Reality Check - Are MMO Games Actually Bad For You?

They would be bad for you if you play them for long periods and are not interesting in: resting your eyes, sleeping, eating, etc.

very interesting article, well worth seeing!

A reality check purely on addiction would be interesting. I would also like to see a reality check on how does gaming affect sleep in a positive or negative way.

Reality check: Are sensationalist topics profoundly lazy "journalism"?

Would like to see an episode on a video game addiction, yes plz :D

Great show!

An episode on Games in Education and teaching/learning.
Or maybe on Games as a literature

i dont know if they are bad for me, i dont touch them. I want Single Player RPG's. Actually i prefer single player games in general. Like reading a book.

OMG CAM

make an episode about Nerve gear :P

its a concept for VR u can find in recent Japanese anime Sword art online

I think its a very very nice idea

Great show Cam,

A show on gaming addiction would be great. Have you seen the movie 'Second Skin' (2009)

It's a movie about gaming addiction and dealt primarily World of Warcraft.

The movies shows one person going to rehab, another person committing suicide (if I remember correctly), and another disabled person who is able to socialize and express himself and make positive contributions to others.

Gaming is the most addicting drug on the planet, I believe, but they make like much more fun to.

Coulson's first comment saying that MMOs are bad because of the violent content seems like a bit of a cut'n'paste response to ANY videogame. I've always got the impression the bulk of time spent in an MMO is usually around other activities like trading or crafting, hunting and such.

Truth be told I wouldn't say there are any negative effects from playing MMOs that couldn't be found in other genres of games as well, while the potential benefits are fairly unique.

Did anyone take a look a his article of gaming "leveling-up your social life" and this? That journal article published was already biased by administering questionnaire's to their sample populations (which is a infinitesimally small representation, since these sorts of events house social personalities in gaming). But furthermore, we still discuss that the MMO has a lot of negative properties largely dealing with antisocial behavior - or to put in lighter terms, "sucked in". Even Final Fantasy had built-in reminders that players needed to take breaks. I was 14 when I tried WoW, and I can still remember a couple (who both played WoW) practically become divorced from it - AGAIN, these are extreme examples (and also, kinda interesting that I had that exposure). Although I grew up in a time that cultivated games as a social experience with the introduction of online - there will always be stereotypes for a reason. I do however believe it is safe to say that (in no small part due to all the people who work hard in the industry) development of games are definitely becoming more socially geared and acceptable (Even my Grandma vaguely understands that Skyrim is a popular game)

Cam, I love this series - I love science because we can quantify data using science. This video acts a lot like a literature review of scientific articles (which, by no means should be discounted). I'd like to see more articles involved in your hypotheses, remember - it's always acceptable to refute your hypothesis!

I personally don't play MMO's, not to say there is anything wrong with them, but while I find it easy to socialize in real life I find it extremely difficult to get into games where I have to communicate with other people online. Just an odd quirk of life.

Like many things in life, MMOs are bad for you as much as you let them to be. You actually have a choice. It's same as drugs, alcohol and smoking, you do it because you CHOSE to do it! Well, not same... normal dosage of video games isn't bad... as long as it's in normal dosages.

My first encounter with MMOs was WOW... I loved playing it, but I never neglected my work, family, GF, friends and my exercise. After 2 months I quit, returned twice (2 months again)... played few MMOs after, but never got addicted. Not because I disliked them, or got bored... because I didn't let my actual real life suffer because never ending games.

My point... you are who you chose to be, while life throw at you things you can't chose, becoming a gaming hermit IS A CHOICE!

Last game I was addicted to was Chrono Trigger on SNES...and that was in 1995.

I haven't met an MMO to date that I've liked. And when you tack on paying for a base game AND subscription fees, it just becomes doubly over a "no chance in hell" proposition. There's something about having to deal with tons of other human players that I feel very unappealing. Personally, I love the idea of large-scale 2-4 player games. But your classic MMO just always rubs me the wrong way.

As for the professor's diagnosis, I have no issue with games the use or promote violence. The more something becomes a chore in repetitious tasks, the more I feel like my time is being wasted, and I've got better things to do. Games, even non-MMOs, are time wasters, but as long as you're being entertained, it validates the time investment. Nothing has hooked me or pulled me into the gameplay mechanics of an MMO. I guess it's like asking someone to like a sports game when they don't like sports.

To anyone thinking I'm passing judgement on them in the event the like MMOs, I am not. If you like MMO's, more power to ya. Different strokes for different folks. It just doesn't seem to be my cup o' joe.

the addicting part of those games is the social aspect. at least for me. I played wow, ALOT. but mostly with my friends. and I find myself now playing battlefield 4. I play hours when I have friends to play with, but only maybe 3 or 4 games when i'm alone.

im addicted to borderlands 2 and skyrim.

im not the addictive type, I drink coffee but i don't crave it (not every day even) i don't smoke don't even understand the moronic concept of smoking, and I never got drunk, in some parallel universe i can probably bend space time with my will and make people do anything I want.

yes I did play wow for a while then the end game bored the C**P out of me, frankly I just hated the idea of "making" time for games, I play games to waste time and have fun, I DONT make time for games if you start marking calenders to have fun ur doing it wrong....

I'm gonna play TESO, seems like a solid game but again if it becomes too grindy and repetitive I will probably dump it too, I'm now dling it and it should be up and running soon but I aint in a hurry

this time I WILL join a guild early and try to make a few buddies online and hell maybe actually get to meet them this time, my friends don't like MMOS or games for that matter so cant bring them in :P

I started playing Rift recently, and I really enjoy it but after so long I just have to get up and go out or to the gym or something. I know it's time when I'm not playing and just jumping around the main city bored lol.

@camfrazrob you should make an #realitycheck about mental powers like moving objects with your mind and other stuff like jedi mind triks

Btw I tried to share this but I got a link with it saying "Here's how to get your free World of Warcraft epic mount Hearthsteed" so yer link broken bub.

Played PSO on Dreamcast I mean that is what got me INTO MMos because before online was about fighting other players and I wanted to co op not fight them.

Honestly I live in a small town and away from the majority of friends and family so this is a fantastic time killer (MMOs) that allow me to interact with people from the world over (potentially)

Oh and talk about addiction last game I was like that was the original Legend of Zelda.

MMOs positively influence introverts social life since they are more calculated and they will apply it in real life as well, while they can negatively influence extroverts social life since its a process that mainly desire a solitude while playing.

With the ridiculous people in the mmorpg communities who don't care about people wanting a life outside of the game yes these games are bad for people. The raid schedules are often ridiculous and the demands on players are extreme. I also think that the companies that make these games could do more to make it a healthier gaming experience but they don't care about that as they want you hooked. They want it to be like crack.
What needs to happen with these games is for content to not be nerfed so people don't feel they have to constantly play to see content the way it was meant to be played. They also need to limit guilds to running only 2 raid days per week. I wouldn't even mind seeing them have one week every so often where you can't raid.
Yes mmorpg games are bad for people cuz the people who often are at the leadership spots in these communities are complete addicts to the games and would not know real life if it hit them in the face.

Easily the best show on GameSpot.

I purposely avoided WoW because I knew it would consume most of my life. I do not regret this decision.

i play an mmo now just to waste time, hang out with friends, compete in pvp and meet with new players. and play new things when they are released.

im sucked in but for a short time like an hour at most and most of the time i have full control over my time.

when i played wow i was sucked in for a long time but after i went everywhere i wanted, explored, understood the game, then it wasnt long after that when i got bored and stopped playing.

idk about addiction and stuff but i played as long as it was fun and once it was boring it was over for me.

You could do an episode on why we feel games were better 'back in the day'. When in reality they are usually not, its just our nostalgia.

mmo fun if you play wif friend c:

I'd like to think I could write a book on this subject. When it comes to MMOs, I've been there and done that. Yes -- even that.

I've learned that the more time you spend in an MMO, the more time you are not out meeting people or bettering yourself in traditional ways -- many of which are vital to success, no matter how you define it. I probably "lost" a few years of my life due to MMOs. I didn't meet my favorite person in the world until my late 20s or get a BS degree until my early 30s.

However, MMOs can be a rich tapestry of social dynamics, politics, triumph, failure, love, loss, patience, tenacity, adversity, reward, consequences, and many other challenges one faces in the real world.

There are many things in life I wish I could go back and change, but I'm not so certain my time spent playing MMOs would be one of them.

I never understood how people can get hooked to a video game. Don't get me wrong, I love video games and I will play anything worthwhile, but I've never gotten hooked. The only time I got "hooked" was when I rented a game from Blockbuster (yes I know long time ago) and then managed to not play it until I had 24 hours left with it, so then I played the living sh*t out of it until the next day.

Reality check on using the brain as the controller / how close are we to the matrix :D

You should talk about games' role in over-stimulation.

There use to be a time when MMOs were actually challenging from the start. Where choosing how you wanted to spec and gear your character matters. This, for many of us, is what kept us hooked. Now you have a system that just does everything for you, a stat system that is incredibly watered down (Looking at you WoW) and a system that tells you where exactly to go.

Are MMOs still addicting? They can be, but for many of us who were around since the beginning. They are nowhere near as complex and indepth, thus losing their appeal much more quickly.