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Gaming has been linked with a lot of things. Repetitive Stress Syndrome, Visual Impairment and even with killings. One thing that it hasn’t been linked with however (At least I don’t THINK it has) is depression.
Mario 64 is a great game, yet everytime I play it, I get really, really depressed! I can’t explain why, I really can’t but I do. But on the other hand whenever I play ISS2000 or WWF No Mercy, I cheer up, not matter what mood I’m in.
It’s inexplicable as to why certain games affect my moods. I really have no idea why they do but no matter what mood I’m in to start with, after playing certain games my mood changes... usually for the better but sometimes for the worst. It’s really weird, knowing that just playing on a specific game can influence me to the point of being extremely happy or feeling like crap.
I’m going to now try and explain why I think this happens.
Games influence every single game players life. There’s really no point in denying it, they do. It’s been talked about before on these forums about games influencing people. But why do they influence us?
Perhaps we’re all mentally unstable and just playing Doom for a bit gives us an urge to go out and blow some things head off. Maybe we sympathise with the characters in the games. Who knows?? But I can sort of guess why I an influenced so much. It’s because I sympathise with the characters.
You may think this extremely sad and pathetic. Hey, you can think that! I don’t care! But what I do care about is people that have had something happen to them in their lives. Usually for the worse.
I feel sorry for homeless people selling the Big Issue, whenever I have it on me I always pay them £1 and, believe it or not, the Big Issue is in fact quite a good publication. I feel sorry for dogs who are lost. Hell, I even feel sorry for dead flies, wasps and bees! I can’t help thinking about their families. It’s incredibly strange and maybe a little over-sensitive, but that’s just the way I am.
So, when things happen to people in games, I sympathise with them too. For example, when Mario loses Peach in Mario 64 I feel sorry for him because he was tricked. I think "How must he feel?" and "Poor little guy, he’s gotta traipse through all those levels just to get her back". I suppose it’s because I have a conscience. A rather over active one.
The atmosphere of the game also has a lot of influence over me. If something is set in a colourful and chirpy place then it will, more often and not, depress me. That I really can’t explain, but it does.
This kind of thing isn’t just limited to games though... at least not for me. In films especially I find myself reasoning with myself. When, in The Green Mile, John Corfi was executed, I couldn’t help but cry. I felt sorry for the guy, he was being executed for a murder he hadn’t committed. He was being killed for someone elses wrong doing! Sure, he didn’t have a family but what if he had? How would they have been affected?
Call me weird, strange, mental, psycho, messed up whatever, but that’s just how I am!
So, do any games affect your moods?
RBS
Mario 64 is a great game, yet everytime I play it, I get really, really depressed! I can’t explain why, I really can’t but I do. But on the other hand whenever I play ISS2000 or WWF No Mercy, I cheer up, not matter what mood I’m in.
It’s inexplicable as to why certain games affect my moods. I really have no idea why they do but no matter what mood I’m in to start with, after playing certain games my mood changes... usually for the better but sometimes for the worst. It’s really weird, knowing that just playing on a specific game can influence me to the point of being extremely happy or feeling like crap.
I’m going to now try and explain why I think this happens.
Games influence every single game players life. There’s really no point in denying it, they do. It’s been talked about before on these forums about games influencing people. But why do they influence us?
Perhaps we’re all mentally unstable and just playing Doom for a bit gives us an urge to go out and blow some things head off. Maybe we sympathise with the characters in the games. Who knows?? But I can sort of guess why I an influenced so much. It’s because I sympathise with the characters.
You may think this extremely sad and pathetic. Hey, you can think that! I don’t care! But what I do care about is people that have had something happen to them in their lives. Usually for the worse.
I feel sorry for homeless people selling the Big Issue, whenever I have it on me I always pay them £1 and, believe it or not, the Big Issue is in fact quite a good publication. I feel sorry for dogs who are lost. Hell, I even feel sorry for dead flies, wasps and bees! I can’t help thinking about their families. It’s incredibly strange and maybe a little over-sensitive, but that’s just the way I am.
So, when things happen to people in games, I sympathise with them too. For example, when Mario loses Peach in Mario 64 I feel sorry for him because he was tricked. I think "How must he feel?" and "Poor little guy, he’s gotta traipse through all those levels just to get her back". I suppose it’s because I have a conscience. A rather over active one.
The atmosphere of the game also has a lot of influence over me. If something is set in a colourful and chirpy place then it will, more often and not, depress me. That I really can’t explain, but it does.
This kind of thing isn’t just limited to games though... at least not for me. In films especially I find myself reasoning with myself. When, in The Green Mile, John Corfi was executed, I couldn’t help but cry. I felt sorry for the guy, he was being executed for a murder he hadn’t committed. He was being killed for someone elses wrong doing! Sure, he didn’t have a family but what if he had? How would they have been affected?
Call me weird, strange, mental, psycho, messed up whatever, but that’s just how I am!
So, do any games affect your moods?
RBS
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FantasyMeister wrote:
> Heh, my cat hasn't slept in weeks....
*Hi, is that the RSPCA?...*
:-D
> Heh, my cat hasn't slept in weeks....
*Hi, is that the RSPCA?...*
:-D
Heh, my cat hasn't slept in weeks....
FantasyMeister wrote:
> When I feel like killing something,
Now theres a sentence that makes me sleep safe at night :)
> When I feel like killing something,
Now theres a sentence that makes me sleep safe at night :)
I agree with RBS on this one, that games DO affect your mood, but it works in the other direction. You choose the game to affect your mood, not the other way around.
When I'm bored, rather than just sitting glued to the TV, I'll play MSR (rather than Shenmue) to alleviate the boredom, because a fast action game makes me 'unbored' again.
When I feel like killing something, I'll dig out PSO or Dino Crisis or Code Veronica and shoot a few Raptors or Zombies, which always works.
When I have time to spare, I'll play Skies of Arcadia or Record of Lodoss War to pass the hours, as I know that these are going to make the time fly by much faster.
It's VERY rare that you play a game expecting one thing and getting another. The game which had the most surprising impact on me was Final Fantasy VII, the scene where Aeris gets killed is just so unexpected that you have feelings of sadness, anger and revenge all suddenly hit you, then you realise that it's a computer game, but still, you have to keep on playing to exact your retribution on Sephiroth.
Meryl getting shot several times in Metal Gear Solid is another example of something unexpected happening which suddenly throws you into the game and gets you involved.
Galcian taking control of the world in Skies of Arcadia is yet another example of where you are just playing a game to pass the time and all of a sudden you realise that you are going to be on there for much longer than you originally anticipated, because the game has engrossed you.
If games DIDN'T change your emotions, what would be the point? What is playing games all about in the first place? FUN! That's why 100 years ago, kids and wooden hoops to play with, and you never had complaints about wooden hoops having mind altering affects, did you?
When I'm bored, rather than just sitting glued to the TV, I'll play MSR (rather than Shenmue) to alleviate the boredom, because a fast action game makes me 'unbored' again.
When I feel like killing something, I'll dig out PSO or Dino Crisis or Code Veronica and shoot a few Raptors or Zombies, which always works.
When I have time to spare, I'll play Skies of Arcadia or Record of Lodoss War to pass the hours, as I know that these are going to make the time fly by much faster.
It's VERY rare that you play a game expecting one thing and getting another. The game which had the most surprising impact on me was Final Fantasy VII, the scene where Aeris gets killed is just so unexpected that you have feelings of sadness, anger and revenge all suddenly hit you, then you realise that it's a computer game, but still, you have to keep on playing to exact your retribution on Sephiroth.
Meryl getting shot several times in Metal Gear Solid is another example of something unexpected happening which suddenly throws you into the game and gets you involved.
Galcian taking control of the world in Skies of Arcadia is yet another example of where you are just playing a game to pass the time and all of a sudden you realise that you are going to be on there for much longer than you originally anticipated, because the game has engrossed you.
If games DIDN'T change your emotions, what would be the point? What is playing games all about in the first place? FUN! That's why 100 years ago, kids and wooden hoops to play with, and you never had complaints about wooden hoops having mind altering affects, did you?
My view is that games do affect your mood - they may well inspire violence or depression - but then, so do a great many trivial things, and learning to get over them is something everyone should be able to do.
If you have no control over your own mood, you need help. If you do, you'll be fine playing games.
If you have no control over your own mood, you need help. If you do, you'll be fine playing games.
Of course games will effect your mood. Everything we do effects our mood! Eating, sleeping, talking to people, all of these things will play a part in how we feel at any given time. If we weren't effected by what we do and what goes on around us we'd be a bit like the Non Playable Characters in RPGs!
It's when people take it on a step too far and say so if gaming effects you in this way, it must be the cause for violence. Well that's crap in my opinion too. Playing games won't make you a violent person or a despressed person, but it might help bring this part of you out along with all of the other things that may happen to you.
Personally I find all games cheer me up, I enjoy playing, otherwise I wouldn't bother.
It's when people take it on a step too far and say so if gaming effects you in this way, it must be the cause for violence. Well that's crap in my opinion too. Playing games won't make you a violent person or a despressed person, but it might help bring this part of you out along with all of the other things that may happen to you.
Personally I find all games cheer me up, I enjoy playing, otherwise I wouldn't bother.
At first I admit that I didn't read the whole lot there RBS. But actually, being quite like you emotionally-wise, I found your last paragraph, err, moving you could say.#
But when I first read the bit where you put: "Hell! I even feel for dead flies.." You put me in stitches. No offebce of any kind RBS, but the way you put it was perfect. I couldn't stop laughing.
Yet, even though I laughed, that is EXACTLY the same for me.
One day, lining up for dinner at school along a wall, I noticed many dead 'daddy long legs'. Wondering why they were dead, I noticed the purpose for their deaths. A few kids were kicking living craneflies off the wall and grinding them into little pieces with the sole of their shoes.
I just couldn't help feeling sorry for the little things. I had a sudden urge to punch the culprits in the face for the damage they had done.
GRRRRRRRR.
You're not the only one RBS.
But when I first read the bit where you put: "Hell! I even feel for dead flies.." You put me in stitches. No offebce of any kind RBS, but the way you put it was perfect. I couldn't stop laughing.
Yet, even though I laughed, that is EXACTLY the same for me.
One day, lining up for dinner at school along a wall, I noticed many dead 'daddy long legs'. Wondering why they were dead, I noticed the purpose for their deaths. A few kids were kicking living craneflies off the wall and grinding them into little pieces with the sole of their shoes.
I just couldn't help feeling sorry for the little things. I had a sudden urge to punch the culprits in the face for the damage they had done.
GRRRRRRRR.
You're not the only one RBS.
I couldn never remember teradactles i always called the areodactles oh i'm mad!
What game should i get out of:
Banjo tooie, Pokemon stadium G/S, Excitebike, Castlevania advanced, chu chu rocket advanced, Tony hawks advanced, F-zero advanced
any ideas!
What game should i get out of:
Banjo tooie, Pokemon stadium G/S, Excitebike, Castlevania advanced, chu chu rocket advanced, Tony hawks advanced, F-zero advanced
any ideas!
Dan uk wrote:
Another way my mind has been affected by
> games?
After spending 500 hours on the Gameboy filling my Pokedex
> with all 150 pokemon, I found myself always thinking of butterflys
> and butterfrees and bees as beedrills.
Again, I had to stop and
> think to realise what I was doing.
I remember you posting that exact same message a while ago :-D
Another way my mind has been affected by
> games?
After spending 500 hours on the Gameboy filling my Pokedex
> with all 150 pokemon, I found myself always thinking of butterflys
> and butterfrees and bees as beedrills.
Again, I had to stop and
> think to realise what I was doing.
I remember you posting that exact same message a while ago :-D
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