Does online gaming have a negative impact on teenagers in society? [ENDS 09/05/2010]

[Grig]

Does online gaming have a negative impact on teenagers in society?

Ends - 09/05/2010

For many, it is impossible to image their lives without a computer, Xbox, Playstation etc. These gadgets and gizmos often keep kids, teenagers and even growingly adults glued to their screens playing one of the latest RPG games or on a virtual hotel community such as Habbo. However, many are questioning whether this is doing much more harm than good.

Some view gaming as an essential ‘getaway’ or as a measure to relieve stress. For some, it can offer countless of hours of enjoyment and interaction with various people from the outside world. However, studies showed that alarms need to be rang as an increasing amount of teens are started to suffer under the influence of such games, often being engrossed into the virtual game that they’re playing and shutting themselves off from the outside world, a term simply known as ‘addiction’. However, the most interesting and crucial point argued by researchers is that most teens who aren’t even that much addicted to such online games are starting to suffer in their social, physical and academic lives. Many have seen an interconnected trend of gaming and plummeting grades.

This debate may be quite relevant to many, some of you may have even experienced this. The question here is whether online gaming is having a negative impact on teenagers in society today? Remember to give you reasons why and stick to the debates forum rules.

[Swearwolf]

I don't even think excessive online gaming does these days, personally I like to play online games a lot but I'm still out more than I'm in, I live a pretty much normal life with uni and stuff. Sometimes it is nice to getaway and play games with friends you meet online in said games, but at the same time 99% of gamers have their own limits and cos of this I think it's fine. P.S; 9/4/10 has already passed ;)

[Stryderman]

If im completely honest?

Yeh i think it does.

Habbo & Rs completely took over my social life for best part of year, Then realised what a waste of time it was which is why i play it now as i have nothing to do during the day.

[buttons]

of course it does
everything does. i know so many people who play games till 3 in the morning and moan about it at college, it affects their concentration, buggers up their sleep pattern (seen people say it even on here:rolleyes:) and makes them lazy. all technology, transport and fast food does. no wonder everyones increasingly becoming fat. slobs.

[dbgtz]

It depends how you define "negative". The only thing thats bad that could happen is them staying on their games constantly apart from school, which could eventually lead to them being disliked and health issues. Tbh if I was still addicted to Habbo now I would probably have no friends, or alot less.

However it is a bit different if you play with your friends online/ mix gaming and going out because obviously, games are meant to be enjoyed and I guess are a hobby. Ironically, I talk to this guy alot more because I started playing COD with him :L

Also in chatroom/rpgs or any game where you can constantly communicate with someone (so not a game like an fps) you can actually meet alot of people and start building a relationship from it. I'm sure there are some people who are friends irl now on this forum because they developed an initial bond on these types of games.

I agree with buttons about how some people stay up late just playing games and then it affects them later in the day, that happens to people I know. Fortunately I get bored of playing games for a too long period now (unless brand new, but even then I couldn't go past 3 hours). I think people need to develop a stronger sense of control, but saying that it's alot harder then it actually sounds.

Also (a bit off topic) but for people generally who were addicted to games which were offline, they now get some sort of communication with people because they can play online.

[Sharon]

I do think it does. Some can stay up all night playing a game eg. Runescape and end up sleeping in class. It happens to me s lot on COD on Xbox Live :P and some people e-rebelling in HxHD can change your impact in r/l

[Swastika]

Personally it doesn't realy have a negative effect on me, i don't see how anybody can stay up all night playing call of duty when they have college or school the next morning - thats just plain and simply idiotic. You must know your limits and use common sense, don't go on the xbox till daft o clock in the morning when you have work the next morning, obviously your not gonna feel great in the morning are you? Staying up and playing games all night is irresponsible and you should realy sit down and have a think about what your doing.
Habbo Hotel probably does have a negative effect on ALOT of kids nationwide, because it is genuinely an addictive game - very good for sulake. I personally would love to open a gaming business that gets teenagers hooked and lures them in to spend REAL money on - amazing business strategy.
There are a minority of gamers out there that don't know their limits and genuinely get addicted to playing computer games and need to sort their lives out, quite simply.

Oh, and if anybody wants a game of cod, XBOX360, im your man. :P

[le harry]

I COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT WORLD OF WARCRAFT AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH but not really I only rly play on holidays cuz I get bored easily.

[Grig]

In my younger years I admit I had an addiction for numerous games and from first hand experience it did affect my grades slightly, cause I would't be into studying for stuff as much. It's true some games engulf you into them, especially if you're the sort of person who gets addicted to stuff. So I think from personal opinion, the answer would be yes it does affect it in numerous ways, less socialising (which is probably quite unhealthy), as well as a plumut in people reading books, which is what your parents generation did as a thing to pass time and it was much better for the development of the mind.

Nowadays I get the point that games are games, I get bored too easily and realised that other aspects of life is more fun :).

[Snowing]

lazy gits

Edited by Syko2006 (Forum Moderator): Please do not post pointlessly/unconstructively, thanks.

[alexxxxx]

in my opinion yeah it does. it turned one of my friends into a guy who just sat at his xbox all day and do nothing all summer holidays.

[Matthew]

I think it CAN have a negative effect.
My friend used to be a great all rounder at school; he was smart, funny, sporty... he had everything lol
then he started playing on COD ALL the time, and now hes... less smart (worse grades), less sporty (he cba to do it anymore) and hes not funny because all he talks about is COD.

I have to admit i had a serious addiction to habbo, and it stopped me doing the things ive done for my life up to that point. It stopped me from reading (i used to read till like 11 sometimes), and it made me spend less time on homework (i got the same grades but you could tell id spent a lot less time on it).

generally, as has been said, if you dont know your limits then games do have negative effect. If you know when to stop, then a bit of COD here and there cant hurt, can it?

[Adamm]

I wouldn't say I'm addicted to gaming but it's a daily thing. I'll go out if someone wants me to go out but if I'm at home I'm usually either on computer or XBOX. It's just what I do. Some people read books, I play games. I don't see a problem.

[Blinger$]

From a personal perspective my social life is limited. I stay up past 8pm maybe once a week, or twice a week IF I'm lucky. Since I'm a baker, I don't get to hang out with my mates much. I don't play online games often, only ever on my ps3 and that isn't frequant since nobody plays between 12-4pm on a Monday -> Wednesday. Thursday is my " going out night" and Friday is early sleeping again!
But in general, of course it has a negative factor. But you are socializing when you play online (if u talk/type) it's just a different type ;)

[Barkseh]

Yes it 100% does. It used to be my life.. I'm so glad I got bored of Habbo/Habbox. My life is soooooooo much better now =)

[Gibs960]

My Xbox is who I am lol, :L but I still talk to friends at school and prefer to play football or netball and go out with mates, I'd give up my Xbox to go out with mates :)

[Neil]

It does effect people but it depends on the person whether it's negatively or not, I personally have no problem staying up until 5 in the morning playing a game then waking up at 8-9 to go to college or something, I don't fall asleep in classes or lose concentration, my sleeping pattern just doesn't require the full 8 hours most people need, of course it's nice to have good long sleeps but I can't say it effects me badly, personally I like being able to stay up and enjoy myself on a game, it's not "sad" or "pathetic", it's just what I enjoy, like some people enjoy movies, some enjoy playing guitar, some enjoy arts and crafts, all require a decent amount of time and are all equally enjoyable, all are hard but possible to earn livings from, so I'm not a "sad gaming loser" that sits in my room all day, I actually spend a good amount of time out with my girlfriend and the rest of the time is spent playing xbox or something, all of my friends have xboxs so it's not really a loss of a social life really.

So for me it hasn't negatively effected my life at all, but that's just me, of course others are badly effected, one of my friends is quite the WoW freak but yea.

[Jonster]

It does effect people but it depends on the person whether it's negatively or not, I personally have no problem staying up until 5 in the morning playing a game then waking up at 8-9 to go to college or something, I don't fall asleep in classes or lose concentration, my sleeping pattern just doesn't require the full 8 hours most people need, of course it's nice to have good long sleeps but I can't say it effects me badly, personally I like being able to stay up and enjoy myself on a game, it's not "sad" or "pathetic", it's just what I enjoy, like some people enjoy movies, some enjoy playing guitar, some enjoy arts and crafts, all require a decent amount of time and are all equally enjoyable, all are hard but possible to earn livings from, so I'm not a "sad gaming loser" that sits in my room all day, I actually spend a good amount of time out with my girlfriend and the rest of the time is spent playing xbox or something, all of my friends have xboxs so it's not really a loss of a social life really.

So for me it hasn't negatively effected my life at all, but that's just me, of course others are badly effected, one of my friends is quite the WoW freak but yea.

I don't quite believe you can stay up until 5 in the morning and the next day have full concentration. Humanely that just isn't possible - you will just act a sieve all day taking in only small bits of information - then again, it depends what your day involves. For me going to college each day involves an hour commute through slow moving traffic on a packed out bus, to then have 2 to 3 lessons each 1hr30mins long to then commute back home for an hour. Then sometimes its a case of going to work in the evenings and it has a major knock on effect. Change this to what I previously did, and replace it with a 10 minute walk to school to have a relatively easy 6 hour day to get home for half 3 I could quite easily stay up until 3/4am and feel absolutely fine the next day - now that is just physically impossible for me.

I know that with all of this going on I need to stop staying up until 1/2am playing games, but I still do it. As you quite rightfully said, its a form of enjoyment - I would rather spend my time playing a game than sit downstairs watching TV for 4 hours. I'm a PC gaming addict; I'll admit that and frankly I'm not ashamed of it. The problem I see is that you will get involved in a game, lets say COD4, and next thing you know its 3 hours on after having mixed with a few mates against other teams.

[Oleh]

i have to admit im addicted to all things technical (xbox and pc)( ps3 sucks)
But it is the only thing to do nowadays, 99 times out of 100 i get asked to go out all that will happen is we'll go for a walk around the village and thats it, not exactly fun, the other 1 time is to go play footy which is fun as its 30 mins of raw arse then walk everyone home whilst hedge jumping.

Most of the people i talk to (about half of my year) all understand me and dont care as half of them play games aswell

[Neil]

i have to admit im addicted to all things technical (xbox and pc)( ps3 sucks)
But it is the only thing to do nowadays, 99 times out of 100 i get asked to go out all that will happen is we'll go for a walk around the village and thats it, not exactly fun, the other 1 time is to go play footy which is fun as its 30 mins of raw arse then walk everyone home whilst hedge jumping.

Most of the people i talk to (about half of my year) all understand me and dont care as half of them play games aswell

Exactly, when I go out it's really just walking aimlessly around town, me and my friends will go to pizza hut sometimes but really the more enjoyable thing would be to go to someones house, bust out some beers and play halo on forge mode, mostly because that's a pretty decent party game. xD

[Shar]

I think it can have a negative affect, but I also think it's easy to snap out of so it's not long term.

[Blinger$]

Exactly, when I go out it's really just walking aimlessly around town, me and my friends will go to pizza hut sometimes but really the more enjoyable thing would be to go to someones house, bust out some beers and play halo on forge mode, mostly because that's a pretty decent party game. xD
Thats what i hate! Maybe its just because i hate the game, but before we go out to the clubs, we catch up at one of my mates house, crack a few beers (for predrinks ;)) down and play halo. Its usually the one where you are invisible or slayer mode i think it is.

[Neil]

Thats what i hate! Maybe its just because i hate the game, but before we go out to the clubs, we catch up at one of my mates house, crack a few beers (for predrinks ;)) down and play halo. Its usually the one where you are invisible or slayer mode i think it is.

My general group are more into heavier music so we don't really go to clubs and stuff, none of us are really into that sort of thing so our idea of a good party is alcohol and halo, doesn't matter what other people think, it's hardly sad as some people would say so, it's just what we enjoy, of course we go camping every couple of weeks and hang out, go to the odd "drink until you pass out" partys but when a good few of us a bored we link up a few xboxs and just kick it geek style. :P

[Iverne]

I think it does because games have so much things going on at once that make the real world seem duller so people would prefer action than dullness.

[Black_Apalachi]

I've been playing 18 games since I was in primary school and I don't recall ever putting an axe through anyone's scull. Ironically, the only negative effect I've had related to gaming is probably more due to the media - that case of the lad who murdered some kid "because of the game Hitman" actually made me afraid to play it lol.

On the other hand, Pokémon games make me sad that it's not real :L

[dbgtz]

I've been playing 18 games since I was in primary school and I don't recall ever putting an axe through anyone's scull.

IKR, I played GTA III when I was like 6-8 (can't quite remember) and if anything I'm the least violent person in my year :L It is a way to escape reality because irl I would never hurt anyone physically so I just like to go on GTA and kill those hookers or knife someone on COD, you could say it's my stress relief too.

[Grig]

Interesting story I was reading not that long about, is how an 8 year old kid went on a joy riding trip on his dads car after playing some game- can't remember exactly which one now. So yeh, for some they get immersed into the world and treat it like reality, but that would be a whole different issue of addiction.

[Dan2nd]

If video games really do have a negative impact on todays youth surely with that logic the previous Generation who played the SNES should be running around smashing their heads up against brick walls, climbing down drain pipes and stomping on turtles.. oh yeah and they should constantly be shouting 'it's me mario!'

So in answer to this question in my opinion any sane, normal human being without any mental issues should not dramtically change because they play video games

[immense]

The flaw with this debate is the term teenagers. Can you really generalise all teenagers into one, I don't think so. From 2005-2008 I'd say I spent hours on Habbo every day, has that had a detrimental effect on my life, I don't think so. I've been able to juggle other aspects of my life too, I've had relationships, healthy friendships, had an active social life and got decent grades throughout education. In fact, I'd go as far as saying online gaming, specifically Habbo has aided me. I wrote every single day on there, met a variety of people who had different opinions and it alerted me to many things that without Habbo maybe I wouldn't have been aware of. Of course, I know people won't be able to juggle their time as well as myself and can let it control their lives. However, as I've already touched upon, you can't generalise all teenagers and to do so is ludicrous, everyone is different. Therefore, online gaming doesn't have a negative impact on society.

[Volumise]

I wouldn't say I'm addicted to gaming but it's a daily thing. I'll go out if someone wants me to go out but if I'm at home I'm usually either on computer or XBOX. It's just what I do. Some people read books, I play games. I don't see a problem.

Exactly my feelings. I go out with friends etc but when I get home, I need SOMETHING to do.

[Hollie]

I wouldn't say I'm addicted to gaming but it's a daily thing. I'll go out if someone wants me to go out but if I'm at home I'm usually either on computer or XBOX. It's just what I do. Some people read books, I play games. I don't see a problem.

im exactly the same, ill go out with my friends but at home if im bored ill come on, my mum keeps trying to tell me im addicted, but tbh, ive got nothing better to do. if i did then i would do it :L

but in some cases, people can get addicted and affects them in lots of different ways.

[Black_Apalachi]

IKR, I played GTA III when I was like 6-8 (can't quite remember) and if anything I'm the least violent person in my year :L It is a way to escape reality because irl I would never hurt anyone physically so I just like to go on GTA and kill those hookers or knife someone on COD, you could say it's my stress relief too.

I was playing the original GTA when it first came out when I was about 5 :P People just use games as something to blame for their own actions because they aren't man enough to control themselves.