The effects of videogames on personnal lives. : Othor Games

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:05 pm

I wouldn't know anything about Ancient History had I not played Age of Empires II. Now I know more than the average person will ever know.

I wouldn't be near as literate either without games like Morrowind having me read, nor as sharp minded without all the platformers and shooters and racing games.

Age of Empires II would have taught you Medieval, not Ancient, history :whisper:

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:26 pm

Age of Empires II would have taught you Medieval, not Ancient, history :whisper:

Well, yeah, Age of Empires the first has more Ancient, but I still read the damn manual twenty over. There were dark age things in there. :whistling:

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:16 am

You can talk about video games with other people - on this forum - or in real life - so that extra 'pop culture' knowledge can actually aid your social skills.

I socialized using video games a lot as a kid -- split screen gaming in my basemant with friends. Golden Eye. Perfect Dark. Mario Kart.

Alas. They don't allow your friends to be in the same room anymore while playing a good multi-player game.

» Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:14 am

Gaming is a vice, just like drinking, smoking or gambling. Gaming was certainly a healthier hobby for me when I was 12 rather than getting drunk on the park like my peers.
So no, I don't think that playing games has been a bad thing for my personal life. I don't have heaps of friends but I'm happy with the few I have, and I've never had trouble finding a boyfriend either.

Sure some people can become hermits because they spend all their time in a virtual world, but I like to think I know my limits. I never sit inside for days at a time on games.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:57 pm

Nope, they're a nice easy conversation topic (like music) but that's the extent that they've had on my personal life.

I'd always choose to go out rather than stay in and game as well.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:28 pm

Playing video games has not affected my life in any negative way, but to be fair Total War resparked my intrest in history while providing me with some little details I wasn't aware of, but I don't go off and believe everything in games and do study actual history because of it.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:47 am

Well, yeah, Age of Empires the first has more Ancient, but I still read the damn manual twenty over. There were dark age things in there. :whistling:

Well it depends on who you ask, but according to most people at my university (myself included) that's Early Medieval, not Ancient history. Though other historians claim that the Ancient time period didn't end until the fall of the Roman empire in 1453, so it's up for debate

.

I do have to thank Age of Empires II, and other games like it, for sparking my own interest in history as a kid. It played no small part in planting the roots that led to me studying history at univ. Don't know if that's a good thing since I may be hard pressed to find a job when I finish, but I have definitely enjoyed it greatly the past few years. And now I want to install AoE again...

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:19 pm

Well it depends on who you ask, but according to most people at my university (myself included) that's Early Medieval, not Ancient history. Though other historians claim that the Ancient time period didn't end until the fall of the Roman empire in 1453, so it's up for debate

.

Ancient Era = up 'til 476 AD
Dark Ages (or Early Medieval Age) = up 'til ~1000AD
Medieval Age = up 'til 1453 AD

... is the common consensus.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:04 pm

Ancient Era = up 'til 476 AD
Dark Ages (or Early Medieval Age) = up 'til ~1000AD
Medieval Age = up 'til 1453 AD

... is the common consensus.

Pretty much for the majority of people, yes, but among historians there is hardly ever much consensus about anything :lol:

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:49 am

Pretty much for the majority of people, yes, but among historians there is hardly ever much consensus about anything :lol:

Many historians have too much of a focus on specific dates denoting eras... too rigid and ahistorical of a practice really

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:14 pm

Many historians have too much of a focus on specific dates denoting eras... too rigid and ahistorical of a practice really

I agree with you, on some points. Some specific dates are important because they've been seminal turning points, others seem a bit too specific, like say, the end of the Western Roman Empire. The specific date of 476AD tends to make people think the Western Roman Empire ended in a bloody, fiery revolution in that exact year, whereas the Empire just slowly, and mostly peacefully, dissolved over the course of decades.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:35 pm

I agree with you, on some points. Some specific dates are important because they've been seminal turning points, others seem a bit too specific, like say, the end of the Western Roman Empire. The specific date of 476AD tends to make people think the Western Roman Empire ended in a bloody, fiery revolution in that exact year, whereas the Empire just slowly, and mostly peacefully, dissolved over the course of decades.

You mean the Western Roman Empire didn't end in a fiery, bloody, bestiality filled orgy in the middle of a slave rebellion from the gladiators out of the Colosseum riding on elephants from across the alps after Caesar was stabbed on that fateful day in the year 476AD?

hmy:

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:37 pm

You mean the Western Roman Empire didn't end in a fiery, bloody, bestiality filled orgy in the middle of a slave rebellion from the gladiators out of the Colosseum riding on elephants from across the alps after Caesar was stabbed on that fateful day in the year 476AD?

hmy:

No, sorry, that only happened in HISTORY OF THE WORLD: A Michael Bay Production.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:01 pm

I agree with you, on some points. Some specific dates are important because they've been seminal turning points, others seem a bit too specific, like say, the end of the Western Roman Empire. The specific date of 476AD tends to make people think the Western Roman Empire ended in a bloody, fiery revolution in that exact year, whereas the Empire just slowly, and mostly peacefully, dissolved over the course of decades.

Important dates when things really change abruptly, like say the French Revolution (even then, it makes people think that atitudes change overnight, when they do not), are important to remember as turning points. But something as abstract as an "era" like Classical or Medieval is impossible to pin on a specific date. Even just defining these eras is an impossible task, let alone determining when one begins or ends. The concept can be useful for basic organization but the problem comes when people say "oh, that could not of happend then! Its not medieval of them!" or whatever.

anyway, i think we are getting offtopic

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:52 pm

It's not really had much of an impact on my social life at all. I have friends who share the hobby, and friends who don't.
I think books may have had more of an impact than video games - I've spent waaaay more time reading than playing games, and playing games tends to be much more social than reading. There's no multiplayer option with books, and taking turns reading a page doesn't really work out.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:19 pm

No, sorry, that only happened in HISTORY OF THE WORLD: A Michael Bay Production.

I'm not gonna lie. I'd watch that movie.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:50 pm

Mate you missed out the Turks and their friends the Huns and Mongols.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:45 pm

Mate you missed out the Turks and their friends the Huns and Mongols.

It was a two pronged attack, one on Rome by the free Huns and Gauls led by Spartacus, and one on Constantinople by the Turks (who got into a fight with the encroaching Mongols at the pyramids the day before).

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:02 pm

Mate you missed out the Turks

They didn't show. Tseng took a katana to the torso, Elena was at his bedside snottering, Reno was out boozing, and Rude was spying on Tifa.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:45 pm

They've had a possitive impact on my life. But I wonder what my life would have been like if I didn't play video games. Maybe it would be better. I dunno. But I like to enjoy my life as it is.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:31 am

They've had a possitive impact on my life. But I wonder what my life would have been like if I didn't play video games. Maybe it would be better. I dunno. But I like to enjoy my life as it is.

This!

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:42 am

They didn't show. Tseng took a katana to the torso, Elena was at his bedside snottering, Reno was out boozing, and Rude was spying on Tifa.

:lol: I should really replay FF7 again sometime ^_^

So many games so little time :hehe: And i'm thirty, and not planning on growing up anytime soon. So you see OP, it could be worse :teehee:

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:19 am

Maybe I'm a bit conservative in this regard, but if videogames causes personal problems or problems within relationships and friendships, then maybe it's time to just stop. Unless the other person is exaggerating, then ignore them.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:46 am

And i'm thirty, and not planning on growing up anytime soon.

So am I, and so am I! :foodndrink:

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:40 pm

And I wouldn't be able to make my friends love me by speaking in a constant mix of threats, jokes, flattery and boastful stories without Oblivion!

You know, it's weird, but come to think of it, this actually is the way I talk with my friends. Now, yes, the flattery, boasts, and threats are all really just jokes, but still, it's strange to realize.