Video games, speed and the clash of thinking styles

**superjackal** · 9th July 2013, 10:35

A couple of guys at work are anti-video game. But are they bad?

I’d been bombarded by my parents telling me that I spent too much time playing video games as a kid. To be fair I could spend all day playing video games and when you watch someone do that it’s hard not to believe that they’re not wasting their life. Recently I did a web-training course and the instructor made an interesting insight. She allowed her two boys as much time as they wanted playing games as she felt it was their brains craving information at a high rate. She believed that the rapid fire decision making and constant stimulus led her boys to become faster, more creative thinkers. Ever sat in a classroom bored by the pace of information coming at you?

Which leads me to speed. What exactly is it that is so thrilling about speed? It’s the bombardment of information at a high pace and your brain loving the rapid processing of information.

Here’s the clash, some brains love it and others don’t. For a brain that likes to digest and process information slowly, speed is clutter which they can’t process properly.

As a society we need both types of brains.

Speed is good. Just watch out for flower sniffers.

Anyway, that’s my half-baked thought for the day.

**unstuck** · 9th July 2013, 10:42

My kids were only allowed an hour a day during the week(schooldays) and a maximum of 2hrs on the weekend. I must be a tyrant. But I have wonderful kids now, somehow.

**buggerit** · 9th July 2013, 10:57

Before video games you needed an active imagination to stimulate your brain, alot of it also involved physical activity and the reality of the real world of bumps,bruises and human interaction. The video games seem to provide that much information that the imagination is not
required to add excitment and I wonder if it will actually dull their senses, meaning they require more stimulation to get the same level of
excitment of previous generations?

**gijoe1313** · 9th July 2013, 11:43

Playing vidjeo gamez never done me no wrong!

**bogan** · 9th July 2013, 11:45

What is the difference between video gaming, watching TV, and faffing about on the intertubes?

**superjackal** · 9th July 2013, 11:52

Originally Posted by buggerit

Before video games you needed an active imagination to stimulate your brain, alot of it also involved physical activity and the reality of the real world of bumps,bruises and human interaction. The video games seem to provide that much information that the imagination is not
required to add excitment and I wonder if it will actually dull their senses, meaning they require more stimulation to get the same level of
excitment of previous generations?

I can't help but think that we're always progressing as a species. What stimulated a 50s kid just doesn't cut it with modern kids as they're used to... well.. better, more interesting toys. Take a 50s kid and give him the choice of his toys or modern toys and there's no question.

Technology's not necessarily better. But it's there.

I grew up with loats of video games but was still very physically active. It comes down to the child.

**buggerit** · 9th July 2013, 12:00

Originally Posted by gnjackal

I can't help but think that we're always progressing as a species. What stimulated a 50s kid just doesn't cut it with modern kids as they're used to... well.. better, more interesting toys. Take a 50s kid and give him the choice of his toys or modern toys and there's no question.

Technology's not necessarily better. But it's there.

I grew up with loats of video games but was still very physically active. It comes down to the child.

I would still take a slug gun over a ps3

**Scuba_Steve** · 9th July 2013, 12:11

Originally Posted by buggerit

I would still take a slug gun over a ps3

I got a PS3 & 3 paintball guns (they allow you to shoot other people with them

) hoping to get 2 more soon. Best of both worlds

**unstuck** · 9th July 2013, 12:36

Originally Posted by Scuba_Steve

I got a PS3 & 3 paintball guns (they allow you to shoot other people with them

) hoping to get 2 more soon. Best of both worlds

Put your paintballs in the freezer for a couple of hours, then shoot the bastards. No mistaking if they have been hit then.

**HenryDorsetCase** · 9th July 2013, 12:38

Originally Posted by bogan

What is the difference between video gaming, watching TV, and faffing about on the intertubes?

level of interaction. TV is passive, so are the interwebs (except when fapping) and games require your active participation.

**buggerit** · 9th July 2013, 12:40

Originally Posted by unstuck

Put your paintballs in the freezer for a couple of hours, then shoot the bastards. No mistaking if they have been hit then.

No different to the slug gun really, we just used our old springs, 2 rules, no head shots, no snivelling to your mother

**bogan** · 9th July 2013, 12:45

Originally Posted by HenryDorsetCase

level of interaction. TV is passive, so are the interwebs (except when fapping) and games require your active participation.

Which is why it seems strange that games seem to cop more flak for being a waste of time compared to the other two.

**unstuck** · 9th July 2013, 12:47

Originally Posted by buggerit

No different to the slug gun really, we just used our old springs, 2 rules, no head shots, no snivelling to your mother

I took one in the elbow, and one in the chest. Hurt like a bastard.

**Scuba_Steve** · 9th July 2013, 12:49

Originally Posted by unstuck

Put your paintballs in the freezer for a couple of hours, then shoot the bastards. No mistaking if they have been hit then.

contrary to popular belief/myth "freezing" them actually makes them brittle & soggy, not hard; a few of the top speedball teams refrigerate their balls to increase the brittleness without the sogginess of frozen balls as speedball's all about the paint mark.
Now loading up ball bearings... that's a different story