Sunday, January 04, 2009
The Influence of Video Games on our Psychology
I’ve played my fair share of video games. Lately, I’ve been wondering what kind of long term repercussions video games are going to have. A lot of people already talk about the increased tendency for violence. It seems true to a point, in a study people who played Wolfenstein 3D tended to be more aggressive in a follow up test than people who played Myst. But Myst was also a video game. It seems to depend on the game, which makes me wonder, what else depends on the game?
What are the consequences of instant gratification, lack of creativity and consequences, and isolation. People are always going to escape reality for a time, but things like books at least offered a means to expand your vocabulary. I fear games like Gears of War aren’t having a similar benefit. Would it kill the makers of the game to sneak in some decent vocabulary?
My creativity and consequence fear seems to get worse as years pass. So many games just give you a gun and point you in a direction. Really, is this the best the gaming community’s writers can do? Video games have such potential to tell stories, but all we hear is “die zombie!”
Speaking of dead zombies, when you die, oh well, it’s cool. I admit I don’t miss the old days from King’s Quest when you’d end up stuck because you didn’t pick up a shoe earlier than a Yeti would kill you. Even worse, you have no idea why you’re stuck, because there was no hope of going back for the shoe! Still, I’d like to see that if I interact with my world, the world changes. So many video games are limited to, “you’re an evil dick!” or “You’re such a nice guy.” There has to be more than two generic moral sides in the world!
The repetitiveness can’t be healthy either. Japanese RPGs and MMOs are crazy popular and most of those games are just hours of endless boar killing for experience or a rare drop. I mean… is this really what people want? Is this the answer to happiness scholars couldn’t answer for years, killing boars for 12 hours straight? I’m overcome with hopelessness just thinking about it.
Also, the isolation, sure people can find online buddies. But it lacks the intimacy and reliable of someone you know in the meat. I can ask someone I know if they want to get some tea, I can’t ask my cyber buddy. I realize cyber cafes may be a solution to this, but I don’t think most of these cafes are really interested in helping people make friends. Just taking your money. Perhaps if gaming companies and these cafes worked together more, it may provide some better solutions, but most of these cafes fail so quickly that may be impossible.
Alright, so I’m concerned with some issues, what am I going to do? I’m not really sure what I can do. World of Warcraft actually seems to be trying to improve their game a bit, if only in small areas. But given their subscription rates, there is nothing I can say that will influence Blizzard. And while Blizzard keeps making cash, people are going to keep copying them. I guess it’s going to come down to what these communities want to do and since I avoid these kind of online interactions, I may not be involved with these things. But if the entire community speaks up and protests, it could create some changes, but such organization and commitment seems unlikely for now.
What are the consequences of instant gratification, lack of creativity and consequences, and isolation. People are always going to escape reality for a time, but things like books at least offered a means to expand your vocabulary. I fear games like Gears of War aren’t having a similar benefit. Would it kill the makers of the game to sneak in some decent vocabulary?
My creativity and consequence fear seems to get worse as years pass. So many games just give you a gun and point you in a direction. Really, is this the best the gaming community’s writers can do? Video games have such potential to tell stories, but all we hear is “die zombie!”
Speaking of dead zombies, when you die, oh well, it’s cool. I admit I don’t miss the old days from King’s Quest when you’d end up stuck because you didn’t pick up a shoe earlier than a Yeti would kill you. Even worse, you have no idea why you’re stuck, because there was no hope of going back for the shoe! Still, I’d like to see that if I interact with my world, the world changes. So many video games are limited to, “you’re an evil dick!” or “You’re such a nice guy.” There has to be more than two generic moral sides in the world!
The repetitiveness can’t be healthy either. Japanese RPGs and MMOs are crazy popular and most of those games are just hours of endless boar killing for experience or a rare drop. I mean… is this really what people want? Is this the answer to happiness scholars couldn’t answer for years, killing boars for 12 hours straight? I’m overcome with hopelessness just thinking about it.
Also, the isolation, sure people can find online buddies. But it lacks the intimacy and reliable of someone you know in the meat. I can ask someone I know if they want to get some tea, I can’t ask my cyber buddy. I realize cyber cafes may be a solution to this, but I don’t think most of these cafes are really interested in helping people make friends. Just taking your money. Perhaps if gaming companies and these cafes worked together more, it may provide some better solutions, but most of these cafes fail so quickly that may be impossible.
Alright, so I’m concerned with some issues, what am I going to do? I’m not really sure what I can do. World of Warcraft actually seems to be trying to improve their game a bit, if only in small areas. But given their subscription rates, there is nothing I can say that will influence Blizzard. And while Blizzard keeps making cash, people are going to keep copying them. I guess it’s going to come down to what these communities want to do and since I avoid these kind of online interactions, I may not be involved with these things. But if the entire community speaks up and protests, it could create some changes, but such organization and commitment seems unlikely for now.
Labels: Consequences, MMORPG, Psychology, Video Games
# posted by MaximumTacolord @ 1:44 PM 
