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Games Take Away the Pain
Gamasutra reports on a Wheeling Jesuit University study that indicates gameplaying can allow those with great pain to live more fulfilling lives. From the article: "The Wheeling study compared several different genres of games in their effects on pain. Six types of games were used: action, puzzle, arcade, fighting, sports, and boxing, all varieties that encourage high attention and stimulus. (Games such as RPGs and graphical adventures were likely left out of the survey for their low-impact nature.) The game types most effective in distracting from pain, meted out by cold pressor tests after 10 minutes of each subject playing a particular game type, were the sports and fighting games."
While the xbox360 may be more fun... it's also a *lot* more expensive than a couple Motrin.
Rob
Games (especially RPGs) are, in my opinion, the ultimate form of escapism. I'm not sure this need for constant stimulation is a good thing or not, but it really is a great way of avoiding the feelings of pain, embarrassment, and sadness.
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
...who will take away the back pain I get from spending all day in front of my computer playing fighting and sports games?
AC: Only on slashdot... could the sentence "My hovercraft is full of eels." be moderated "+4, Insightful
Sitting and Playing an Online RPG for 16 hrs straight gives me more pain than takes away.
Games CAUSE much pain...
(pain from joysticks hitting my head from my "friends", pain from hitting my head against the wall, popped blood vessels after fighting Azaroth the boss from level 15 for the 27gazillionth time and still losing because the game cheats...)
I'm curious, did they only test the effects of games versus physical pain? Or were mental effects and conditions considered as well? I know personally, games are a great distraction from depression. 'Course, the amount I play, they probably contribute indirectly as well - but shhh, you didn't hear me say that. Now where'd that AC button go...
How many times have you ran towards a save disk in GTA:SA, only to be gunned down by some stupid army guy, then lose all your hard earned minigun ammo cuz you died? That definately causes pain, not helps it...
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
Boxing is a separate category from both sports and fighting? RPGs left out because of low-impact, but puzzle games were included? These choices alone lower their credibility in my eyes.
It sounds like adrenalin. The adrenalin rush from playing fighting and sports games serves to deaden pain. This is just what it's supposed to do as part of the built-in "Fight or Flight" response. It keeps us going when were dead tired, but still needing to run from lions.
www.rdex.net
I wonder if these games produce an adrenaline response? It's like remembering a situation that really pissed you off and you start getting pissed off again - with the resulting adrenaline.
A lot of athletes will use imaging techniques to perfect their game. Only in this instance, you're placing yourself in the role of the game character. So when he gets hit, so do you - in your head.
Six types of games were used: action, puzzle, arcade, fighting, sports, and boxing
How is boxing a type of game? Wouldn't it fall under fighting and/or sports?
Circumcision is child abuse.
I've presistant back pain. I've had is for a few years now, and while it's tollerable when I'm playing a game like WoW it's non-existant. I've known about this for a while now... I'm glad to see there's some research to back me up.
- I voted for Nintendo and against Bush
This confirms the experiences I've had completely. Any time I'd get a migraine, I'd pull the shades down and launch a "one-more-turn-itis" game like Civ, MOO, etc. It not only reguarly helped reduce the pain, but it also helped me ignore the pain I had.
I always thought it was the large amounts of alcohol I consumed while playing the game.
"Look1nga fr grppp! Eh! Wut are you lokking at! Lt me togle" pvp NOW u die nooadfbah ah shit ya killed me SONF OF SFSDFSDFFCKUDSIEFEIJDSasdfasdfFOJ!!!1!1"
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
I use this technique. I get migraines (full on once per 6-8 weeks, mini-migraines once per 2 weeks).
And when I say migraine I don't mean "Oh, my head hurts." I mean "I see bright spots, Now one side of my head feels like a stiletto is being driven into it. I think I'll take a triptan (pill) and lie down and get nauseous for 6-12 hours. Then I think I'll feel weak with random short stiletto pains for 2-7 days."
BTW, thank God for triptans. Until 5 years ago the doctor approved remedy was "take two sleeping pills and go to bed". I have trained myself to go unconscious as quickly as possible once a migraine starts. The triptan doesn't solve the initial headache, but it substantially reduces the secondary effects, making me an invalid for only 1-2 days as opposed to a full week.
Playing a game that consumes as much of my attention as possible greatly relieves that pain. And, while I am sure adrenaline doesn't hurt, it isn't needed. Reading a consuming book or watching consuming TV works just as well. Even computer programming works to dull the pain.
But "consuming" is the important point. Crap TV is useless. I have to care more, much more, about what is going on on the screen or in the book than I do about my head.
Another reason games and TV work better than reading, is that the migraine makes it hard to focus on text. The words jump around or bright spots appear in my field of vision. Things that are constantly changing and have large visual areas (vs the pinpoint area for reading) means that I can lose more of the information on the screen and still understand (or not even notice the visual error).
Its a no-brainer. While playing games most of the attention of the player is diverted towards the game itself which subdues the intensity of the pain signals processed by the brain. Yes, your brain is capable of classifynig the priority of areas requiring attiontion. Have you ever noticed that if you get two injuries, then you will only feel pain in the one which is more serious.
Speaking as someone with Fibromyalgia, I've found that getting into a good videogame or novel can really push physical sensation so far into the background that it's not really noticeable. I'm mostly into Strategy and RPG games, I've never thought to compare, but getting intellectually engrossed in a game is quite effective without adrenaline pumping play.
I wonder if videogames are essentially guided meditation? Thinking about pain definitely makes it seem worse, just having something to help get the mind off of it really helps. Intense conversation with another person can have a very similar effect.
http://www.2flashgames.com/viewlink.php?url=http:/ /www.lookatentertainment.com/v/v-1753.htm&id=1
Funny how an article like this should turn up, just when we were starting to develop sensory-neural interfaces, pain receptors, to be integrated in those action games, so we can feel those punches and shots.
So do you want your kid to grow up with a lot fewer life skills? Why not give him or her a video game-box to spend all those thousands of childhood growth hours on?
Heck, why not plug yourself into a game box as well? Why grow into a skilled and accomplished person with fine-tuned power over your emotional and spiritual being when you can be turning pixels on and off, over and over and over?
I know I'm being hypocritical here. . , I've wasted zillions of hours on video crack in my youth as well, and even learned a few useful skills and tactics doing so. --But I also built my own computer when I was a kid, went to creative lengths to pirate all my games, and most importantly, I didn't start until I was 12 years old. I'd wager that when today's kids are as old as my generation is now, they'll be generally much less socially aware and physically capable as a direct result of too much video crack when their young brains should be sucking up as much real-world experience as possible.
-FL
Obviously they don't mean Tendonitis and RSI.
Picture this. So you're in an instance and:
;)
- the "healer" doesn't heal. Ever. There could be a full team wipe happening around him, and he'd be out of mana blasting with his offensive spells, doing a whole 50% of a mage's damage output. (Yes, I know priests are a more complex class than just "healer", but there's something offensive when a paladin ends up spending half the mana to keep alive a priest that's busy blasting.)
He does however raid all chests while everyone else is still in combat, or indeed got aggroed by a patroll while in a fight. He also rolls "Need" on everything, chain mail, leather and swords included.
He also leaves just before the boss fight, after he's got the staff he was there for.
- the mage thinks he's a melee fighter, bravely charging with his trusty old kitchen knife. Someone posts a damage dealer statistic and the mage is in the last place, doing half the paladin's damage, and, you know, the paladin is tanking and healing. He also has the annoying habbit of using the sheep spell all the time, and invariably on the target everyone else is blasting. Occasionally the mage pulls a Leroy Jenkins and is heard screaming "HEAL!" from behind a corner, and a good 100 yards away.
- the dual-wield warrior never waits for the casters to refill their mana. He also thinks that "pulling" means doing a charge into the next enemy group. Preferrably while everyone else is drinking to refill their mana.
- the hunter has his pet on aggressive, so it keeps pulling a different enemy, or running up a side tunnel to aggro a completely different enemy. He also can't decide if he's a melee fighter or a ranged fighter, and is occasionally seen rushing ahead of everyone else and trying to tank. He's sure to tell everyone every 5 minutes that he has 3 level 60 alts, though. (Yet doesn't even know what's in the first instance in the game, or basic tactics. Go figure.)
He too leaves just before the boss fight.
Add some seasoning in the form of a group member trying to discuss in detail their taking a dump. (Laptops are great, or what?) Another one is talking only in some engrish. Yet another one doesn't talk at all, ever, and the only attempt at communication is trying to give everyone some junk he rolled "need" for earlier. E.g., the Paladin gets to close trade windows once every 5 seconds, in combat, as the mage tries to give him a low level gun (which paladins can't use anyway.) Etc.
I don't know if that would take someone's mind off pain, but a cure for sadness it sure isn't
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.