I get so fed up with all the media's bitching on video games...
Alright, this is a Swedish link, but I'll just translate it, I guess:
http://www.watchtower.org/z/20021222/article_02.htm
"The 12-year-old boy forced an "unarmed opponent into a corner and closely pointed his pistol against his head".
'You won't get away!' he said with a cold smile as he massacred the figure on the screen.
'Now you're mine!'
The boy pressed the button and shot his opponent in the head.
The blood splashed onto the opponents' laboraty coat as he rotated around and fell to the ground.
'Got you!' he said, laughing." ("The Best", march 1999, page 16)
...and so on.
Yeah right, it's not like every gamer on the planet is a 12-year-old problem child who plays way too violent games for his own age.
Why the hell does the media always try to mark video games as something terrible?
Yes, there are violent games, just as there are violent movies, violent art, violent books and violent music.
And of course the media points out the worst possible scenarios concerning video games.
They even claim the reason people become violent is "because they've played violent video games".
I also think Hitler spent three hours a day in front of Dead Or Alive.
Yes, that's the only explanation. :rolleyes2
My rather repeated take on the issue.
It would be foolish to say that Video games don't affect people at all, but it would be more of a long-shot to say that games teach you how to do what they visually show you in the game. For you see, with video games, you're in control through a controller, and not your body. In an FPS, you aim by adjusting an X and Y Axis with either a mouse or double-analog sticks (in most cases) until your character is pointing at a specific target. You're not lifting your arm to aim and shoot, not adjusting your position using your lower body, and not under any pressure with the possibility of you dying. So if someone happens to excel in the ways of fire-arms, it is most likely a waste of time and resources to check their homes for video games to see where such a regular civilian got such skill. (Silly Jack Thompson. n_n)
Of course, that is not to say that games don't develop certain habbits. Whatever skill the game requires to be good at, you'll get better at that skill. It just so happens that most of the time, the skills or habbits you develop can't be applied to real-life situations. One exception I can think of is MMORPGs without microphone support, such as PSO, and therefore require you to type. But because the training for such isn't exactly proper, and because of PSO being addictive beyond much reason, if you want to get better at typing, you should probably practice with the aid of a guide, and develop the correct finger habbits before going into something that forces you to rely on fast finger typing. Otherwise, you may gain unorthodox habbits, such as me. I may be able to type at 60-70 A.W./m, but I'd probably be able to type faster if I didn't develop habbits that have me use two fingers, one on each hand, for all letters and numbers, and a third finger for the shift key.
Edit: Now, there's the deal with becoming more or less agressive. One might become more competitive upon playing video games, assuming the game is competitive in some way. However, agression hardly seems like an issue. I say this because video games generally seem like the types of things that would relieve stress, whether through escapism, or just feeling accomplished upon completing many short-term goals. Full-blown man slaughter is completely out of the question, unless the user is insane.
