I’ve been gaming for a long time, a really long time. Time well spent if you ask me. If you asked my Mamma she would tell you that I have been wasting my time , and that " VIDEO GAMES WILL ROT YOUR BRAIN." She’s not the only one that has this opinion, I have heard this several times over the years and I would like to hear your opinion now.

I would agree that I have spent countless hours immersed in different worlds. I wouldn’t consider it time wasted though.. Granted , I haven’t been making much of a contribution to the advancement of the human race, or found any cures for cancer or anything. There are folks that are hardcoe gamers that do that for us, believe it or not. I do a lot of other things that will ROT MY BRAIN but I’ve never found Video games to be a major player in my arena of dementia. I was weird to start with, that goes without saying, but could playing a violent 1^st player shooter really push someone unstable over the edge into madness ?

Personally , I would like to think that my game play has actually benefitted me in many ways. For example , I haven’t tried to write anything in years outside of making a grocery list or filling out a police report. Recently something inside my brain was switched on. I have been so inspired by my recent game play that I want to share my experience with all that would listen and shout from the mountain top " I LOVE FALLOUT !!!!! " . I could sit here and bang away at the keyboard writing stories about my PC’s adventures and what not for hours . Maybe it’s just a phase, but I have been inspired by a video game none the less.

I would like to think that I also have better hand eye coordination and my reflexes are better than a lot of folks my age. I found a lot of opportunities to use problem solving skills , could I be just a little sharper for it ?

I’m even a better conversationalist and smile a little more in the real world. I can’t really explain that. It must be all of the interaction with different NPC’s or something?.

Game play has to help with my stress levels too, I mean, Have you been outside lately ? It’s always nice to have a place to come home to. Immersed in a fantasy land where you are master ,forgetting all your cares concerning the outside world. Granted , the yard work is often left unfinished and the laundry is always sitting there in a big pile. Have you benefitted from your game play in any way as well ?

I’m not the person that our local & national media portrays at all. I would never hurt a fly. On a more serious note there has been two major shootings in my back yard. I live in Aurora , CO. To put this in perspective as to how personal this to me. One of the first things that the media always makes a big deal about , is that yes , that indeed the psycho that shot up the place played Video Games , is it that really a relevant fact to why that person is a phycho and is capable of committing these horrible acts of violence ? I would have to admit to going on the occasional in game killing spree but I just don’t see it influencing a stable person , EVER ! Those people where crazy to start with . Why drag my good name through the mud ? I play the games in question.

I play video games with my young son all the time. It’s a bonding experience for us and we have a lot of fun together. I try to avoid titles that are gory and inappropriate for his age, but I admit there are a couple of fighters and 1^st person shooters that are just to fun not to play. I do my best to put the subject matter into context and explain in detail that "It’s just a game." Am I doing him dirty ? Will he grow up to be a twisted freak ? Will video games rot his brain ?

Feel free to agree,disagree or add to the content of this thread. Please discuss, with maturity and stay off the taboo topics of this forum. As always your humor will be greatly appreciated, it reminds me not to take myself so seriously. Thankyou.

Then let the rotting continue.

People who commit crimes like that are always blamed for playing video games. That's completely false. Its up to the parents to take that responsibly. You seem to be doing a good job watching and bonding with your kid without being violent as the media says.

Parents take responsibly, not video games.

I only use 10% of it anyway, so I can afford the rotting.

I've learned quite a bit from Paradox Interactive games actually. Its like a fun interactive history class!

I don't really think Video Games turn people into nut cases they were already crazy to begin with and just because they went crazy and shot up a school or something video games are immediately the reason why. Nobody actually stops and thinks "Hey that person was mentally unstable but was still allowed to own all these guns! Hmm that doesn't sound dangerous." I do believe Video Games might have a hand in why children are acting they way they are now a days but that's more of the fault of the parents if anything. I personally take a hand in raising my daughter and I spend time with her yes I play Xbox and yes she does to but only games I feel are appropriate for her age, and sometimes I let her play Oblivion or Morrowind but that's my decision as a parent, and I feel comfortable that my daughter is mature enough to play those games and I don't just throw her on the Xbox or PlayStation when I don't feel like dealing with her because that's bad parenting. All in all I feel that Video Games don't make super killers that's Sky-nets job, and parents that take a more direct approach in raising there kids instead of just using video games as a baby sitter will learn that the problems that they have with there kids will actually get solved and the parent child relationship will improve.

If video games will rot our brains, then Fox News will liquify them, as they report that games are bad for everyone.

Excuse me while I pummel this giant crab trying to snag my violin.

There is NO LINK between video games and violence. Those that say there is are stupid.

gamers in portland did a huge food drive for the homeless and when they notified the press the press completely shrugged them off. corporate news only cares about outrage, nothing else.

It has been proven multiple times that playing video games improves your motor skills and reaction time.

These people who say it rots your brain just don't understand the industry and people tend to dislike something that they can't understand

Always sad to see people are still ignorant when it comes to video games, and viewing them as some sort of "murder training simulator". And the media just adds fuel to the fire.

The media only attacks it because people would rather play video games than watch the news nowadays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwAo8lcAC4 This is a brilliant video from totalbiscuit, he pretty much sums it all up

Playing video games has actually been proven to improve use of the brain and improve hand eye co-ordination and increase fast decision making.

There isn't a link between gamers and crime, it's just immature people passing the blame and denying responsibility.

Demonstrably wrong.

Video games can teach a person many skills useful in real life including but not limited to:

- Working for rewards. Many games reward long term incremental effort, 'saving up' to buy that cool piece of armour. The best things don't come free.

- Setting goals and working towards them. Related to the first point. Getting the best piece of gear or a cool item in an MMO or open world game encourages this behaviour.

- Memory. Many games include features where it is beneficial to remember a certain set of actions, location or various other things. Learning how to actively remember things you deem important is a handy skill to train.

- Reaction speed and reflexes. Many games require attention and fast maneuvering. Learning to pay attention and react fast for instance has a beneficial effect when driving a car.

- Reading comprehension and foreign languages. The latter mainly for non-English speakers. Many games have a lot of text and an option to subtitle spoken words, which can help with pronunciation, vocabulary and spelling.

- Problem solving. Many games include puzzles which require logical thought and patience to solve. This skill can help in education, especially mathematics.

- Social interaction. Especially these days online games can be a place to meet up and interact with likeminded peers. The competitive nature of team versus team play encourages co-operation and tactical thought.

This is all I can think of of the top of my hat but you could show it to your mom.

In my opinion it is something positive that will turn into fond memories for your kid when he grows up. I know I have fond memories of the things my dad and I did together that we both enjoyed, such as fishing or watching a scifi movie.

Deranged people will always exist, it's in their genes, and what-ever they latch onto at the time will always be lambasted. People criticised violet movies, movies about murders, but now those people are all parents now and [censored]ing about games, by the time Generation6/7 are parents (like myself) games will be a token part of the household and their maybe something else to bash. Like a guy in my apprenticeship, he's 25 with two kids and he loves games, brought his Xbox into one of our block-release to college weeks and hooked it up to the Smartboard projector to play Fifa on his Halo 4 Xbox 360 slim. That's the future. People just need to see the passage of history and realise that in a generation or so's time this will be a none issue because the average person will likely have grown-up playing CoD or Battlefied or Fifa or what-ever and will be the majority.