Pschological Effects Of Video Games

Well... I want to say that I have been onto this for quite some time, but I hold no degree nor do I hold the key to everlasting knowledge, so I decide to keep an open mind as I ponder. However, every now and then I find someone who shares an idea. It seems others have been thinking like-wise.

First, a comment from one Tony Danza and several more from ignorant pro-military people.(Don't freak out, I'm pro-military as well, I'm just a little smarter than some of these sheep commenting on Mr. Danza's remark). --kotaku.com...

Without further ado...

I've found an article here written by a man believing the over-popular franchise of FPS military shooters may be pushing teens into joining the military, having them believe they are off to be with "The band of brothers" who will follow them forever through the shadow of death. They'll get to shoot at people, which LOOKS really fun when you're on the couch, as well as having the "re-spawn" mechanic of shooters deep in the sub-conscious, which may actually give you an edge in battle(If you perform better sub-consciously thinking you're invincible anyway),but in all actuality is a detriment to the domesticated, pampered, young teen male's survival in a warzone.

I personally believe MilShooters provide an unrealistic, theatrical joke of what really happen out there, and young teens have no idea of the reality because you don't see the way real soldiers act in these games, and very rarely if ever in mainstream media.

I'm not entirely sure if Military shooters generally make younger people want to enlist, but they definitely make it look a helluva lot more fun than it really is. I'm also not saying every young person playing these games are so naive and subjectable to the game that they'll think this way. We are all different. None the less, I'd like to see what ATS thinks.


Some Snippets- not sure how to actually do them like you pros.

-- "Like much of early computing, nascent digital gaming benefited from military spending. The prototype for the first home video games console, the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, was developed by Sanders Associates, a US defence contractor. Meanwhile, pre-digital electronic flight simulators, for use in both military and civilian training, date back to at least the second world war.

Later, the games industry began to repay its debts. Many insiders note how instruments in British Challenger 2 tanks, introduced in 1994, look uncannily like the PlayStation's controllers, one of the most popular consoles of that year. Indeed, warfare's use of digital war games soared towards the end of the 20th century."

^www.theguardian.com...


^Really interesting stuff up there especially when you think of games like ARMA, which the US AND Canadian soldiers both use.



Then this is another little article about how "Violent video games CAN make you violent". -healthland.time.com...



And here is a nice snip from that last one for the skeptics- "Researchers found that those who played the violent video games showed less activity in areas that involved emotions, attention and inhibition of our impulses. “Behavioral studies have shown an increase in aggressive behavior after violent video games, and what we show is the physiological explanation for what the behavioral studies are showing,” says Matthews. “We’re showing that there are changes in brain function that are likely related to that behavior.”


First post, please tell me what I have done wrong and how to do it right next time.

By the way, I try not to say in my post too much that is said in the links. So if what I'm saying doesn't DIRECTLY correlate to everything in the link, it's because I am presenting both MY ideas and the writer's in the links. The links are purely other people's ideas and explain a little about video games and how they correlate to military usage and also emotional change from prolonged use.

As always.. Have nice day


P.S, sorry I this post is on the board twice, I think there as an error the first time so I had to repost.(It wasn't showing up, yet it asked me to change my title when I went to re-post.)

Can we really know?
Ghost Recon came out when I was in h.s. Now I have a 14 yr old and an 11 yr old. I can recall playing while pregnant too. (There's a study for you.) I was even in J.R.O.T.C. in h.s. and I certainly did not join the military or want to do more than go on cool feild trips in that class.

I think this can be a factor, if a child is a flunky.

a reply to: OfManAndWolf


Here is Lt. Col David Grossman's update on the effect of media violence, this specifically on cognitive function.

killology.com...

This is an ongoing area of interest for Lt. Col Grossman, but hardly his only one.

Part of his biography from: killology.com...

Col. Grossman is a former West Point psychology professor, Professor of Military Science, and an Army Ranger who has combined his experiences to become the founder of a new field of scientific endeavor, which has been termed “killology.” In this new field Col. Grossman has made revolutionary new contributions to our understanding of killing in war, the psychological costs of war, the root causes of the current "virus" of violent crime that is raging around the world, and the process of healing the victims of violence, in war and peace.

He is the author of On Killing, has been translated into Japanese, Korean, and German; is on the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant's required reading list; and is required reading at the FBI academy and numerous other academies and colleges. Col. Grossman co-authored Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence, which has been translated into Norwegian and German, and has received international acclaim. Col. Grossman's most recent book, On Combat, has also placed on the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant's Required Reading List and has been translated into Japanese and Korean.

His CV can be found here:

killology.com...

I first heard of Lt. Col. Grossman's work in the late nineties when a friend game me a version of the following article to read:

killology.com...

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
Can we really know?
Ghost Recon came out when I was in h.s. Now I have a 14 yr old and an 11 yr old. I can recall playing while pregnant too. (There's a study for you.) I was even in J.R.O.T.C. in h.s. and I certainly did not join the military or want to do more than go on cool feild trips in that class.

I think this can be a factor, if a child is a flunky.

You ever hear about those rich kids in Ukraine who smashed people\s heads in with hammers cause they were bored? They weren't flunkies. Nice try though. Most psychopathes also work in the health field. The want to kill arises from many places, but hey you're entitled to your own opinion just like me. But I definitely disagree with you.

a reply to: OfManAndWolf

A school head near here was found crying with her hands over her face. When she realised a number of concerned people were in the same room she said. "I can see I have to explain myself. Video games are destroying our children."

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: OfManAndWolf

A school head near here was found crying with her hands over her face. When she realised a number of concerned people were in the same room she said. "I can see I have to explain myself. Video games are destroying our children."

As a lifelong competitive gamer, I can say they are a waste of time, but you can learn a lot from them as well. All depends on what you're trying to learn. I don't believe they are necessarily bad, but I could have been doing other things. Maybe she said that because no one likes going to school and reading when they could be at home playing WoW or something, because their parents, like many of today have failed them and allowed them to give into the sub-conscious - and in so - giving into that same state of mind themselves.

I would not be surprised if many of these military shooters are gov't sponsored.

---

As an aside, please check your spelling before you post; especially the title. So many people misspelling on ATS nowadays. Makes us look bad.

a reply to: OfManAndWolf

She went on to explain that she felt she was spending more time dealing with the effects of video games on certain children's behaviour than overseeing the education of the entire school.

At about 16 years old I was drawn from a shower to the shreeking doorbell thinking it might be urgent I opened the door dripping wet but in bath robe to the face of two old ladies from the church thrusting a piece of paper at me asking if I thought computer games were the cause of evil and wars.

Thinking on my feet it came to mind and therefore voice that the crusades were pretty awful, pre dated computers and were done in the name of Christ.

I returned to the shower and then a game of grand theft auto. Now GTA 5 is out, I have never shot a gun, robbed anyone I have a 14 year old boy who has played fps all his life, wants to be a pro footballer like dad. Funny that!

At about 16 years old I was drawn from a shower to the shreeking doorbell thinking it might be urgent I opened the door dripping wet but in bath robe to the face of two old ladies from the church thrusting a piece of paper at me asking if I thought computer games were the cause of evil and wars.

Thinking on my feet it came to mind and therefore voice that the crusades were pretty awful, pre dated computers and were done in the name of Christ.

I returned to the shower and then a game of grand theft auto. Now GTA 5 is out, I have never shot a gun, robbed anyone I have a 14 year old boy who has played fps all his life, wants to be a pro footballer like dad. Funny that!

a reply to: OfManAndWolf

Young minds are very impressionable. We see that everyday in the media and how some will follow poor role models. With some music glorifying being a thug, or reality shows that promote immoral life styles, I wouldn't doubt some youth develop a fun perspective toward joining the military and the theater of war.

Kids want to "fit in" and sometimes being "cool" means not getting good grades, sassing back to parents and those in authority, or hanging with the bad crowd. I wouldn't be surprised if military video games are backed by or supported by the military. It's literally a subconscious recruitment tool for future soldiers.

a reply to: Forensick

One child in particular at that school was dangerously acting out the behaviour he'd virtually taken part in during his many hours gaming. His dad is extremely neglectful. That really isn't funny.

If only all dads were like you.

I just wanted to add an experience I had recently. I'm not much of a gamer to be honest. I usually find a game I like, play it for a month or so and than maybe I won't play a new game for a few months. But in March I was playing Dying Light for PS4 and I enjoyed it immensely. I played it everyday from 1-3 hours but never straight through I would take breaks. I began to notice I was having dreams every night about the game. After about 2 weeks of constant dreaming, i searched Twitter "Dying Light Dreams"...WOW. I was not the only one..there were literally hundreds of other people claiming the same thing. Anyone else experience this? I will admit this is not the first game to enter my dreams but it is the only game that I dreamt about so consistently.

I remember when I got my first Nintendo.It wasn't long before I was dressing in red overalls and running around the sewers looking for magic mushrooms.Good times.

a reply to: CallYourBluff

Yeah, same with me. After the one time I tried a video game, half a game of space invaders in 1979, I was walking around making bleeping sounds for weeks.....

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: Forensick

One child in particular at that school was dangerously acting out the behaviour he'd virtually taken part in during his many hours gaming. His dad is extremely neglectful. That really isn't funny.

If only all dads were like you.

What school?

Yeah I think that too, Im a pretty cool dad, my sons mates love it round here drinking beer and watching porn.

I felt a bit bad about the language actually not the murdering, but lets put it into perspective, I didnt kill anyone in the library with a candlestick.

The worst kids are these twins, mum and dad heap really really high standards on them in my opinion, I am a football coach at school and its unrealistic what the parents expect from I would consider a chromosome short of being retarded or at least a dwarf, they cry (at 14) if they lose. My son showed me one is on the top 10 scoreboard for COD or something, I put them in the Adam Lanza category of borderline psychotic using video games as a release but for them I dont think its enough, trust me, when they go postal and replicate COD in school it isnt because of COD, its because of the parents expectations.

I will be OK though, I definitely dont give them that pressure and give them an outlet in sport. I might even buy them ammo if they promise to spare me.

a reply to: OfManAndWolf

Let me add a little perspective here. I am thirty years old, and ever since I got my Amiga 600 computer, I have loved computer games. I don't like them as much as intercourse, walking long distances, playing my bass guitar, beer, or discussing the affairs of the day over the net, but I sure do love me some computer generated violence.

There is a very simple reason for that.

Human beings these days like to think that our technology and our learning, and all our high minded ideals (of which I have quite a few myself) have resulted, in the main, in a more sophisticated species. We tend to assume, subconsciously more often than not, that the difference between what we are today, and what we were when the sword was the weapon of choice is clear. We also seem to have adopted the position that restraint is always healthier than just release of righteous fury, at least in the majority, at street level.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. Although it is true that being shanked in the kidneys over a mere slight in a bar is totally over the top as responses go, there are many instances in which western culture demands an unreasonable level of restraint, an unhealthy level of restraint, on the part of those who are wronged by either individuals, or by the unfortunate byproducts of a system rendered impersonal and cold by its sheer scale, and by the machinations of those it suits to oppress by means either overt, or covert.

As a result of this unnatural requirement for artificial tranquility, there is an awful lot of pent up frustration and anger stemming therefrom, knocking about in this day and age. Luckily for me, and no doubt much of society, there ARE ways to mitigate for that entirely legitimate collection of fury, without running afoul of modern legislation which hampers the natural response to threat and oppression. That pressure valve is digitised violence.

When life, the universe and everything comprising the same, seems to be out to screw with my day, week, month, year, or entire decade, I can just get the day done with, and slaughter sprites by the thousand to relieve that pressure, that angst. It is illegal to deal directly with the things which irk me, in a manner commensurate with the amount of frustration I endure. However, as of yet, there is nothing stopping me slaying hundreds of monsters with big swords, or sticking high velocity rounds through the faces of fascists in dystopian future science fiction games, and I think everyone in my nation should be damned happy about that. This release means that although things may still aggravate me, an awful lot less things suddenly find themselves full of holes, and on fire, than might otherwise be the case.

Now, I am not ignorant of the fact that some people have a problem with the idea of separating digital entertainment, from real life. However, those people have a disease of the mind, one which would exist in one form or another, with or without the computerised savagery that they access through their consoles and PCs. No doubt, those who have such failures of mentality represent a threat to society and the safety of citizens, however, those people make up a very small percentage of the gaming community. In the case of those who play computer games SPECIFICALLY to alter their electrochemical response to certain scenarios, as part of training for real world events, I believe there is a significant difference between those persons, and persons looking to just frag some sprites for turds and chortles, a difference in intent.

When I play a computer game, I am looking to get elbow deep, without any care what so ever for my characters safety. I start and finish my session in absolute berserker mode, no tactics, no pathetic hunting around for resources or advantageous positioning or doing recon to improve my chances of achieving my objective, because my objective is always to kill as many sprites as possible, as fast as possible. I give nothing even resembling a copulation, if you will pardon the tortured nature of that phrase, about anything else. If I can see the enemy, then I will be killing it. I am not looking to train myself in tactics, in deployment strategy, or in the importance of gaining high ground or anything like that at all. I am looking for body count. I do not want to play as a team, I do not want to think, or plan, just maim, maul, and bludgeon my way through the battle space, and make sure that everything behind me is dead, dying, and preferably on fire or splattered all over the map.

What psychological effect has that had on me? If anything, its a positive. I am not in jail, nor am I given to outbursts of rage or a lack of restraint of any kind, nor am I more of a danger to my fellow human beings than anyone else is. As far as the world outside my head knows or ever has legitimate reason to suspect, I am in a state of total and utter ease with things. It is only when an immediate and unfolding circumstance requires it, or when asked to offer an opinion on a matter which sorely vexes me, that any visible element of that repressed, compressed, refined and righteous anger can ever be seen for what it is.

I suppose that you could say that weak minds can be negatively effected by many things, but those who possess mind and know their minds well cannot. They use what resources they have, in their own way, with full understanding of their import or lack thereof.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: OfManAndWolf

Let me add a little perspective here. I am thirty years old, and ever since I got my Amiga 600 computer, I have loved computer games. I don't like them as much as intercourse, walking long distances, playing my bass guitar, beer, or discussing the affairs of the day over the net, but I sure do love me some computer generated violence.

There is a very simple reason for that.

Human beings these days like to think that our technology and our learning, and all our high minded ideals (of which I have quite a few myself) have resulted, in the main, in a more sophisticated species. We tend to assume, subconsciously more often than not, that the difference between what we are today, and what we were when the sword was the weapon of choice is clear. We also seem to have adopted the position that restraint is always healthier than just release of righteous fury, at least in the majority, at street level.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. Although it is true that being shanked in the kidneys over a mere slight in a bar is totally over the top as responses go, there are many instances in which western culture demands an unreasonable level of restraint, an unhealthy level of restraint, on the part of those who are wronged by either individuals, or by the unfortunate byproducts of a system rendered impersonal and cold by its sheer scale, and by the machinations of those it suits to oppress by means either overt, or covert.

As a result of this unnatural requirement for artificial tranquility, there is an awful lot of pent up frustration and anger stemming therefrom, knocking about in this day and age. Luckily for me, and no doubt much of society, there ARE ways to mitigate for that entirely legitimate collection of fury, without running afoul of modern legislation which hampers the natural response to threat and oppression. That pressure valve is digitised violence.

When life, the universe and everything comprising the same, seems to be out to screw with my day, week, month, year, or entire decade, I can just get the day done with, and slaughter sprites by the thousand to relieve that pressure, that angst. It is illegal to deal directly with the things which irk me, in a manner commensurate with the amount of frustration I endure. However, as of yet, there is nothing stopping me slaying hundreds of monsters with big swords, or sticking high velocity rounds through the faces of fascists in dystopian future science fiction games, and I think everyone in my nation should be damned happy about that. This release means that although things may still aggravate me, an awful lot less things suddenly find themselves full of holes, and on fire, than might otherwise be the case.

Now, I am not ignorant of the fact that some people have a problem with the idea of separating digital entertainment, from real life. However, those people have a disease of the mind, one which would exist in one form or another, with or without the computerised savagery that they access through their consoles and PCs. No doubt, those who have such failures of mentality represent a threat to society and the safety of citizens, however, those people make up a very small percentage of the gaming community. In the case of those who play computer games SPECIFICALLY to alter their electrochemical response to certain scenarios, as part of training for real world events, I believe there is a significant difference between those persons, and persons looking to just frag some sprites for turds and chortles, a difference in intent.

When I play a computer game, I am looking to get elbow deep, without any care what so ever for my characters safety. I start and finish my session in absolute berserker mode, no tactics, no pathetic hunting around for resources or advantageous positioning or doing recon to improve my chances of achieving my objective, because my objective is always to kill as many sprites as possible, as fast as possible. I give nothing even resembling a copulation, if you will pardon the tortured nature of that phrase, about anything else. If I can see the enemy, then I will be killing it. I am not looking to train myself in tactics, in deployment strategy, or in the importance of gaining high ground or anything like that at all. I am looking for body count. I do not want to play as a team, I do not want to think, or plan, just maim, maul, and bludgeon my way through the battle space, and make sure that everything behind me is dead, dying, and preferably on fire or splattered all over the map.

What psychological effect has that had on me? If anything, its a positive. I am not in jail, nor am I given to outbursts of rage or a lack of restraint of any kind, nor am I more of a danger to my fellow human beings than anyone else is. As far as the world outside my head knows or ever has legitimate reason to suspect, I am in a state of total and utter ease with things. It is only when an immediate and unfolding circumstance requires it, or when asked to offer an opinion on a matter which sorely vexes me, that any visible element of that repressed, compressed, refined and righteous anger can ever be seen for what it is.

I suppose that you could say that weak minds can be negatively effected by many things, but those who possess mind and know their minds well cannot. They use what resources they have, in their own way, with full understanding of their import or lack thereof.

Insightful young man! Im 38 and started with a Vic 20, ZX spectrum 128bit, amiga (500 i think), then I got Mega Drive, PS1 then PC and XBOX to this day. Now Im mainly PC and the boy is XBOX.

It could very well be proven (if someone bothered to research) that actually computer games such as these had reduced crime. Growing up North West England, we spent alot of time playing Monaco Grand Prix on Megadrive, whole saturday competitions, some kids went out and actually played sport (but then usually came round to play Megadrive) others hung out.

I recon if I look back, the ones who ended up in prison/on drugs, did not play computers (or skateboard).

I look back, and I can specifically say, none of they guys I knew into computer games ended in a life of crime (or overdose death or brain dead from barbs) but the ones that did, perhaps 7 (to put it in perspective), all hung out at the corner shop and got into fights, no other outlet.

Interesting.

I am currently playing Verdun, a WW1 FPS, do I want to go out and assault a trench full of Tommies? Nope....am i imagining my bosses stupid face every time I slot one....yes.

a reply to: Forensick

And here's the thing... It's pretty crucial to reiterate the point that while you might be imagining your bosses stupid face whenever you perform a ballistic tracheotomy in the game space, you are not spending your entire day in normal life, wondering where to go to buy an actual firearm for the purpose of providing much needed ventilation services to his cranium!

This is the very definition of awareness of the difference between fantasy and reality, and it is paramount as a concept, where any discussion of matters such as these is concerned!

Call of Duty games have illuminati symbolism. Look it up. But the military used Doom in the 90s as well, so there probably is an agenda but I don't think It's as sophisticated or broad as you think. Imo