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Modern Day Gamer Documentary
Simon Bysshe writes "I'm a UK film student, and have recently released a freely downloadable video documentary called 'Modern Day Gamer'. In it, I use interviews from a LAN party I went to in Brighton to try to address the main pre-conceptions people have about gamers, ie: is it really anti-social? is it only for geeks? is it a non-productive use of time?" We've also rustled up a BitTorrent link at Gametab and another BitTorrent link courtesy Jamuraa for this 75mb DivX file.
You just put up a link for a 75 meg file you're hosting? 8| *watches as the server sizzles and burns*
In it, I use interviews from a LAN party I went to in Brighton to try to address the main pre-conceptions people have about gamers
I think it would be more productive to interview non-gamers to address these pre-conceptions but as a gamer, here are my thoughts on this:
Being a gamer I'd have to agree with many pre-conceptions people have about us in
most cases... There are however exceptions and not everyone falls into the category of geek, nerd or loser (as those are probably the most common pre-conceptions people have about gamers).
As for the anti-social part, it is and it isn't. Gotta have friends to play with but often that's the extent of one's activities.
And finally the unproductive use of time: Well, it may be less productive than say...building a house but if you're doing something you enjoy I don't see how you can be going wrong... at least gaming takes some thought and skill unlike some other forms of entertainment.
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
-Xenocrates
I'd think multiplayer games are inherently social events. Some people (myself included) don't like multiplayer games. Give me anything from the Thief series or the redone Doom stuff @ DoomsdayHQ. That makes me an antisocial bastard, not the people that gather together to game.
Trolling is a art,
Steve Erwin to narrate. An' now we sae the dangerous gamah in his naturahl habitat...who weel he frag next?
is it really anti-social?
;)
Kinda of. You can't cal a conversation about quad whoring a deep and meaningful conversation
is it only for geeks?
Not really but geeks are the only ones who know how to string a LAN together network-wise.
is it a non-productive use of time?
Yes but so is reading Slashdot....
Your next project should be to interview some Slashdotters to get rid of some misconceptions about us, like beeing anti-social and stuff.
Err. Wait a minute... Nevermind.
When you get a bittorrent link on the front page os /., that is really when the whole model goes to do its work. I'm sure all the main download sites are not recieving any more requests, but bittorrent is clipping along @ a nice 90 k / sec! :) Go Bittorrent!
No I didnt spell check this post...
is it a non-productive use of time?
:)
If it's a game, I think it's not productive by definition
This is fine. Not everything in life has to be productive. If you're trying to be 'productive' 100% of the time, you're going to end up as a miserable shriveled heap hiding under the sheets all day.
I'm 30, and many people I know are starting to break down and have midlife crises' because their work is their life.
We all need to take a break and have fun.
So go play. Don't worry about being 'productive'.
But if you REALLY want to document Lan-parties, you need to include "Smell-o-vision" (TM)!!!
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
First, I though, hey I want to be his distributor.
Then, I thought, hey it is already distributed on Slashdot.
Then, I realized, the poor guy is probably no longer having a working server...
Heck, I thought, someone else can just as well be his distributor...
is it really anti-social? is it only for geeks? is it a non-productive use of time?
1) Multiplayer games are social events, single player games are anti-social.
2) In it's heyday it used to be for geeks since we were the only one with the equipment/connectivity to host a networked (LAN/WAN) game but now everybody seems to be doing it.
3) As for being a non-productive use of time, it's about as non-productive as screaming at a wall both relieve stress. Still, a game of RTWC Enemy Territory beats screaming at an inanimate object in my book.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
i am a video game addict so don't get me wrong.
it seems like every gamer wants to try and stress the good points about gaming, and the arguments are usually one sided because the sources and references are gamers themselves. you use interviews at a LAN party, have you tried using interviews from pissed off mothers (i haven't watched the video yet, still downloading)? it is anti social in the sense that there is no direct contact through a video game server, even at LAN parties most of the communication is done through monitors or by people screaming at each other. then again i can sincerely say i have met at least half of the people i keep in contact with today through playing video games.
only for geeks? i don't know how to argue this, the non geeks turned gamers eventually call themselves geeks anyway, jokingly or not. unless you define geek as a video game player it's not only for geeks.
gaming is non productive because most of what people do while playing video games is learn to play that video game better. you can argue this with training reflexes, logic skills, adding creative juice and all that jazz but it depends which is worth more or less to the gamers themselves. for example my time is definitely better spent not playing video games but looking for a job.
i have a feeling people here will edge more towards the side of gaming, what else would i use my wind.. i mean linux system for? i'm going to fight for the pissed off mothers just because i'm pretty sure they'll be the underdogs here.
is it really anti-social?
:
... just by playing games, and I also taught myself assembly, the structure of Atari ST diskettes MBRs and much more just because I wanted some great games so bad and didn't have the money to pay for licit copies. Those things I learned due to my interest in games in the eighties are still the base of what makes me a good (I think) engineer.
Obviously not, otherwise the entire documentary would be composed of guys turning their back and saying "piss-off I'm busy".
is it only for geeks?
My sister has a NES, she's not a geek.
is it a non-productive use of time
Depends on who's playing
- If you play for fun once in a while, it's good entertainment. If you play online now and again, you also get to socialize in new interesting ways. If you're a game addict of course, it's no more productive than doing drugs.
- If you're a young lad who wants to get into computers, gaming can teach you a lot. I myself learned a lot about UI designs, sprites, bit blitting, joystick hardware, overscanning
- If you're not primarily into computers and you play too much, that'll teach you nothing at all. I doubt Einstein could have published anything worthwhile if he was a keen Duke Nukem addict for example.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
The documentary didn't seem all that helpful to me. Just a couple of gamers defending themselves, but there's not much substance. Though I'd never heard of "Diabalo II." =)
I'm a gamer (though not as serious as these guys), but since none of my friends play, it is a bit antisocial. But, then again, since they don't want to play that's just as much their fault. Or something like that. I'd think playing a game for a couple of hours with friends is FAR better than going to a movie... since it's dark and you can't talk, it's no different than if you went by yourself.
But I play my games for the story, generally. So the way I see it, playing an RPG is like reading a good book (or a bad book, as the case may be). I also like strategy games, and those are possibly the most "intelligent" games there are. I've certainly learned more from Civilization II and Starcraft than I have from lots of things we do in school....
"Is it anti-social?"
Definitely.... Gamers almost never use the phone while playing. Compare this to people driving cars, shopping, watching movies in the theater, or catching the newest reality TV show. This communications void, combined with the ineffectiveness of internet advertising, results in many gamers out of the loop when it comes to pop culture media. BSA researchers compared estimated demand of the final episode of the second season of "The Bachelor" to the actual number of viewers calculated by Neilsen, and determined that 54 million gamers watched it on PVR recorders, thus skipping all advertising contained in the program. The effect gamers are having on the national economy is devastating.
They kept self-justifying their obvious addiction to games by comparing playing games to watching TV. They claimed that because it's interacting, it's therefore better for you. I found that claim faulty. That's like saying eating candy all day is good for you -- because hey, it's better than smoking crack all day. While that statement is true, it doesn't make eating candy all day a good thing.
Also, am I the only one that thought those pansy Europeans yelped like little girls?
Get Firefox!
Not according to this article from the Associated Press on research conducted at the University of Rochester:
Help me become a Porn Star Guru
A couple of years ago, a friend's mother, Kathy Ahsby, did a short little documentary/opinion piece for Outfront on CBC radio. The archive is here.
This was back when we were really into CS (and we still were, right up until we split up around the time we went to university).
Kinda hilarious, because there's audio takes from the particular party in question (which I sadly missed).
And finally the unproductive use of time: Well, it may be less productive than say...building a house but if you're doing something you enjoy I don't see how you can be going wrong... at least gaming takes some thought and skill unlike some other forms of entertainment
I used to get bagged on for spending a lot of time and money for my hobbies, but I work to have money for things I enjoy - sometimes those things that I enjoy lead to more work, too. If you enjoy gaming, then that is justification enough. Who cares what someone else thinks? Some of the best times in University I had at lan parties. I don't think they're that anti-social either; Then again, I don't usually pay much attention to what other people think, either.
I wish some of my other hobbies were as inexpensive as the unlimited entertainment machine that is the computer. At least you are thinking, but hey - if sitting in front of a TV and drinking beer makes you happy, all the power to you. I think we're only the second, maybe first real generation to have those options. You don't need a lot of money to be happy playing computer games. Now that I think about it, in general, you don't need very much money to be happy.
For what some of my friends pay in rent every month to live in a hot spot socially - you can have one bitchin' computer.
*shrug*
..don't panic
Why do we as a society label everything that's addictive or causes antisocial behavior as intrinsicly bad?
First off, let me state flat out I'm a video game addict. I play a lot of games, it's what I like to do when I get home from work, and I occasionally do it to the detriment of other things in my life (like the dishes in my sink are about to get up and walk away if I don't clean them soon). While I do play a fair number of online games, I also play single games because sometimes I just don't feel like dealing with people. Usually this is after work, when I'm tired and maybe a little cranky. Trust me, my friends are much happier when I lose myself in a good anti-social video game than when I'm tired and try to hang out with them.
There are lots of different kinds of people. Some people are totally energized by social interactions, others aren't. I'm somewhat in the middle -- if I don't get much social interaction or spend too many days in the house, I start to crave it. But if I spend too many days out and about with friends, I wear down. I get tired of it. I need some time off to myself to refresh my batteries.
So what am I getting at? I'm a games addict, and I'm antisocial at times. I've turned down requests to go out with friends because I was too busy being caught up in a game. But taken as a whole, I'd consider my life to be pretty normal. I work a full-time job, I go out with friends at least 3 times a week, I'm dating a nice girl, I find the time to cook myself dinner a couple times a week, I make it a point to do exercise at least every other day, etc...
The point is, while these activities may not be particularily healthy in and of themselves, they're a vital part of my fairly balanced life. They make me happy, they keep me going, they keep me wanting to go out and be social and do all the things that are considered stereotypically healthy.
It's all about keeping the balance. If addictive or anti-social behavior isn't throwing your balance totally out of whack, then so what?
Are gamers anti-social? Some are always. Some are sometimes. Is it only for geeks? Probably not, though a lot of people will bother to try. Is it a non-productive use of time? Are doing activities that help keep me happy considered non-productive?
There are plenty of other well accepted anti-social, potentially addictive activities that don't have negative stigma: reading is a good example.
It seems to me interviewing geeky lan-party-going gamers about these things is the wrong way to go. You'd be better off interviewing non-stereotypical gamers and presenting that to non-gamers to reinforce the view that such activities aren't limited to one subset of the population that happens to be anti-social addicts.
I see this *so* often that i do my best to correct it when I see it. There is a giant difference between calling someone "asocial" and calling someone "antisocial."
;-).
"Antisocial" is a clinical, psychiatric diagnosis. It's considered a personality disorder, and in fact is one of the personality disorders that essentially relies on contacts with others (although in an exploitive fashion), for the diagnosis to be made. It is also often confused with "sociopathic." While a sociopath always carrys a dx of Antisocial Personality Disorder, it's not always true that an antisocial personality disordered person is a sociopath.
Nelson on the Simpsons, "Cigarette man" on the X-Files, Gordon Gecko from "Wall Street," and "Animal" on the Muppets would be considered "Antisocial."
"Asocial," which is what everyone usually means when they say "antisocial", is an indifference to social relationships. It's alot harder to think of good asocial examples, cause they don't lend themselves to good storytelling
It's that simple.
hth,
jeff
I think most people saying "antisocial" actually mean "asocial"-- anti-social tends to imply a destructive tendency (such as in a sociopath,) whereas a lot of gamers I know are more "asocial"; they'd like to join society, (and are decent citizens), but aren't particularly blessed with the social grace to do so.
But, nitpicking aside, do you think many gamers _would_ participate in social activity if only they were better at it? Or might "antisocial" be the right word after all?
From m-w.com:
Asocial:
not social: as a : rejecting or lacking the capacity for social interaction
Antisocial:
1 : averse to the society of others : UNSOCIABLE
2 : hostile or harmful to organized society; especially : being or marked by behavior deviating sharply from the social norm
I'm a lowly bench warming lineman on my high school's football team (still a geek, though). One day, before practice started, I overheard the team's star running back (who's more recently gotten a football scholarship to a major US college) explaining the difference between IP, HTTP and FTP to another jock (good private school, so everybody had some basics). Surprised at his interest, I later asked him about his interest in computers, and he explained it was primarily gaming. And, no, not just the newest, shiny shooters, we discussed 15 hour Civilization (the first 2) binges, and other classics, without the "ooh, shiny!" or "look at those fuggin' intestines splatter!" one would expect of the stereotypical jock. He didn't go so far as Everquest, or Nethack (he did have a life befitting a sports star, after all), but the point is anyone can be a gamer.
In the sense that some games glorify crime, I think it's reasonable to ask whether they lead the player to antisocial behavior.
But, I don't think it's fair to say that a person is antisocial because they choose to spend their time alone playing games. Asocial maybe, but not antisocial.
And to claim that lan parties are antisocial or asocial seems absurd.