Slashdot Mirror
Video Games Make People Fat and Mean
dblh3l1x writes "Reuters is reporting that a Swedish group finds 'Video games can make children fat and, in the case of violent games popular among teenage and younger boys, aggressive and even criminal.' These articles make me want to hurt someone. If I didn't get out of breath so easily, I'd go hurt someone right now, so instead I'm just going to go play the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo again."
I don't know about mean, but I'm sure that if I excercised instead of played UT2k3, I'd probably be in a lot better shape. :)
Bleakness... Desolation... Plastic Forks...
Actually video games attract people who are fat and mean.
Fit mean people beat other up in the real world.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Want to get back at that school bully who has been taking your lunch money? Play more Quake! Then you can be big and mean and whoop his ass!
What are you waiting for, four eyes? Get busy gaming so you can take your vengence!
instead I'm just going to go play the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo again.
MAN does this demo not rock intently! It's all I've been doing for days. I use the name:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
so that when my team takes down the core they see
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA: HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
Hey Limbaugh! Put down that damn joystick!
Any dedicated gamer can tell you that video games don't cause violence... and we'll kill anyone who says they do!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Funny, I thought that calories made people fat.
So, if I stop eating but play lots of video games I will gain weight?
I really hope that horribly bad statement was the reporter paraphasing (badly) the studies, rather than the conclusion the researchers came up with.
www.eFax.com are spammers
By being a normal weight and not being mean? I'd better be carefull or I'll get labelled as a terrorist!
Speed Demos Archive - Lots of speed runs!
I, for one, welcome our surly obese juvenile overlords with their excellent hand-eye coordination. I will only look on with admiration as they mature into an entire generation of Baron Harkonnen's.
And if they need someone to direct them to sources of slaves to toil in their lardmines, they know where to look.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
According to http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/ 20040301/hl_nm/leisure_games_dc_6
Video Games Make Kids Fat, Violent, Swedish Experts Say
Personally I like the headline better if it is Video Games Make Kids Fat, Violent Swedish Experts Say
I leave it to the reader to decide how the sentence should be read but my personal vision is something like, "WTF YOU CALL THIS LUTEFISK!!??! GET IT RIGHT OR I'M GONNA BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!"
And violence makes you mean? Final Fantasy Tactics is a game about a civil war which consists primarily of battling with swords, guns, knives, spears, axes, magic, and mathematics. That's obviously a game centered around violence (especially math; that stuff HURTS). However, the good guys strive for peace; mediating between the two forces and looking out for the little guy. If FFT really makes kids mean then you can colour me confused.
In other words, video games really ARE the perfect training ground for the future pilots of the military's UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) aircraft! Who cares how much the weigh as long as they're good with a joystick and enjoy fragging people! (Perhaps "Ender's Game" was more prophetic than we would like to think.)
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
I prefer "Video Games Make Kids Fat, Violent, Swedish; Experts Say"
I like the idea of kids running around going "Bork Bork Bork" on their way to Babbage's or McDonalds.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
"...which concluded that scientific findings of the effects, if any, of violent video games were scant."
"But it has been proved beyond dispute that people who watch a lot of violence on television develop aggressive behavior," said Frank Lindblad
For some reason Swedish television companies (the violent swedish experts in the article) loves to make documentaries and take things out of proportion, and then make another program where celebrities (but not usually experts who, if present, don't get to say much) debate the program.
It is as if Rush Limbaugh made a documentary and then used his own documentary as proof in another program.
Is there some reason he seems to take this issue personally?
"'They are in poor physical shape, they eat unhealthily, grow fat and suffer insomnia,' she said. "
Yeah, they have to wait until they are 24 and working 12+ hours a day in a desk job. Then it is perfectly OK for this behaviour! It will have the added benefit of them NOT enjoying the activity also.
But they will still:
* Feel like killing people every 5 min
* Get no sun or physical activity
* Eat pizza and soft drinks
* Have no life
Unfortunately they will be able to blow off steam because your can't frag your opponent (read: boss) using an excel spreadsheet. (only older versions have the 3d doom game)
I hate how they (the media, reporters, maybe even the swiss!) do this... They don't bother to point out that the rating on GTA:3 or GTA:VC is M. It's like saying "Letting kids watch "R" movies makes them less attentive to violence. No shit? The rating system is DESIGNED so that Children can't buy this game. Most major gaming retailers won't sell the titles to people under 18 (in the perfect world atleast). These games are meant for Adults, and evidentally the media no longer cares how it rates itself.
How to Speak Leet
"Reuters is reporting that a Swedish group finds 'Video games can make children fat and, in the case of violent games popular among teenage and younger boys, aggressive and even criminal.' These articles make me want to hurt someone.
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I see... br
*backs slowly away*
I would expect such blatant racism on Fark, but on Slashdot? Mods please ban this asshole.
and with all the amount of stuff, and all the people, you can find anecdotal evidence to support most any theory. It's a good thing these people are, you know, experts, or I'd be inclined to distrust their opinions.
The article itself states that the documentary "was followed by a panel debate, which concluded that scientific findings of the effects, if any, of violent video games were scant."
So it's just some "experts" seeding panic for personal fame and fortune.
While we're all here, I would like to use this opportunity to link to a little snippet from ebay on my own site, which proves beyond any doubt that games are, indeed, corrupting today's youth.
I like the idea of: "Video Games Make Kids Fat, Violent, Swedish," Experts Say.
Some how I don't think this study is very well done (from the article). No where did they say who was specifically targeted, any reference to a controled situation, how many people where observed, how they where observed and the period of time. "Experts". Riiight. I think the generilization of this report is quite harmfull. Im a gamer. Im not fat or have abnormal violent tendicies. But having the label "Video Games Make Kids Fat, Violent" is quite misleading. My question to the "Experts" would be "Was the an actual expeperiment followed by a report? Or is this your opioin based on no actual research?" Come on guys. Get off our backs.
Expert's GF asks if they are going to the LAN party.
"Video Games!?! Make Kids" Fat, Violent, Swedish Experts Say
"But it has been proved beyond dispute that people who watch a lot of violence on television develop aggressive behavior," said Frank Lindblad, a child psychiatrist at Sweden's Karolinska Institute university hospital.
So is he or is he not part of the group? He could've just been an guest speaker or a commentor on the topic.
Well, not precisely. In my case, videogames have made me fat and very nice, happy and downright jovial. In the case of my S.O., who usually plays a lot more video games than me, she is skinny and mean.
There's one for the statiticians!
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
"Video Games Make Kids", fat violent Swedish experts say.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
"Video Games Make People Fat and Mean"
That's OK, because studies like this make you stupid.
"when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.
that's it's better for society as a whole if I beat people to death and shoot random people in a videogame instead of in reality.
Ok....
Plays computer games? Check.
Fat? According to the insurance industry... check.
Mean? Not according to what I've been told.
That's me.
Plays computer games? Check.
Fat? No check.
Mean? No check.
That's my best friend.
Plays computer games? No check.
Fat? No check.
Mean? Check.
That's [pick one: Timothy McVeigh, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Ashcroft, Andrea Yates, Ted Bundy, all of the above].
It's rather obvious that the "researchers" and the author are taking correlation for causation at the least; more likely, they've dredged up the findings they want and have published them as scientifically accurate.
Meanwhile, the studies which have said that video games can actually be beneficial are buried.
~UP
Eat the Path.
Gustav Niel-Berggren, a 16-year-old student who said he tended to spend many hours a day several days a week playing an interactive online action game called Counter-Strike, which focuses on killing opponent soldiers
Soldiers!?!?!?!? I haven't played counter-strike in a while but last time I checked they were fighting terrorists. It seems that every other slashdot story accuses someone of being a terrorist and one finally comes along that is about real terrorists (well virtual real terrorists at least) and they are "soldiers". Why call them soldiers instead of terrorists? Could it possible be something to do with fighting terrorism perhaps being a good thing and video games couldn't possibly be good? Maybe "Video games are good" isn't as good of a headline.
In Soviet Russia Slashdot cliches use you
Yeah I sure get pissed off after playing tetris. I look in the mirror and think "holy shit! look at how much weight i gained since I started playing today" then I go raging around the neighborhood throwing bricks, trying to pile them into nice stacks.
What? Sitting on your ass all day can make someone fat? Who would have guessed? They might as well say "watching too much TV makes you fat" or even better, "reading books all day makes you fat". You need exercise to stay trim and healthy.
As far as violent...I agree and disagree. I'm a pretty mellow person and I've been known to toss the controller across the room when the game didn't make me too happy. Then again, I did the same thing to a model when I was trying to get the joystick in the cockpit.
Anti-gamers will try to pin any and all social problems on games. You can fit any bad behavior into it. I'd rather be outside playing football and getting mad at someone on the opposite team any day. But these people really need to stop blaming EVERYTHING on games. Go outside. Play. But don't say the only reason kids may get fat or angry is because of a game.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
This is not true at all. I've played games all my life and I'm not Fat, Infact I'm terribly underweight.
As for the anger thing, well I'll tell you about that after I dislodge my Controller from the wall.
Why aren't there any reports stating that football/soccer/[insert sport here] gives players violent tendencies? Comparitively how many time have you seen a news bit on how a sports player was arrested for killing/raping/etc... and how many times a gamer did the same? Infact, how many times have you heard a news bit that anyone has committed a violent act? Are we to believe that life itself makes you violent?
Atleast the kids are using some parts of their brains when playing videogames compared to tv, where you practically goes into deep rem sleep.
--- No, english is not my mother tongue.
I will say the obvious here:
Show me your data, I want to know the sample sizes, I want to know the methodology and I want to know what criteria you used to decide who was fat and mean. Using words like "Fat" and "mean" to describe the conclusions of what is supposed to be a scientifically valid study really undermines the creditability to begin with. There is a documentary that goes along with this research? Sounds like they already had their minds made up what the results should be before they even started the study.
But then again, who cares right? In this day and age the truth isn't all that important, and scaring the moms of the world are what get the evening news ratings right?
Last time I checked, it was still perfectly legal to be "fat and mean".
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I don't suppose their parents could be partly to blame, just a little?
"But it has been proved beyond dispute that people who watch a lot of violence on television develop aggressive behavior,"
That's quite a generalization, one that's used all too often. Just blame it on a game or tv, etc. It's easier that way.
Ah yes, video games, yet another species in the Scapegoat Petting Zoo. See it together with late night TV and R rated movies! Sponsered by GOLPUPWMIS (Governments and Organizations Looking to Please Unresponsible Parents With Meaningless, Incorrect Studies) Baaaaaaaaaa.
Games like Dance Dance Revolution make you Lean and Mean!.
We used stuff like Papa Smurf, Smurfette, CalypsoBreeze, Fabio.... The idea being that if you got owned by a dude with prissy name your confusion and humiliation caused low self-esteem.
It's like why boys don't want girls playing in their sport, they can only not win, or lose big.
Where someone -- either TV4 or they're simply tools -- is trying to create the news that 'video games make children violent'. It's been going on for two days now and will culminate tomorrow with some sort of 'documentary', which I'm going to _assume_ was produced by that former US Army guy who always seems to pop up when there's talk about video games and violence.
We have a word over here for this "moralpanik" ("Moral panic"). To pimp this documentary the TV4 news 'previewed' it for some [woman] politician or another known for her prowess at shouting "BUT THINK OF THE CHILDREN". Oh, well.
Want to bet that this 'documentary' won't say a thing about violent games being an _outlet_ so you don't have to go hit someone IRL?
Somewhat ironically, todays news also included "Football fans get together to fight", which is just that. Apparently two opposing teams set a time and a place and number (they want even teams), then the fight it out. No weapons allowed.
Oddly enough, I haven't heard of any new studies being started to see if being a sportsfan leads to violence. Maybe we should restrict sports to people of age?
All in all it stinks. They're manufacturing "news", and bad "news" at that. I'm going to watch this 'documentary' and if it's too one sided I'll report it to "Granskningsnamnden for radio & TV" which is an institution whose job it is to study news and the like to make sure it's fair and impartial and not too loop sided. A "conviction " by GNR will require the channel to make a public retration of sorts, so there's not a lot of tooth there, but it's something.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Correction: GNR can actually fine a channel. TV4 was just ordered to pay 250,000SEK (~$25000) for airing an episode of Dr. Phil.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Well, if their research on games was as good as their knowledge on what consoles are dominating. By listing the Xbox first
"...dominated on the hardware side by Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox, Sony Corp's PlayStation and Nintendo Co. Ltd's Game Boy and GameCube consoles."
they're implying that the Xbox is the most popular, which is obviously not true, and I think the same goes for the rest of their "research"
FUCKING MARIO! make me so mad i wanna eat cheetos.
Oh no! Reuters are reporting something so it MUST be true! And we should care!
These arguments have been around for a very long time. It is just one of those things that will not go away.
.45 in the closet. Don't try to force your views on every one else, after all, it is YOUR most important job to look out for your children.
Do video games desensitize people? I'd have to say yes. But then desensitization is not the same thing as making someone more prone to violent tendencies. Many people join the armed forces, to pay their way through college or whatnot. Part of the training is meant to prepare you to kill. Everyone I know who has been through it come back more serious about life and death, but not more violent.
Another thing they are missing here is that maybe it is just that a larger number of people who are lazy, or mean play these kinds of games. Think about it. If you are a lazy person, are you going to be more apt to play sports for entertainment, or play video games and watch TV? Myself, after sitting for awhile gaming, I sometimes feel restless and need to get up for awhile and do something else.
Same with mean people... Are they more likely to play a game of Chess, or to play something where they get to take out their "meanness" on characters in a game?
"Most people who are mean play violent games" and "most people who play violent games are mean" do NOT mean the same thing.
I also feel like I should mention, that I knew who the mean ones in my high school were. How can you not? Now did they tend to be the ones playing violent games? Yes. Football. Most of them never touched PCs, and mostly played sports games on consoles if at all.
Honestly, most of the people I know that play games like UT, ET, and Quake, like to get together and play socially, and tend to be some of the nicer, more cooperative and reliable people.
Lastly. Parents: Letting your children play a game that you feel is harmful to them is tantamount to allowing them to play with your
After all, it is not the "Village" that raises a child, it is the parents.
... I would say that violent videogames makes us embrace sarcasm more than anything else.
Condoleezza Rice is fat, but CoyboyNeal is mean.
Games don't make people commit violent acts. That much is obvious. Games however, and this has been successfully demonstrated with desensitivity training in the military, and results of introducing television into remote communities, do desensitise the players to the consequences of their actions, and as such increase the range of immediately emotionally painless responses to any given situation.
Previously, people with inadequate ability to deal with their environments bottled it up, or released their frustrations into other areas as they actually felt revulsion as the concept of causing pain to another human. A correct upbringing with the social code implanted accordingly, meant that people would actively avoid the emotional pain that goes with causing physical harm to another person.
Most people still have their social circuitry wired correctly. Most of us won't commit a violent act when presented with a stressful situation. But I'll use dblh3l1x's comment as an example.
These articles make me want to hurt someone.
Why does he want to hurt someone? Is that a valid and correct response to something he takes as a slight against? Even better yet, where did he learn that this was a valid response, even just in verbal expression?
Surely dblh3l1x's Mother wouldn't have taught him that, and most probably his Father wouldn't have either.
Where else was that behaviour learnt as acceptable?
Why are they assuming that without video games teenage males would have a pleasant disposition? Give me a break. Speaking from personal experience, I was an agressive, stupid teen who liked doing stupid shit (like making my own ninja stars and blow dart guns etc) and this was in early 80's. It's called being a teenage male! Games have nothing to do with it......
I guess that's why I weigh 120lbs, haven't been in a verbal fight as long as I can remember much less a physical one, and have nothing beyond a single speeding ticket...
It's sad when choosing an installation directory on your own qualifies you as an "advanced user."
I have relatives today who are in going to junior high. These kids are spoiled by far compared to kids 10-15 years ago.
They get an A for literally showing up. I am sorry but we used to have to hike uphill 3 miles carrying 100lb bag of junks for warmups.
When the hell did playing Final Fantasy 10 add more weight than Final Fantasy 2.
There's not much to translate incorrectly! Although they finally got "echo grass" right... :P
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
I have this desire to throw bricks of a bridge onto cars
Worried you might not keep your virginity forever? Try new Linux(TM), guaranteed twice as effective as LARPing
I'd like to laugh about the insinuation that gaming promotes violence and obesity but I don't find it funny anymore.
I am too worried first that they may be right. Now I know this is hard to accept but even people you don't agree with, might be right.
Second laughing their queries off like they are nothing only makes us seem biased towards the oppinion that "Video Gamers are fine". This bias might seem obvious to them when they consider, we are gamers!
Anyway I just hope we produce some titles I can point to and call a work of art, which stimulate young minds in useful and productive ways, or at least arn't found to co-ordinate strangly with instances of violence or abuse.
I wish the Slashdot crowd had the audacity to look at their questions and points and respond with seasoned respectable arguements. These conversations of public derision and evasion, are just that.
STOCKHOLM (Reooters) - Feedeu gemes cun meke-a cheeldree fet und, in zee cese-a ooff feeulent gemes pupooler emung teenege-a und yuoonger buys, eggresseefe-a und ifee creeminel, Svedeesh ixperts seeed oon Mundey. Bork bork bork!
... zeere's a lut sooggesteeng thet feedeu gemes ere-a vurse-a," he-a seeed, nuteeng thet muny pleyers tended tu identeeffy zeemselfes veet geme-a herues. Um gesh dee bork, bork! "Zee burder betveee zee furtooel reeleety und zee reel vurld becumes deeffffoose-a und thet is dungeruoos," Leendbled seeed. Bork bork bork!
Zee gemes indoostry, isteemeted et $200 meelliun a yeer in Svedee und $10 beelliun in zee Uneeted Stetes, is dumeeneted oon zee herdvere-a seede-a by Meecrusufft Curp.'s Xbux (noos - veb seetes), Suny Curp (NYSE:SNE - noos) (noos - veb seetes)'s PleySteshun und Neentendu (noos - veb seetes) Cu. Ltd's Geme-a Buy und GemeCoobe-a cunsules. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
Ilectruneec Erts Inc., Neentendu, Ecteefisiun Inc., und Teke-a-Tvu Interecteefe-a Sufftvere-a Inc. ere-a emung leedeeng gemes teetle-a poobleeshers. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
Teke-a-Tvu's Ruckster uneet's Grund Zeefft Ootu -- a geme-a cundemned es "hurrenduoos" by furmer U.S. Demucreteec preseedentiel hupeffool Juseph Leeebermun -- is emung teetles menshuned by a Svedeesh telefeesiun ducoomentery in cunnecshun veet feeulent yuoot creemes. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
"It's cuncerneeng becoose-a zeey (feedeu geme-a pleyers) ere-a reheerseeng screepts ooff behefeeur thet veell pusseebly pley zeemselfes oooot in reel leeffe-a," Meecheel Reech, a member ooff zee Emereecun Ecedemy ooff Pedeeetrics vhu hes stoodeeed zee iffffects ooff interteeenment medeea oon zee physeecel und mentel heelt ooff cheeldree, ves qoouted es seyeeng in zee 45-meenoote-a "Deedly Geme-a" ducoomentery. Bork bork bork!
Mundey's prefeeoo ooff zee feelm, dooe-a fur preeme-a teeme-a bruedcesteeng oon Svedeesh TF4 telefeesiun oon Vednesdey, ves fullooed by a punel debete-a, vheech cunclooded thet sceeentiffic feendings ooff zee iffffects, iff uny, ooff feeulent feedeu gemes vere-a scunt. Um de hur de hur de hur. "Boot it hes beee prufed beyund deespoote-a thet peuple-a vhu vetch a lut ooff feeulence-a oon telefeesiun defelup eggresseefe-a behefeeur," seeed Frunk Leendbled, a cheeld psycheeetrist et Sveden's Keruleenska Insteetoote-a uneefersity huspeetel.
DIFFOOSE BORDER
"Zeey roon a fery heegh reesk ooff creeminel behefeeur
Goostef Neeel-Berggree, a 16-yeer-oold stoodent vhu seeed he-a tended tu spend muny huoors a dey seferel deys a veek pleyeeng un interecteefe-a oonleene-a ecshun geme-a celled Cuoonter-Streeke-a, vheech fucooses oon keelling ooppunent suldeeers, deesegreed. Bork bork bork!
"Shuuteeng sumebudy in a geme-a is joost leeke-a scureeng a guel in a fuutbell metch," he-a seeed, deesmissing zee ducoomentery's sooggesshun und Leendbled's feer thet yuooths cuoold nut deestingooish betveee zee geme-a vurld und reel leeffe-a. Ileesebet Joontteela, a muzeer ooff seex und heed ooff a neshunveede-a essuceeeshun prumuteeng cluser teees betveee humes und schuuls, seeed sume-a cheeldree beceme-a eddeected tu feedeu gemes, spendeeng ell zeeur vekeeng huoors in frunt ooff a cumpooter screee gurgeeng putetu cheeps, peezza und sufft dreenks. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
Unne-a Fulke-a, cu-fuoonder ooff a lubby seekeeng tu cuoonterect thruoogh poobleec evereness cempeeegns vhet it sees es zee ill iffffects ooff feedeu gemes, seeed gemes vere-a cunsoomeeng ifer mure-a ooff cheeldren's teeme-a. "Zeey ere-a in puur physeecel shepe-a, zeey iet unheeltheely, groo fet und sooffffer insumneea," she-a seeed. Bork bork bork!
Videogames killed my father... and raped my mother!
Or
Video Games Make Kids; Fat, Violent, Swedish Experts Say
Not as much as alcohol does...
Pope John Paul the III and Mother Theresa played VG's?!?
Games dont make people fat, the people who play them for hours upon end are responsible (or irresponsible, depending on your point of view). I dont think a game ever held me at gun point to play, and make me order McDonald's, not play sports with friends, just so I could get that Sword of Brilliance in EQ. People need to be more resonsible in their habits, its not the games, because we all know they actually make us trained killers (sarcasm).