How Do Video Games Influence Society ?

[Sharpadox]

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are having a great day. I'm sorry for creating a topic that is heavily influenced from other topics I've posted. I would like to know if video games help society as a whole and people individually. Achieving my life purpose goal means working in the industry and I feel that the industry not only doesn't benefit sociey but also hinders it by wasting people's time. I want to follow my goals but I also want to have a fulfilling, meaningful job.

 

Thank you in advance for your comments

Have a wonderful day

[Steph1988]

See it as art then did you play the witcher 3? its pure art how about that.

Help society by working on a masterpiece game, i see what u mean but people are responsible for their own time wasting.

I really would like to see another sim city game going back to the old formula that would be awesome make that and make at least one person extremely happy .

[Extreme Z7]

Nothing about video games is inherently distracting or detrimental to growth. And just because something isn't necessarily helpful to personal growth, doesn't mean you should avoid it all costs.

It's a matter of awareness and observation of how one handles these habits.

Okay. . . maybe MMO's are the only real wastes of time.

[vikisss1]

@blazed I actually can't agree with you. When I am playing video games, I always look at the programming side of game, also I look at the design. As an aspiring game developer/programmer I only see a tremendous potential in video games industry. Advances in AR/VR will create even better, more comprehensive and difficult to create video games. Programming to me is highly conscious activity, which requires analytical mindset. Design also the same, even harder. Those two activities will not going to be replaced by artificial intelligence any time soon. And I would be happy to know those 'better' hobbies and activities, because the way I look at the world, many things seem damaging. Can you elaborate on that?  For instance, all food industry seems unconscious. I carefully investigated all products and tried various food, the results were shocking. After 9 months of healthy lifestyle and intense exercising I almost vomited after eating some buns and yogurts... Even frozen vegetables can't match with raw diet. And in comparison food industry requires highly intelligent mindset and also many variuos skills, which result in harmful products. Looking at society objectively it is difficult to see highly conscious businesses, which involves analytical and creative process of thinking. And with my current understanding it would not be objective to deny video games, just because you feel addictive to them, which is not true. You can definetely play being aware and not addictive. It is just more difficult and requires practice, bet really possible. And I believe that such way of playing will only increase

 

P.S. Speaking about productivity, I read about Elon Musk, one of the greatest scientist-entrepreneurs in our world. And he is very passionate video gamer, who even wanted to pursue career in that domain. Even today, he creates new products but also plays video games. So honesty you can be productive, while playing video games. In fact seen craativity will help a lot.

Edited May 22, 2017 by vikisss1

[Nahm]

Neuroplasticity 

[vikisss1]

@blazed The hours I spend programming( I have already started to do it seriuosly, my cousin owns software company) are preciuos moments to me  I feel aware and creativity just flows. I have already contemplated a lot about my future career and after many doubts I feel that programming/game development is one of the best choices. So, I can't agree with you  I am going to try new video games and apreciate artworks and programming.

P.S. I am still trying to be open minded and see my own biases. But I can't read any of yours 'better activities'. Maybe you can name a few? aside from exercising, eating well, meditating, contemplating and self inquiry, because I already do those.

Edited May 23, 2017 by vikisss1

[LowPlanetary]

Art is communication.

Communication is vital for society to function.

Without communication how can visionaries lead?

Therefore the use of communication is a necessity.

Speech is an art form, just like music, painting and video games.

The difference between speech and video games is that video games are generally more entertaining, but speech has a more explicit and easy to understand message.

However, a lot of people don’t really search for a solid message in entertaining art forms like video games, therefore big business and generally artists as a whole in all art forms “abuse” this by producing art with no message at all, but with a hell of a lot of entertainment. Thus causing addiction, which I am completely against.

But I believe that the problem is not the video games, the music or the paintings; it’s the artists that make art with the purpose of causing addiction. Therefore, saying that the only use of video games is the simulations and educational aspect is kind of close minded. Why can’t there be a Picasso for video games? Why can’t there be a Da Vinci for video games? There can be, it’s just that there isn’t one yet because of the current mind set of the masses, and video games isn’t as evolved of an art form as painting and music.

But i completely agree that playing these video games is incredibly unhealthy and i would personally advise most people against it, i personally don't play video games anymore and I've grown so much from stopping, but i'm not going to reject my love for creating worlds, it just feels so beautiful to me. I just think that the problem has a solution that can be solved when the industry actually wants to make some real social impact. Since due to how immersive and manipulative video games are, they can really have some positive impacts if they are used properly. But of course with great power comes great responsibility, thus causing the problem.

[LowPlanetary]

30 minutes ago, blazed said:

@LowPlanetary

Yes that is the problem people who make video games at the end of the day do it for $$$ so the more fun and addictive the game is the better for them. There are a few good story telling games, spiritual ones too, and some good puzzle games, however once a person completes these games they will say "That was fun, what's next?" eventually leading to more "fun" and "addictive" games, and you'll find yourself in a vicious cycle. There are very addictive game mechanics that are out there to abuse your biological brain, such as instant gratification and random reward drops, fake achievement etc.

I think you're "close minded" in your logical thinking to be fair, You don't spend hours and hours looking at Picasso's work or Da Vinci's work, you dont feel intense boredom and lack in your life, or have cravings to go see their work, anything that triggers that sort of chemistry in your head is not "art" it's an addiction.

If you can game play games moderately then that's fine, hey even watching a movie now and then again or 2 hours is fine, but you really need to be genuinely honest with how much time one spends with gaming and if the habit can easily turn into an addiction.

Some people even think they are fine and "in control" because they go to work do their 9-5 job and then they come home and spend the next 4-5 hours playing a video game and call it "relax" or "destress" time. They're not in control and if you look closely they cannot choose to let go unless something drastic forces them to stop.

Game addicts will rage at the mere thought they have a problem, every video on youtube that talks about the games negatively gets downvoted, forum are trolled with gamers sarcastic remarks, Everything that talks positively about games get upvoted and shared around like it's the holy truth.

Let me ask you a very important question, if you could command yourself to do anything you want, like a robot, and you could do it effortlessly, with no internal conflict, would you command yourself to play games, or would you command yourself to do something more productive?

If you were playing "The Sims" would you command your sim character to play games for hours on end on the computer or would you level him up in other aspects of his life?

I agree with you that video games being addictive is bad, and playing games all day is incredibly unproductive and I would advise most people against it. I am by no means defending the addicted gamer, nor am I praising the mainstream games that make so many people so addicted.

All I’m saying is to not blame the art form, but blame the artists that make the games with the purpose of addicting you. Since blaming the art form, generalizes all the artists as shallow and money motivated which is a point I disagree with.

[vikisss1]

@blazed I appreciate your hobbies, I found some of them worthile, which I already have in my life. Actually I didn't find anything seriuos, which will probably generate success and let me have impact. I already socialize a lot, the colleague in my job are great, also I have a few friends in school, who will continue to pursue the same career. Speaking about addicte video game and the time person spends, I can definitely agree that I am against playing video games for many hours, due to many reasons. But that doesn't say that person should completely abandon video games. If person gets greativity, gets new programming knowledge it is especially valuable, even to the petty reasons like : employment and income. Do your research on the artificial intelligence and how much industries will be gone, because of that.  But video games definitely are one of the greatest art forms, which involves motion, sound, graphics and desigg. It also requires highly logical mindset to create one. I bet that maybe 1 of 1000 people, would be able to create even a small game, because it is just too hard. People choose easy careers, which can be replaced anytime soon  But I truly agree, that person should not spend a huge amount of time, playing games. I even advocate that  By the way I did approximate canculations: about 15 hours I spend gaming, not more. So it is not fair to deny that video games are product of very smart and creative people, and it is person choice, whether he become addicted or not.

P.S. speaking about hormones in the brain, there are many positive aspects to the brain. Just type in Google, find appropriate  research and you might change your attitude.  Deepack Chopra even acknowledged that and created his own spiritual games, which les people to enter flow states.

 

Edited May 24, 2017 by vikisss1

[vikisss1]

@blazed Can't agree on process of creating games, it seems that you lack basic knowledge of game development. Story of video games is not addictive itself, it just a story, illusion and fantasy. Only person might become addictive.Many friends of my watch variuos TV shows almost for 5 hours a day. It depends of person not the game itself. You just need to learn how to be aware while playing.

Edited May 24, 2017 by vikisss1