Gamers More Likely to Drink and Ignore Family, Study Says

Last time I checked, you don't need video games to drink excessively and ignore your family. It's not a video game that makes you do it. It's the choices you make as a person.
 
Is anyone gonna READ THE WHOLE DAMN TOPIC instead of just the first post?

Because then you'll find it's a fake study, and you don't need to waste your time.
 
Zellio2009 said:
Is anyone gonna READ THE WHOLE DAMN TOPIC instead of just the first post?

Because then you'll find it's a fake study, and you don't need to waste your time.
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Where do you see that? I read the whole DAMN topic :p (at least skimmed it anyway :) ).
 
Oh shut the fuck up already, this controversy stirring bullshit is so boring now.
 
petertew said:
Agreed, the study needs to be conducted again with better sampling methods and a larger, more diverse sampling of young men. Surprisingly research is done in iterations, and this may be the first.
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well, no, thats not surprising, but where my problem lies is in the methodology AND conclusion, not the fact that comprehensive studies take many years and successive waves of researching. its completely skewed, its not contributing anything to our scientific understanding of addictive personalities.. its just biased finger-pointing.. immature whining about something they study organizers already unfairly begrudge.

petertew said:
The study did point out correlation, but the researcher pointed out that the cause and effect relationship is still unclear.

The point of doing these studies is to better understand a new and growing facet of people's lives. Similar studies were done when television came out...
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i understand this, and i assert that everyone attacking this "study" also understands this paragraph.

petertew said:
our reaction simply fuels people's beliefs that we're anti social because we can't discuss these kinds of topics without saying things like, "Fuck them, they're fucking Mormons."
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personally, i dont really care, but thats because im rude and dismissive, to and of, respectively, people who cant be rational (im not talking about you).

petertew said:
Are we in agreement that playing WoW or other games to the point of skipping classes, skipping work, getting divorced, etc. is a bad thing?
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yes

petertew said:
games do have some negatives as well and the sooner we admit that the sooner we can find solutions for people who do suffer from those negatives.
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i agree with you, along the track of agreeance whereby smokers, overeating gluttons, drug abusers (im not talking recreation, im talking junkies, and yes alcohol counts here too), the excessively promiscuous, and countless others subconsciously or otherwise pursue some sort of reward system, or should i say.. alternative to reality, due to some discomfort/displeasure/gaping life-fulfillment maw in order to temporarily satiate themselves. taking part in any obsessively indulgent behavior is the problem. this, um, what i will laughably continue to refer to as a "study", is attempting to pin the blame on a symptom, a manifestation of a much less obvious internalized problem. therein lies my issue, and everyone elses, as far as i can tell.. regardless of the varying eloquency of conveyance.

im pro at run-on sentences, btw. kthx.
 
Zellio2009 said:
Did anyone read their honor code?

People at BYU are not permitted to drink alchol, yet this study says their own students are more likely to drink the alchol they... don't drink.
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just FYI, the 'code' of attending BYU, which extends to non-mormon students only includes the campus, people are free to dress/drink/smoke etc however they choose when away from the university campus.
 
Seems pretty reasonable to me. Gaming is just that for most people, but there are plenty that use it as an escape, just like drugs or alcohol. Used to be a couple people I knew from WoW that were always online and were drunk a lot of nights.
 
Zellio2009 said:
Is anyone gonna READ THE WHOLE DAMN TOPIC instead of just the first post?

Because then you'll find it's a fake study, and you don't need to waste your time.
Click to expand...

fake? where? lulz

+ we're just discussing the principles behind it, thats valid, isnt it? i thought that was the point of the thread.
 
__hollywood|meow said:
i agree with you, along the track of agreeance whereby smokers, overeating gluttons, drug abusers (im not talking recreation, im talking junkies, and yes alcohol counts here too), the excessively promiscuous, and countless others subconsciously or otherwise pursue some sort of reward system, or should i say.. alternative to reality, due to some discomfort/displeasure/gaping life-fulfillment maw in order to temporarily satiate themselves. taking part in any obsessively indulgent behavior is the problem. this, um, what i will laughably continue to refer to as a "study", is attempting to pin the blame on a symptom, a manifestation of a much less obvious internalized problem. therein lies my issue, and everyone elses, as far as i can tell.. regardless of the varying eloquency of conveyance.
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Agreed. Most of the people who have problems with gaming are almost certainly suffering from a deeper seated problem (depression, anxiety, etc.). However, studies like these do have value. Alcoholics suffer from a number of disorders, but alcohol exacerbates the problems the individual is having. So initially the person may be, say, depressed and decides to turn to alcohol for some form of relief. After a while that person is depressed and alcoholic. Both problems now need addressing. Could we have a similar situation in gaming? I don't know for sure, but I think we should study it.

Here's a different scenario and one that troubles me more. Say some study comes out that conclusively shows some negative effect of gaming (be it big or small, it won't really matter). Now congress decides they need some legislative solution to the problem and decide to draft new laws concerning gaming (no one under 18 is allowed to game, because that is so effective at stopping teen smoking). Because we've been so defensive and hostile towards any of these studies our community is disregarded as irrational and biased and our opinions and concerns aren't addressed. Instead the people running these studies, who don't entirely understand gaming, and congress (who are so often out of touch with the American populace) draft the laws that govern the way we game. The laws don't solve the problems, but instead degrade the quality of gaming we've become accustomed to. A scenario like this is why I think it's so important to stay level headed when discussing these topics and to engage the researchers rather than attacking them. We need to help these people understand the topics better so that we avoid bull shit laws meant to help individuals with problems but that instead only ruin gaming for the major part of the population.
 
gaspah said:
just FYI, the 'code' of attending BYU, which extends to non-mormon students only includes the campus, people are free to dress/drink/smoke etc however they choose when away from the university campus.
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No that's not true. If you were to go home and get hammered and then reported to the faculty you'd be in violation of the honor code.
 
Wow, thank god i now have another excuse to drink and ignore my family!..YES
 
Zellio2009 said:
Is anyone gonna READ THE WHOLE DAMN TOPIC instead of just the first post?

Because then you'll find it's a fake study, and you don't need to waste your time.
Click to expand...

Where do you see it's a fake study? If you can show me, I'll make sure the post is changed to reflect that.
 
gaspah said:
i dont think you're helping our cause here.... :D
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well, to help the cause, and all joking aside, videogames are actually one of the social highlights of my weekends. usually every weekend friends come over with their kids as well, and we break out extra controllers and order some pizza and get a case of beer and we play video games and have guitar hero competitions and its a really good time. during the week me and my girlfriend play video games with each other. for instance we just finished super paper mario on the wii, and we would sit on the couch together and while one of us was playing the other would be giving tips from a strategy guide. she is now talking about getting a server so we can start hosting LAN parties. so video games are social depending on how you use them. typically if you play video games and are depressed you were probably depressed before video games and they are just used as a way to keep your mind off of your problems. tv watching has a similar effect.

also i wanted to comment on the other comments about people wondering how text messaging, online forum and IM discussions and chat and social networks like myspace and facebook are not anti social. i think they have a valid point to a certain extent i do feel that the internet is a new social medium for many many people, however i think what the researchers are referring too are face to face interactions with people. like playing a sport, bowling, going to a bar or social club, etc. also i feel that people are mixing up social anxiety and depression. i can see how the internet can be a pleaseant social medium for someone who may have a fear of meeting new people in public but who generally has high self esteem and not depressed. for example when gunshots were being exchanged on a daily basis outside my home in philadelphia while living with my parents during my highschool years i was scared to do anything and was on the internet all day and played video games. once i was older and moved to the suburbs i feel safer and i go out all the time. for me my social anxiety, depression and video game/ internet addiction ways were the result that was influenced by my dangerous urban environment.

anyway, the punchline being video games are not the root cause of the depression, something else has to be causing the depression for these teens and young adults (and with todays economy, crime, world events and 50%+ divorce rates of their parents i wonder why) but video games, drugs, and alchohol are just ways for the depressed to feel better about themselves and the negative things that are going on around them in a world they don't understand.

we are all defensive because we are so used to jack thompson and his shenanigans of OMG VIDOE GAMS ARE TEH BAD.
 
Have they ever seen like... gamers? I'll tell you, that lot is easily the ones least likely to be doing drugs. We just arn't cool enough
 
I don't drink or do drugs. I just recently had a beer at my grammas birthday party, but only cause she made me. I did when I was a teen I spose, but I didnt really play much videogames back then. Now I play counter-strike, Farcry, and Mother 3(earthbound 2) when I have spare time each day, other than that I'm just a standard cog in the wheel like I'm supposed to be. I'm not saying the study is bs, but I'm definitely not in tune with the results.
 
lol..

I am a gamer, but I do not drink, and I hate drinking...

ignore family? huh...there were some problem in family that should be ignore to solve the problem..
 
Video games are an escape just like anything else which forcefully conjures up brain chemistry and does not naturally exist (Yes; drugs/alcohol in their consumable grades don't exist naturally).

It would be foolish for any gamers here to deny the negative effects of their habit if its in excess.
 
blgdinger said:
gamers_beer_1245542c.jpg


Anyone else notice that they're playing Nintendo 64? Probably why they're drinking so much cuz they can't afford Xbox360.
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Why are they playing N64 apparently hooked up to a OLD ASS Apple LCD?
 
And people wonder why gamers get so defensive? They're constantly hammered by bogus studies like this,done by attention seeking politicians,puritanical religious fanatics,and self promoting social experts who are just looking to force their own beliefs on everyone else.The fact that this one came from BYU removed any credibility automatically.
 
petertew said:
See, this is the type of reply I wrote about in my post above. Our community tends to attack the researchers. You do have a good point about sample size and sampling methods however, but why do you have to throw stuff in there that isn't at all related to the topic (Tom Hanks comment)?
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Because it appears that this study and the researchers behind it obviously set out to attacking gaming in the first place - therefore the defensive reaction. From all appearanes, it was not a disinterested, objective study but rather appeared to have had prejudiced intentions regarding its outcome. Read the statements by the researchers and how absolutely stated they are and this becomes obvious.

If this study was conducted by another institution I could have possibly interpreted the outcomes more appropriatedly. A study that finds an extremely powerful correlation between playing video games with alcohol consumption and drug use from an institution who's basic religious tenets and principles are expressly against alcohol use is dubious at best.
 
I'll play maybe an hour or two of CS:S a day. I don't drink or do drugs and I hangout with my family daily.
 
Damn this article. I'm gonna go drown my worries now and go abuse my digital wife and look after my kids in second life.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Because it appears that this study and the researchers behind it obviously set out to attacking gaming in the first place - therefore the defensive reaction. From all appearanes, it was not a disinterested, objective study but rather appeared to have had prejudiced intentions regarding its outcome. Read the statements by the researchers and how absolutely stated they are and this becomes obvious.

If this study was conducted by another institution I could have possibly interpreted the outcomes more appropriatedly. A study that finds an extremely powerful correlation between playing video games with alcohol consumption and drug use from an institution who's basic religious tenets and principles are expressly against alcohol use is dubious at best.
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For the record, Walker did not stand in the way of her family’s wish for a Nintendo Wii. Jensen had hoped to find some positive results as justification for playing Madden NFL.

...

But the researchers say video games do not themselves mean “game over” for a relationship because the connection they found is modest.

“Relationship quality is one of a cluster of things that we found to be modestly associated with video games,” Walker said. “The most striking part is that everything we found clustered around video game use is negative.”
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This hardly seems like they set out with a biased agenda to attack video games. The researchers both own and play video games themselves. The fact that Mormons abstain from alcohol isn't relevant. That would be like saying "We can't trust this information that says X demographic steals more than the control group because the information was gleaned from a study conducted by Catholics, and Catholics are strictly against stealing."

Here is the study's abstract:
The purpose of this study was to gain a clearer understanding of the pattern of video game and internet use among college students and to examine how electronic leisure was related to risk behaviors (i.e., drinking, drug use, sex), perceptions of the self (i.e., self worth and social acceptance), and relationships with others (i.e., relationship quality with parents and friends). Participants included 813 undergraduate students (500 young women, 313 young men, M age = 20, SD = 1.87) who were mainly European American (79%), unmarried (100%) and living outside their parents’ home (90%). Results suggested that (a) video game use was linked to negative outcomes for men and women, (b) different patterns of video game and internet use existed for men and women and (c) there were different relations to risk behaviors, feelings about the self, and relationship quality based on the type of internet use, and based on gender. The discussion focuses on the implications of electronic leisure on the overall health and development of young people as they transition to adulthood.
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Epic lulz at pulled-out-of-a-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ research.
 
Funny I thought this study was talking about my own father until I remember he didn't play video games.

Lets see while I was a kid he did all of the above while hunting, fishing, and or camping while being antisocial towards friends and family. These days he just watches TV all day while retaining all the other bad habits.

But how can that be? He didn't have video games to turn him in to a antisocial alcoholic prick. :rolleyes:
 
Potentially biased country/nation news site finds a biased study right in the home of a place they may very well not like. Gee, is it any wonder as to how this comes around?

Bet they chose not to include anyone like my cousin, her husband, and their four kids in that study. If they did, their heads would explode trying to spin a negative.
 
Edit: (if only I could edit) I would personally much rather see a study that shows what sort of bad habits the same people this study seems to focus on form after spending a few grand on a collage education and then not being able to find a job in your field of study.
 
I can only speak for myself and only one of those are true. I have quite low self esteem.
 
I play a lot of games online...MMO and FPS, but I've never succumb to the problems mentioned, however, I have seen it affect my guild mates, friends and family. I have a very close family member who is constantly neglecting college course work by playing wow and drinking far too much Red Bull and vodka.

Still, I don't think it's a problem with the games that cause the isolation and drinking. I think it's the isolation and something else that is causing the gaming and drinking...isolation isn't a virtual cure for anything, but drinking and gaming could be escapism. Self-esteem and isolation caused by isolation or other psychological and physiological issues could be feeding the gaming and alcohol addictions in a futile attempt to feel better about oneself...if only I can get that next level, or finish my epic! It's no different than some next fix for a H addict and it's just going to last as long.
 
I would also like to counter by saying that everything happening in that pic is healthy and social. In that pic you have four people, guys and gals, together, having fun, enjoying a few beers.

They are together, in the same room, communicating and enjoying life.

I submit that our liberal college educated overlords are actually the miserable ones who don't feel alive unless they are screwing with someone elses life. I live a good life, and have lived that pic on more than one weekend. Spending time with friends, playing games, and drinking beer is GOOD. It's absolutely great, in fact, after a nasty week at work. I think the idiots who are claiming we have low self esteem should examine their own?
 
Video games are also related to host of positive things, but these people love focusing on the negative.

I don't drink, I have never done any drugs and I've never had problems with aggression...yet I've been playing video games most of my life and I like competitive online games. I'm aggressive in games where I go around killing people, but not outside of that. I think that's the point especially with violent, competitive online games.

As usual, they're trying to show that games are the cause of drug and alcohol usage as well as violent behaviour. Everyone knows alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and violence didn't exist before Half-life came out.
 
Wow I can't believe how that sums me up. I thought I was this way just because I'm an a-hole.
 
This study is more related to addictive personality disorder and not to any one genre like video games or drugs. More likely this study was an attempt by the researchers to collect more grant money than anything else.
 
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