew [spelling?]'s day massacre
-Holocaust
-Spanish Armada
-Nero throwing Christians into the arena
-Christians burning Pagans at the stake
-Pretty much every colonization-related genocide (native Americans, Aztecs [who have thier own contribution, see below], some African states, etc)
-Jon Hus rebellion
-Jonestown
-Japan Subway bombings
-Tai Ping [spelling?] rebellion
...and many more.

The point is, being an athiest myself, I find it silly that religion can be considered scot-free of blame for its effects on society when compared with Video Games, the media, etc, both in terms of sheer body count and its slowdown if technological, cultural, and artistic development (Why don't we know what greek or Roman music really sounded like? We have three hundred plus years of Gregorian chants to thank for that). Video games CAN be anti-social and addictive, but religion VERY OFTEN IS anti-social (vow of chastity, etc), addictive, dogmatic, technophobic, xenophobic, and downright murderous.
on Feb 25, 2008
Thankfully here in Wales where I was born and raised, we have become enlightened enough to become one of the most Atheistic nations on earth. Not even forced Atheism of the communist levels have come close to my home land. We achieved that because preachers and so called "men of God" asked us to fight in 2 world wars, where we were used as cannon fodder. Due to our losses we've seen that god has very little to do in this world. If you're not ordained as some kind of religious person, saying publically that you talk to god, gets you locked up with a very attractive white Jacket and a strong dose of anti psychotic drugs, Or just laughed at.

I've yet to see a valid argument that the Christian god is better or different to the Islamic one, or different to Venus, Apollo, Mars, Epona, Llyr, Mabon, Manawyddan, midir, neit or Ogma. Or perhaps you could explain why your god went from a vengfull genocidal maniac to a less genocidal maniac between each testament? Anyone with an ounce of sense will read the full 10 commandments.. not the PR, rainbow and sunshine versions that is always shown. The full ones include the punishments for not following them.

Or how about the when we read the Bible, Jesus was only talking about fellow Jews as his people. He wasn't referring to "others". The love others and include them was a doctrine that came a long time after your saviour died. If anything Christians are Jewish heretics, and the christ would probably be quite upset with you... if he existed. I''ve read teh various religious books.... how about religious people read Dawkins or Hitchenson, or a religious text of other faiths? Go on, challenge yourselves!!

rant over.

Onto the topic at hand... I spend a fair amount of time playing games, and from playing games I began to mess with modding games. Thanks to my "time wasting" with Graphic tools, and open source software, I had more skills to put onto my CV which in turn has helped me get employment in a field of Archaeology I never considered going into.

And I can say with all honesty that since I started playing games, it has become an outlet, and I've not been arrested or involved in any violence like I was when I was younger.
on Feb 25, 2008
Amen, brother! Preach it!

In any event, video games are like caffiene: moderate amounts stimulate the brain, but too much and you can do some serious damage.

And, like coffee, there are people who stay up WAY too late at night as a result.
on Feb 25, 2008
Sigh.. there's the rub... Jesus doesn't say 'Play games about loving your neighbor.'


But he doesn't say you shouldn't.

In fact, the Bible says nothing about video games...so we can be fairly certain they aren't evil.

~Zoo
on Feb 25, 2008
However, the conquistadors used the same logic to determine that since the indigenous populations of the Americas weren't mentioned in the bible, they were open targets for whatever New Spain wanted to do to them.

The bible has been interpreted more where if it's not in the bible, it's explicitly below anything that IS mentioned in the bible, or anything that is not condemned in the bible.
on Feb 25, 2008
However, the conquistadors used the same logic to determine that since the indigenous populations of the Americas weren't mentioned in the bible, they were open targets for whatever New Spain wanted to do to them.

The bible has been interpreted more where if it's not in the bible, it's explicitly below anything that IS mentioned in the bible, or anything that is not condemned in the bible.


Yeah...you got a point. Which is one of the reasons I'm not totally invested in all that religion stuff.

All in moderation...everything in moderation.

~Zoo
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