Most Dubious Videogame Claims Explored

Thanks to Buzzcut.com for their article exploring the most dubious claims made in relation to videogames, in which the author takes some time to refute game-related maxims such as 'Old people play video games' ("assuming the fact that older women playing Bridge online... can be generalized into broad statements about the general appeal of games lacks a sense of perspective"), 'Games will revolutionize education' ("We are not on the cusp of a breakthrough or entering an era of educational enlightenment. People learn from anything, so they can learn from games"), and 'Games are a social activity' ("Video games can be social. But so can knitting and reading. That doesn't mean they are deeply or purposefully social.")

Comments

Not true

[Henry V .009]

Books, movies, theater, even television may not make people kill each other.

Tell that to Ronald Reagan or John Lennon--both of whom were shot by people who claimed that their influence was "Catcher in the Rye." I do not even need to mention Das Kapital, Mein Kampf, the Bible. I could go on and on. We also have Nazi and Soviet propaganda movies that made people kill each. There is Natural Born Killers as well. I cannot think of any television program that has killed people except MTV's Jackass--but arguably, they deserved it.

MMORPGs != social

[Metal_Demon]

For starters let me say I've been playing SWG since about 3 weeks after it's release for on average 5 hours a day. That said I will attempt to refrain from using that as too much of an example because it hasn't really been around long enough for too many people to get to know each other yet.

Now for my point: Nobody cares that people on MMORPGs are real (your example on DAoC was a freak occurence between morons, IMHO). That is to say that if you could create a game "smart enough" to have the NPCs act like other players nobody would care that they aren't real. In fact, I believe that most people would rather not associate in game characters with RL people as it detracts from roleplaying. The purpose of an MMORPG is to allow you to do and be things you can't normal do and be. Therefore you don't want to think about that orc/wizard/wookie/whatever being some fat loser in his parents basement.

I would also say that fighting/racing/sports games I could go either way, but generally play alone. I would possibly give merit to the idea that MMOFPS games are social in that they are often played at LAN parties or at least with people you know. However, I prefer not to play these games against people I know, because should I frag somebody 15 times in a row (not that I could, I suck at these games) I wouldn't want to have to hear them bitch about it, especially once the game is over. *badeep badeep badeep* thats all folks.