Video games: cause for concern?

So here I am browsing the web as usual when lowand behold I stumble on this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1036088.stm
After reading this I laughed for about an hour the showed it to my freinds. what do you think? and give reasons as to why you think this, no one liners please

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The only thing that's true is if you play too much, you're life will start to go downhill. But remember almost any activity can do this, videogames are just an attractive target due to their new and fast growing nature.
Frankly I think it's easier to sink too much time into online usage, try spending a whole night doing shit online; it's frighteningly easy.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

That is one funny article. It's true that some kids just take it too far and obsess completely, but video games in general in nice doses are fine. I fit pretty much all of the criteria for the 'Hooked' gamer on there but i don't play to the extent that my 'thumbs hurt' that's just stupid

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Moderation in practically anything you do is advisable. I don't see much difference in a person wasting ten hours of compulsively watching television, or playing video games. Why do video games get all the ire?

Quote:

Children are drawn to video games at about the age of seven. For most, the games remain a harmless activity, but a small minority could be termed "addicts".

Wow! How amazingly conclusive. This could be said about practically anything. Including wanking off. I think the 'real answer' is to legislate our way out of this problem! Only then with the government protecting people from themselves can we live in an ideal world. Bah. I stopped reading the article at roughly this point.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Kaiten

Frankly I think it's easier to sink too much time into online usage, try spending a whole night doing shit online; it's frighteningly easy.

On a similar note, I was playing Guild Wars the other day. I hadn't played in a while because my video card crapped out on me months back and I only just recently got a new one. Anyway, they must have included this in one of their more recent updates, because up until a few days ago I had not seen this before. I had been playing on a certain mission that is fairly long when I saw a little notice with the rest of my text in the bottom left, saying:

"You have been playing for 1 hour."

An hour later...

"You have been playing for 2 hours."

And another hour later...

"You have been playing for 3 hours. Please take a break."

To that, I just had to laugh. Perhaps this is more common with MMORPGs like Guild Wars or World of Warcraft, but I can see the same thing happening with other games too. It's a case-by-case thing, I think. I fall under 'hooked' too, but I'm sure there are others that can handle it just fine.

The problem is when people take it to such a level that it makes me look like a casual gamer. Like those stories you hear of people dying from cardiac arrest because they played some MMORPG for 72+ hours straight in some internet cafe. Staying up all night playing a game every now and then is one thing. But 72 hours or more straight? (I know I'm exaggerating--at least I'm pretty sure I am--but we know there are people out there that have done stuff akin to that.) That's just ridiculous. I think it's people like that that have to be addressed first. But I agree with Kaiten: pretty much any hobby could have this effect, gaming just happens to be among the more relatively common ones and has been receiving more attention of late.

You don't hear news stories of kids losing sleep over building their Gundam models or Yu-Gi-Oh decks.

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Playing video games , cause for concern?

hmmm, only if that person doesnt know right from wrong.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

All these articles seem to only focus on a rather small minority that have a serious addiction to video games. Also, shouldn't the parents stop complaining and whining about video games and take that time to stop their children from getting addicted?

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Yggdrasil

Also, shouldn't the parents stop complaining and whining about video games and take that time to stop their children from getting addicted?

Naw, they're too busy being outraged by the helplessly addicting video games to care about what their children are currently doing. This amuses and saddens me at the same time.

If they didn't have video games to gripe about comic books, television, rock and roll, rap, movies, or a host of other things would be back in the spotlight. Maybe there's a need among these sort of people to diversify their sources of outrage?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

We should ban alochol. Sure a small minority become addicted to it and destory their lives becoming violent and biligerent, while the other majority can handle it very well. So let's ban it! Oh wait we did and look what happened!

This article just states the obvious, something that has been told to parents for many, many years, play in moderation! Though again the responsibility does lay with the parents in that they control what their kids can and cannot do. Without their involvment, either from working too much or not caring will just cause the kid to fend for himself and at that age they're not ready. This is not a cause for concern if you take the proper precautions.

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