Could video games be used to mind control?

Video games are popular among today's youth, could the themes in the games dumb kids down, isolate, ect?

Or could computer games in fact promote imagination and thought on things that they would not normally think about, its a media that lets kids fly through space, talk to aliens or build interactive cities on a massive scale, computer games are no more responsible for dumbing down or isolating kids than books or television.

Then again, lets not forget that famous quote:

Source
"Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if Pac man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music."

[edit on 21-1-2007 by UK Wizard]

what i find intersting was a goalkeeper in england who plays soccer was going through a bad patch a few years ago, and the explanation they came out with, was he was playing his playstation to much. they say that playing was effecting his brain in response times, his reactions or something were alot slower than before.

maybe he is just sensitive to what ever frequencies or what ever in those games. i always found that strange thing to say, and they never talked about it again.

theres plenty of conditioning in games, especially today, probably making kids more apathatic to society or whatever.

i wonder what parts of the brains are effected when you actually play games of today.

one thing about my life and games, is that more and more games today, are making me feel sick, maybe its due to maybe i am just hyper sensitive to the colours or frequencies they are using, but i never found that like 5-10 years ago. nowadays i can only play racing or sports games, alot of the fighting games or shooter games i just cannot play, i have to stop after 10 mins, feels like your really drunk and i am about to puke or something.

my own experiences make me wonder why today, i am not able to play these sort of games for long.

Actually, quite the reverse effect happens. Video games have shown to have positive benefits more often than negative. It challenges the brain, keeps you sharp. I am a hardcore gamer, I can verify that fact personally.

Mark Griffiths, professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University........ added that games can also help children with attention deficit disorders gain social skills. But he said violent games, like violent films, might fuel aggression in some. However, Professor Griffiths said this group could be prone to aggression, which could have been triggered by other factors such as witnessing violence in the home or seeing it on TV.

'Scapegoat'

He said it was possible games could fuel violence in some.

But he added: "It is not possible to say what is cause and effect. These could be aggressive individuals who sought out these games.

"And aggression could stem from seeing violence on TV or in the home."

Dr Guy Cumberbatch, head of the independent Communications Research Group in the UK, agreed with the editorial's conclusions.

"Video games are always used as a scapegoat for concerns".

"There's no doubt that many games are found to be offensive by many. But there are many media forms, films or TV programmes, where that is the case."

Here is a very interesting study on the effects of visual stimulation based affecting visual tasks:

A McMaster University researcher has found that playing video games may be beneficial to the human brain. Jim Karle, a graduate student in McMaster University’s Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour is conducting the study as part of his thesis.
Karle began work on this project in March 2006. Karle decided to run an experiment in which he studied the short-term memory of video gamers and non-video gamers while simultaneously recording brain waves. His subjects for this study included males aged 17-41, though the majority are university students.
His current results are: there was no difference in performance between video gamers and non-video gamers when it came to maintaining information in memory. However, the video gamers seemed to be much better at manipulating information once it was in working memory.
“Video gamers are about eight per cent more accurate at that task. That doesn’t seem stunning, but when you think about it in terms of a course at school, a 10 per cent difference is a letter grade,” Karle said.

Karle said that if we can train non-video gamers to be like video gamers, “why couldn’t we tailor a video game in such a way as to focus on areas where the elderly are experiencing some decline, and have them for 15 minutes a day practice on this video game in an effort to improve their performance, that might lead to real, applied benefits,” he said.

Just a few examples, I'm sure somene is going to come up with counter-points, but for me, I'm a hardcore gamer. I've been playing since Texas instrument computers, atari, and every generation console on the market. I have also about a $5,000 computer rig made for gaming. I directy credit my video game playing on a regular basis in assisting my job to this day. I am able to concentrate on many tasks for longer periods at a time, and process more information at once, without many mistakes.

When I started playing games, I could only play for a half hour, to an hour, but now, I can marathon, with my longest play-period being FF7 on Playstation at 21 Hours straight, minus bathroom breaks, and one sandwich break. My reaction times are faster as well, I drive alot for my job, and am able to concentrate to many things at once, which is very helpful, considering I drive in Detroit.

All in all, I don't think there is any conspiricy, there is actually benefit, so pick up those controllers, and i'll see you on XBOX live!

Source:

McMasters University video game study
BBC Health study of video game players vs. treatment

[edit on 21-1-2007 by Kingalbrect79]

or as master onion would say, kick punch its all in the mind...



[edit on 21-1-2007 by born_to_be_wired]

or as master onion would say, kick punch its all in the mind...

If you wanna test me, I'm sure you'll find
that the things I'll teach ya
are sure to beat ya
nevertheless you'll get a lesson from teacher

Anyway, ever play Destroy All Humans?
I think there is much more to that game than meets the eye.

Or not, what do I know, but if you haven't played it, give it a try

definatly watch what my kid plays. im a loong time video game player...well, since they came out...now my kid plays, hes 9. but the violence that is in some of those games is ridiculous and there is no excuse for it. same way with movies and music. i think there is a purpose for the extreme violence. to make the human violent...either that or to make the human non responsive to violent acts. completely opposite of what we are on this planet for. do i know who is behind it? yes of course. its all negative. my son will not be expose to the negative but the positive. i know that he will see things and hear things that i do not approve of but i can filter it out. i see the results and it is good.

If anyone has time, check out this video of British hypnotist/entertainer Derren Brown:

video.google.com...

Entitled "Derren Brown Zombie Video Arcade Game Hypnotism - Google Video." It's long(13 minutes) but rather interesting. In it, he turns a guy who thinks he's playing a video game into a mass killer(if the bullets weren't blanks). I'm not sure if the performance is really what it looks like, but if it is, then this is evidence of how to turn someone into a manchurian candidate-type mind controlled killer.

Maybe we should ask this guy if video games can be used to mind control:

"I'm glad to finally turn sixteen. I can finally legally drive and buy hunting knives in Massachusetts. Of course, in both categories I'm rather hesitant, as I'm nervous that I might begin to channel Tommy Versetti while I'm in the process of doing either thing."
--Blog posting of John Ogdren, 16, who suddenly channeled Tommy Versetti('Grand Theft Auto') with a hunting knife in a bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, Sudbury, the morning of January 19, 2007 against a 15-year old fellow student. Currently awaiting trial for murder.

[edit on 22-1-2007 by starviego]

if video games were mind control there would be a whole generation of people running around dark corridors chomping up spheres and fruit while being chased by ghosts...

or we'd have serial turtle-stompers