Video Games Turn People in Psychopaths

[shirgall]

Conveniently, Wired had an article ready to link psychopathy and video games. 

 

Absent a sense of empathy, you’re free to rob and kill at will. What we do with this reveals something about us.

 

 

http://www.wired.com/2014/05/psychopaths-dayz-rust/

 

That’s when I realized that my moral code in this virtual world was highly situational. When I was safe, clothed, and armed, my instinct was to help the girl that JB shot. When I was naked and alone, I felt no qualms about butchering a guy with a rock if I thought it would help me survive. What did I have to lose? It’s a lot harder to maintain one’s morals when you’re at the bottom of the food chain. I wondered if that rule would also apply if I were to lose everything in real life.

 

 

That's the punch line. To me, there is a strong undercurrent that people are fundamentally bad when they are desperate. Despite the paragraph above making it seem like people become moral once their needs are met the author shows that rising above abject survival most people become mafia dons and ruthless dictators. Where's the leap to government being pretty much a big mafia? Oh well, it is Wired, after all.

[meta]

This article seems a bit rubish to me.it titles "Why Online Games Turn Players Into Psychopaths"Why not all video games? What is specific of online games that makes them turn more players into psychopaths? Why caps at the start of every word?

I play and have played video games for a long time. There is no doubt to me that online Massive Multiplayer Online games are more interesting than traditionnal games.

 

Video games simply exagerate an inclination that was present before.

The parents who buy hardcore games to their kids are idiots, because it says right on the box what age limites are recommended.Because that is the number one problem, violent games and 12 years old kids playing for hours. But they are not suppose to play them. It is written on the box, in the same way that on a bottle of wine you ll find a label discouraging pregnant woman to drink. People still do it...

 

Online games have more interaction with other people. Those interaction can be good or bad, cooperation or fight.Co-operation is non existant in traditional games.

Also even if artificial intelligence is getting better, there is nothing more stimulating than competing with another human.Helping a human in a game is more rewarding, fooling one is more exilirating, I presume.

 

"Studying" the effects of online video games wachting 2 guys playing day-z for a couple hours is ridiculous. 

[GRosado]

It's amazing how people have been trying to link video games to gun violence & psychopathy. It's utterly ridiculous & it's like they have nothing better to do. Instead of scapegoating video games they should try & understand the real causes of violence.

[Frosty]

The article is somewhat misleading, with DayZ specifically there is what is known as "perma-death" or permanent death, the idea is that all character progress is lost and you have to start from scratch, which is unusual for a game these days but the raised stakes in the game is part of the attraction for many players. It makes encounters with enemies extremely tense which is made worse because encounters if you're a good player tend to be infrequent, this all adds to the appeal and novelty.

 

The real meat of the problem is concerning the players ability to discern fantasy from reality, if they genuinely believe the fantasy world is real and their actions are affecting real people, there would be good argument for psychopathy. However the world isn't real, nor are the consequences, a leveled headed human is able to distinguish between the fiction of a game and the fact of reality and apply different moral standards to both.

 

Do I apply real standards of morality to my opponent in monopoly when I take his last asset and make him go broke? No, of course not, there is clear logical and social differences between reality and a game.

[DaVinci]

For me video games have always been about having fun, having a challenge, and being able to have a shared experience with others.

[fractional slacker]

I have not read the article. However, one has to be suspicious of an article with such an inflamatory headline. The first thought is  someone is looking to get clicks or SEO points.

[shirgall]

I have not read the article. However, one has to be suspicious of an article with such an inflamatory headline. The first thought is  someone is looking to get clicks or SEO points.

 

I did state up front that it was from Wired.

[nathanm]

I never liked the idea of PVP in any game.  Although you play games for fun, you do still get upset when your character is getting clobbered, and now that means I'm mad at an actual human somewhere out there.  Ick.   Whereas with co-op or single player you can still get clobbered, but there's no human opponent, it's just your own skill that determines the outcome.  DayZ sounds horrible, that's not something I'd ever play.  I've tried to play "evil" characters in games which allow for in-game ethical choices, but even that doesn't feel right.  But that's still within the context of the fictional story.  When you can deliberately crap on another person's game experience, that's even worse IMO.

[Nerburg]

Whereas with co-op or single player you can still get clobbered, but there's no human opponent, it's just your own skill that determines the outcome.

Not making any judgement about your position: when it comes to video games it's definitely, 'to each their own'. I just wanted to point out that this reason is a major point of appeal for lots of online games as well.

[LanceD]

People without empathy display this lack in games. People with empathy continue to have empathy in games.

 

My kid almost cried when I killed a pig in Minecraft. He has since built a huge farm he uses to protect all the animals he can. But according to this guy I can expect the signs of sociopathy and psychopathy to manifest soon.

 

What a joke.