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Body and Brains of Gamers Probed
ElvenMonkey writes "The BBC News is reporting about researchers at the University of Hull who are performing what they call the first scientific research into what actually happens when you play computer games, using a method called 'mood testing' (previously used on athletes.) Hardly surprisingly results so far show that we don't like losing, and that gaming puts you into an altered state. I can see it now.. computer games, the next designer drug."
Gaming, the next drug? Hardly.
But doing drugs WHILE gaming? Thats never going to go out of style.
Well, I am glad that they finally figured out what most of us mother's have known for a long time. Have you ever tried to talk to your kid when they are playing a game? Or, have you ever heard a group of boys ages 11-14 play Halo? Yikes!!
Based on this, the researchers have hypothesised so far that the psycho-physiological impacts are similar to physical sports.
That if we have more games like Dance Dance Revolution, or VR games where we move... we'll be healthier on the whole?
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I'd like to see the brain readings when a console game gets started up. Nothing like seven unskippable splash screens in a row to really affect the enjoyment of a game.
No doubt. I bet scientifically that is the most unenjoyable part of the gaming experience. I'd rather lose a game that have to sit through the splash screen sequence of most games.
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that talking to me while I'm playing is like talking to a robot, or a zombie.
It's called concentration. When I am playing a game seriously I am lost in it. It's the same as a serious athletic event (or even practice). I would be completely blacked out from concentration. If I did happen to be able to discern what was going on around me I had lost concentration to the point of losing my edge in the competition.
Just because video games don't carry the same social weight as athletics doesn't mean your mind/body don't treat them the same way.
if you go by the definition of "drug" as anything that alters your body chemistry nearly everything IS a drug.
;)) participate in it thereby rounding out the bell curve of addiction, where as heroin use is nowhere near as pervasive as sex. it attracts a certain personality and usually someone predisposed to addiction.
it's those with dependency problems that blow things way out of proportion AND attract the most attention. it'd be a sad day if video games start getting regulated like any other drug.
sex is addictive as heroin. yet it's not regulated (yet). the difference being that most normal people (/.ers excluded
it's nearly the same w/video games. they're not the problem, they're the symptom of something larger.
for a minute there, i lost myself...
English skills: worse
The effect can also be the opposite for those who are not native speakers of English.
"Hardly surprisingly results so far show that we don't like losing, and that gaming puts you into an altered state. I can see it now.. computer games, the next designer drug."
What does that say about regular sports then? As much as the media and certain senators harp on about videogame violence, altered states and behaviorial programming, real life sports causes more property damage and more lives lost than any video game ever has on a year to year basis, yet the most you'll see on THAT is a 30 second segment on the news or a Real TV clip. Football riots, eggball (football), Hockey... The home team wins or a bad call is made and boom! You instantly have a million in property damage, 15 dead, and 45 injured... And that's just one of several incidents per year. These are people losing and winning.
Why there even needs to be a study is beyond me... Videogames are pretty sedate compared to that.
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So now the observation of the individual is useless? It doesn't matter how valid an observation is, only who made it, when, and with what goals in mind? Geez, people have a right to an observation, regardless of status or authority don't they?
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