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Videogame Injuries - The Ugly Truth
Thanks to the BBC for their article discussing the problems of injuries sustained while playing videogames. The author discusses the "definite physical element" to some gaming, commenting in relation to F-Zero GX: "Those [real-life] finger tendons and neck muscles can suffer when your game of choice involves efforts to overtake a craft travelling at 1,400kph." He also discusses stranger problems: "Possibly the most bizarre games-related condition that has been reported is Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (Havs), something previously recognised in operators of jackhammers, but now increasingly associated with joypad vibration." What terrible injuries related to gaming have you sustained?
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If you used to play NES games with the official controller, you know what I'm talking about. The unergonomic design of the original controller caused blisters for many an old-school gamer.
I definitely think that the largest physical harm from video games is done to your eyes. I know that looking at computer monitors set at 60hz definitely can cause some eye strain, and in my case, even some vision problems. I can't say that 100% of my bad eyesight has come from computer monitors and tv screens, but I feel it definitely has had a negative impact on my vision. I'm at the point now where many types of contacts are not available to me because of the strength of my perscription. Bad vision runs in my family, but nobody's is as bad as mine. Since I have started using 85hz or more on my monitors, I have noticed my eyesight has stopped getting worse, and I don't get headaches from those 12 hour gaming sessions. Am I the only one who has noticed that refresh rates have a large impact on eye strain?
You can't mention the maladies provided by video games without mentioning the numerous physical benefits that they provide:
1) Calluses. Nice, thick calluses provide an insulation from the various pains of daily life. With such amazing home remedies as Gran Turismo 3, Mark of the Wolves, and, for the truly hardcore, that goddamned stupid analog stick on the Nintendo 64 controller, you can develop the sort of calluses that make seamstresses and lobstermen fell inadequate and immasculated.
2) Survival. If the dead ever rise from their graves, let's face it folks, the average man is fucked six ways from Sunday. He'll be snackfood in fifty-nine minutes shy of an hour. But not you, mighty gamer. You'll know exactly what to do. If there's a gun shop, you'll loot it. If there's a window, you'll avoid it. If something looks like it has a pair of impossibly silky, sexy legs, you'll run like a scared little girl because you know exactly what's above that hideous, evil beast's waistline. And if you happen to encounter a diminutive young medic on a train bound for Hell, you'll know exactly how she can help you: by being a pretty little pack mule to hold your crap for you.
3) Puzzle solving. Yeah, okay, so Bob down at the office can build an entire IT infrastructure in under two hours and Robert's just fucking MacGuyver (which comes in handy if you need MacGuyver's phone number, I guess), but you know REAL problem solving. If someone needs to arrange some blocks, you're Johnny On The Spot. And if someone says to you, "Hey, do you know which arcane artifact of ancient power this one-of-a-kind shiny magical crystal fits into?", you'll know exactly which one it fits in: the one that's the same shape. That's just the sort of awesome problem solving knowledge and skill that you bring to the team. They might not see your value today, but after someone decides to put a new lock on the bathroom door that only unlocks when you've pressed the corresponding color-coded switch on the other side of the building, you'll really start to shine.
And finally...
4) Advanced Military Tactics. ZERG RUSH KEKEKEKEKE.