For a while, I have been waiting for truly "adult" games to hit the market. And before our 3 female readers revolt, I'm talking about more than just "borking" in ME2, or the advent of sexy photorealistic ladies. After all, leisure suit larry was already chasing pixellated tail "way" back in the early nineties.
Games have long been associated with children, and since we young-ish adults have grown up with videogames, games have sort of grown up with us. I say sort-of, because game technology, graphics, and gameplay have evolved. But most games are still targeted at tweens and teens, no matter what their ESRB rating claims.
So where are the games with truly adult themes? I'm talking about the breadth of human emotion here. Something more than just saving the princess or killing space marines. Mainstream cinema has no problem producing stimulating dramatic stories which balance artistic integrity, depth of plot, and mass market appeal. Yes, Transformers 2 still makes tons of money, but we still see Avatar and The Hurt Locker on the big screen. And moves like Precious or District 9 get made, even though they won't sell millions of bags of popcorn or action figures.
Network TV has embraced the least common denominator with it's plethora of reality shows. But American Idol and Biggest Loser are still balanced by The Wire, Mad Men, Lost, and 30 Rock et al.
I understand that console and handheld game markets are dominated by children, and many buying decisions are made by parents. However, adult game purchasers are a large and ever-growing demographic, so it seems obvious to me that game developers should be targeting adults with adult games.
I accept that PG-rated "sex scenes" are a step towards mature themes in games, but i don't understand why more developers aren't targeting truly adult audience. The obvious argument is that development dollars will cater to the largest demographics, so as to increase game studio profits. But where are the "independent" yet well-financed game studios that can rival "indie" film studios? 20 years ago "sex lies and videotape" defined the low budget crossover indie movie. Now "independent" movies can command a large production budget and can expect a modest return on investment. So why aren't there more game studios coming out with Shadow of the Colossus, Braid, and Heavy Rain?
I'm a doctor, and we use laptops in our office, instead of paper charts. So I carry a laptop around all day long while I see patients.
Personally, I tend to wipe my laptop down every once in a while (maybe twice a week) with some disinfectant wipes, though I only do this when some sort of liquid gets on it.
As for your question, onces your laptop has had a few hours to air out, it's probably safe. Most viruses don't live for very long out in the open, although live isn't really the right term. Once they are dry, they are pretty much going to be inactivated. They are usually spread through little droplets that get on your hands, objects, etc. Those droplets then have to get into you (your mouth, eyes, nose etc) in order to infect you. If there are little virus-containing droplets on your laptop, they will pretty quickly dry out and become inactive.
Frequent handwashing is the best thing that you can do to avoid transmitting diseases. It reduces the chances that you will spread something from you to objects around you, and also reduce the chances that you will infect yourself after touching contaminated objects.
Just to address a couple other issues in the replies to this post:
A previous infetion usually protects you from a repeat infection. For instance, you are probably not going to get chicken pox twice. On the other hand, there are several strains of influenza, and those strains mutate each season. So you can get infected year after year, which is why there are annual flu shots. Or in the example of common colds, there are many different viruses which cause cold symptoms, and each of them may have several strains. So you can get lots of colds over the course of your life, even if you are immune to some of the viruses you have been exposed to in the past.
And one last thing - I'm just going to repeat how important it is to wash your hands a lot if you don't want to get sick. In the winter, I might see 25-30 patients a day, most of whom have colds of some sort. I probably wash my hands 50 or so times a day (before and efter each patient) and I don't get sick any more than anyone else.
I completely agree. Halflife is a perfect example of how immersion adds to the overall emotional experience of a game. In a horror movie, you are worried about the main character, and let's face it, you sorta like seeing them get offed. When they open the creepy door, you groan, and, oh surprise, there's the axe murderer.
Compare that to a game where you are the character. From the tram ride at the start of HL, you are alone, and you ARE the story. The next thing you know, your health's 54, and your new best friend is a rusty crowbar. You walk up to the creepy door, and heck yeah, you are gonna open it. After all, there's nothing good behind you except for a headcrab that just tried to eat your face. From that point on, you are wrapped up in the game more than any fright flick could ever hope for.
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For a while, I have been waiting for truly "adult" games to hit the market. And before our 3 female readers revolt, I'm talking about more than just "borking" in ME2, or the advent of sexy photorealistic ladies. After all, leisure suit larry was already chasing pixellated tail "way" back in the early nineties.
Games have long been associated with children, and since we young-ish adults have grown up with videogames, games have sort of grown up with us. I say sort-of, because game technology, graphics, and gameplay have evolved. But most games are still targeted at tweens and teens, no matter what their ESRB rating claims.
So where are the games with truly adult themes? I'm talking about the breadth of human emotion here. Something more than just saving the princess or killing space marines. Mainstream cinema has no problem producing stimulating dramatic stories which balance artistic integrity, depth of plot, and mass market appeal. Yes, Transformers 2 still makes tons of money, but we still see Avatar and The Hurt Locker on the big screen. And moves like Precious or District 9 get made, even though they won't sell millions of bags of popcorn or action figures.
Network TV has embraced the least common denominator with it's plethora of reality shows. But American Idol and Biggest Loser are still balanced by The Wire, Mad Men, Lost, and 30 Rock et al.
I understand that console and handheld game markets are dominated by children, and many buying decisions are made by parents. However, adult game purchasers are a large and ever-growing demographic, so it seems obvious to me that game developers should be targeting adults with adult games.
I accept that PG-rated "sex scenes" are a step towards mature themes in games, but i don't understand why more developers aren't targeting truly adult audience. The obvious argument is that development dollars will cater to the largest demographics, so as to increase game studio profits. But where are the "independent" yet well-financed game studios that can rival "indie" film studios? 20 years ago "sex lies and videotape" defined the low budget crossover indie movie. Now "independent" movies can command a large production budget and can expect a modest return on investment. So why aren't there more game studios coming out with Shadow of the Colossus, Braid, and Heavy Rain?
yep. that's been going on for quite some time.
I'm a doctor, and we use laptops in our office, instead of paper charts. So I carry a laptop around all day long while I see patients.
Personally, I tend to wipe my laptop down every once in a while (maybe twice a week) with some disinfectant wipes, though I only do this when some sort of liquid gets on it.
As for your question, onces your laptop has had a few hours to air out, it's probably safe. Most viruses don't live for very long out in the open, although live isn't really the right term. Once they are dry, they are pretty much going to be inactivated. They are usually spread through little droplets that get on your hands, objects, etc. Those droplets then have to get into you (your mouth, eyes, nose etc) in order to infect you. If there are little virus-containing droplets on your laptop, they will pretty quickly dry out and become inactive.
Frequent handwashing is the best thing that you can do to avoid transmitting diseases. It reduces the chances that you will spread something from you to objects around you, and also reduce the chances that you will infect yourself after touching contaminated objects.
Just to address a couple other issues in the replies to this post:
A previous infetion usually protects you from a repeat infection. For instance, you are probably not going to get chicken pox twice. On the other hand, there are several strains of influenza, and those strains mutate each season. So you can get infected year after year, which is why there are annual flu shots. Or in the example of common colds, there are many different viruses which cause cold symptoms, and each of them may have several strains. So you can get lots of colds over the course of your life, even if you are immune to some of the viruses you have been exposed to in the past.
And one last thing - I'm just going to repeat how important it is to wash your hands a lot if you don't want to get sick. In the winter, I might see 25-30 patients a day, most of whom have colds of some sort. I probably wash my hands 50 or so times a day (before and efter each patient) and I don't get sick any more than anyone else.
I completely agree. Halflife is a perfect example of how immersion adds to the overall emotional experience of a game. In a horror movie, you are worried about the main character, and let's face it, you sorta like seeing them get offed. When they open the creepy door, you groan, and, oh surprise, there's the axe murderer. Compare that to a game where you are the character. From the tram ride at the start of HL, you are alone, and you ARE the story. The next thing you know, your health's 54, and your new best friend is a rusty crowbar. You walk up to the creepy door, and heck yeah, you are gonna open it. After all, there's nothing good behind you except for a headcrab that just tried to eat your face. From that point on, you are wrapped up in the game more than any fright flick could ever hope for.