Gaming Discipline

Gamepolitics.com has an interesting article:
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/12/09/wow-trashing-some-college-students039-grades

The core of it is the question: Are World and Warcraft and other MMOs leading some college students to neglect their studies?

I shall lay down my observations and opinion on this…

Let me tell you of a series of events I observed while I was at a college, lets call it…. IAD. IAD was the course I was studying. Now the moment I entered college, my parents, in their wisdom, has planned for this moment, and undertook a one year, short-term mission thingy over somewhere in the west. Following it, they took a 3(?) year mission engagement to the north, coming back sporadically due to its proximity. This effectively meant two things. My parents wasn’t around after my high school years, and I had to live independently since. Cool!

Note:  My parents raised me up to be able to live independently, and I can proudly say, the house is still standing after so many years taking care of it. For now. 😀

So, this IAD, it was among a few other colleges, in a commercial+residential… square(no western equivalent) that, over time, has learned to cater to the students. There is no less than four stationary shops with atleast two commercial-level photostatting machines, not to mention the many convenience stalls, all, with few exception, having their atleast one photostatting machine. This is not counting the professional printers. Not impressed? Fine, houses has been converted into rooms. A 60×20 two story house(upstairs may be about 40×20) can contain more than 10 boarded up rooms! Lord knows how the morning rush to toilet is resolved. Maybe by drawing sticks… or blood. Nothing out of the ordinary? I hear the USA has towns built and solely supported by the students of a particular university. This place wasn’t originally intended for it, but I have one more impressive card up my sleeve. Internet cafes.

Hooo yah, Internet Cafes.

Over here, original games are not cheap, and broadband sucks. Thus internet cafes has sprung up all over the country as an alternative for entertainment. So how many internet cafes? 10? Nah to little. 20 perhaps? Getting warmer. Thirty??? Only if you don’t count the small ones. This particular one I used to go, SS, has two shop lots and three stories full of computers on. Some year or so back, a giant internet cafe opened. One floor has about 300 computers. It is two stories of massive gaming. One other cafe has comfy couches and big stretch TVs for their customers. (this is like quite a while back, 42″ TVs were not in the average home then) During public holidays, unless you know someone, or are early, you would NOT have space. Does your university town have that? Bet ya it doesn’t. And all this inside… say a square kilometer, 1.5 km max. Well more a rectangle who longest side is 1, 1.5 km but you get the point.

So, the temptation is there. Bait is dangling from the string….

Now as many college goers may experience, they have to leave home for extended periods of time. A lot stay away from their family, usually for the 1st time. And sometimes while staying away, they get bored. Or waiting in between classes to start, a wait of 2 or 4 hours seems rather long. Gee what to do.
Play pool? ¤12 per table per hour. Movie? Gotta drive like 10 minutes and it costs ¤9 per student, but per two hours. Finding parking is hell, forget it. Smoke and chitchat? Government has been increasing the cost of cigs. %$@$@ Say, how bout ¤2 per hour of entertainment? And no health risk or headache of finding parking!

Needless to say, lots of college students play various games, mostly DotA and CS v1.6, or COD4. So what is so interesting? If you were to ask a random male 1st year student in IAD, he most likely will play with you on his free time. As a random second year, and a few replies will come out like: I cannot or will not play it. Either one of those two. Why?

😀

Cos they started failing. They would play before and after class, at home online (its bearable, but not to me) and on their hostel LAN/WAN. Scholarship students failing! It was an interesting observation to see how the students reacted to this. Of course not all failed, but many an A’s was discarded among late nights of glowing monitors.

• Some stopped cold turkey. Not easy, but they did. Imo, their social circle suffered the most as birds of a feather…
• Others attempted to manage their time. Regulate doses of gaming with studying. Some succeeded, others fell into the next category.
• Still others could not discipline themselves. They played all the time, and scraped through. Not all managed to scrape through.

Now I’m not talking a few students here, there, I mean A LOT OF THEM had their 1st taste of the dangers of unsupervised lifestyle from internet cafes. And a lot of them were probably punished. Unless you were already a gamer who has learn’t where games are in your life, (woo a new potential blog post!) this is your baptism by fire. Well, fire from a CT behind that crate, but still.

Getting back on hand, Are World and Warcraft and other MMOs leading some college students to neglect their studies?
No, MMOs and WOW(ignoring the redundancy, they should be placed in that order) is not the sole or close to the sole time consuming games in the world.
Are games leading some a lot of college students to neglect their studies?
YES!!

Make no mistake, games are addictive. Like every other entertainment, be it TV, Novels, or Clubbing, its fun, and therefore desirable. Do enough of it and its addictive.

Quick story:  I once was asked by some psychology students if I would like to participate in their group project about addicts, particularly a game addict. By then, I built a reputation around a game, DotA, having being associated with me and the contests I ran. So I said yes, why not. It is an opportunity to learn something, including about myself. Later in the day, lo and behold, the Head-Of-Department-Of-IAD called me into Her Office. Shes actually cool. Imo she would be a really good youth leader of sorts if she wanted, but when asked, she said God wanted her to be in the college. Great lady, the kind you respect just cos she deserved it. Anyway, she was sounding out her PSY students, those 2 who came and accused me of addiction asked me to be their pet guinea pig. Apparently 4+ hrs of gaming a day on college days and 8+ hrs of gaming during holidays was not enough to consider me as an addict experiment. I was standing there, unsure if I should consider it as a complement as a human being, or an insult as a gamer. Hmm. There apparently are more parameters to indicate addiction. Needless to say, I’m still a psychology experiment virgin.

FYI: I’m close to 16 hrs/day on the comp now that I’m on holiday. End of story.

So, Gaming Discipline, ah yes, the point of the blog post. The bible says lots of things about discipline. But one of the greatest truths I found in my life, is this: “Moderation if possible, none or all if not.” -by me. Learn to moderate your gaming, and you won’t get in trouble. Granted, I would be getting more A’s if I did not game, instead of B’s, but I place academic achievements slightly above the ability to fart with your armpit. I’ve personally learn’t more from games than from school, but thats me. Marks is the standard that other people use to gauge your intelligence. How much that says about theirs is irrelevant to the fact that to win in life, marks equate to the opportunities given in life, and how some people precieve you. Kinda like your CHA and/or Luck score ingame.

I can’t stress this enough to my fellow gamers, Don’t Be Stupid. Just as you don’t get abilities that let you deal one hit KOs but not be able to move fast enough to get close to hit in a PVP game, don’t spend all your time in games. Play em when you can, the rest of the time, learn how to fart with your armpit. If you can’t or have already mastered armpit farting, go down the list to the next thing. Thats what I did!

———————————————————————————————————————

Links:

Minnesota University Sees Compulsive Gaming as Real Issue for Students (Original Story)
http://www.gameculture.com/node/949
World of Warcraft @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_warcraft
Massive Multiplayer Online (Games) @ Wikipedia. (WoW is a MMORPG.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMO
DOTA AKA. Defense of the Ancients @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dota
DOTA AKA. Defense of the Ancients resource website:
http://www.dotaportal.com/

FREE GAMES FROM US AIRFORCE

Really, actually free stuff.

Taken from:

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/11/02/free-stuff-air-force-drops-bombs-gamers

————————————————————————————-

Okay, so they may not be the greatest games ever published, but the U.S. Air Force is serving up the full versions of three Midway PC titles – and they are absolutely free:

• The Suffering
• Area-51
• Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War

It’s undoubtedly part of the USAF’s recruitment effort, since the download site links over to Do Something Amazing, the flyboys’ marketing presence on the web.

And, hey, including Area-51 in an Air Force promo is kinda creepy and cool at the same time, no? Somebody at HQ has a sense of humor.

————————————————————————————-

I recommend The Suffering, have it myself. Its a good game. The other two I didn’t buy because of the not so great reviews.

Do note, I didn’t download anything, so don’t ask me if something goes wrong. Also I dont know of any expiriry dates on the links. Have fun.

Needy Children vs “Tainted” Money

Wow, just wow. Read on.

Christian Children’s Fund provides “health care, day care, safe water, nutrition, education and training programs, and projects for handicapped children.” Thats nice. It was so nice, that even one of the biggest most influential gaming icons, the late Mr Gary Gygax, considered it his most favorite charity and apparently supported them now and then. But it seems, the CCF thinks such needy children arn’t so needy after all.

To quote the place I 1st saw this: Link

The fine folks at GenCon raised over $17,000 for this charity, which helps starving children in impoverished areas of the world–only to have that money actually turned down by the charity. The charity refused due to the fact that the money was raised partly by the sales of Dungeons and Dragons materials, which as we all know, puts an irrevocable taint of evil on the filthy lucre that us demon-worshipping gamers might want to use to, say, donate to starving children. Not only is this a slap in the face to every gamer, but it is especially insulting to Mr. Gygax himself, who I understand donated to their cause many times over the years. Plus, I’m sure the children who would have gotten food or clean drinking water with that money would be sort of upset, too.

As a gamer, I feel “those Christians” are pushing me away yet again. They spit on that which I cherish time and time again, and even giving donations to help the needed, seeing its from me, isn’t worthy enough to be accepted.  As a Christian, I’m thinking, we need better PR representation here God. How are we to reach out if others keep slamming the doors?

As I read that article, I feel very sad. On so many levels. From the people who will reject Christ because of this article strengthening their resolve to not be like “those Christians”, to the kids who will not benefit from the aid they will need, especially with all this recession coming on. But before that, I KNOW any Christian worth their salt will ask, Weren’t they right in not accepting it?

Interesting question. This Link gives an interesting look:
Q:Mother Theresa accepted donations for her work from all sources – regardless of the background of the donors. She said that once the money was in her possession, she would put it to good use – its origin was irrelevant. Was Mother Theresa wrong to accept this money?

A:The only reasons I can imagine for it being wrong are consequentialist ones (i.e., the wrongness resides in the consequences such acceptances produce), and they strike me as weak reasons at that. First. the acceptance might encourage illegal or immoral activity, by creating a demand or outlet for such activity. Second, the acceptance could be interpreted by some as an endorsement of the activity — drug or arms dealing, gambling, prostitution, etc. But you’d have to show (1) that the acceptance really is being interpreted as endorsement, and (2) that the perceived endorsement is causing something bad to happen.
Now, in Mother Teresa’s case, I’d have to say these reasons don’t hold. Both of them constitute what Mother Teresa would have considered the serious sin of scandal, and I doubt that she would have willingly committed it.

By accepting the cash, would CCF have endorsed them? No, I don’t believe so, they accepted from Gary Gygax and did not, I believe, come up to refute or otherwise reject his claim that he liked them. So why now, when GenCon, who yearly holds a yearly charity auction, and having choose this particular organization in memory of the late Gary Gygax, that CCF decided that the money was suddenly not wanted? Note: PART of the money came from sold D&D products btw, not all.

Some of you may still be thinking, its “sin money”, its unacceptable. I don’t believe so:

Now, to clarify, before I started even touching D&D, I did about 3 months of research about it. I read stuff by Christians condemning it, I read gamers who counter condemned them back (equally pathetic arguments half the time), and I also read about Christian Gamers, they were the most insightful of all. But the killer, was about investigative reports to those who claimed their kids were killed by D&D and all such things. Yes, they were fake. Heck, it reeks of Jack Thompson, the “christian” lawyer who capitalizes the deaths of others by spouting his lies infront of national TV with unverified(or made up, whichever) stories. By the end of the 3 months, I felt I was read to make an informed decision. I started reading the 3.5th edition core books. All 900+ pages between a sem break. Why so long? I don’t want to have to feel guilty or insecure about the possibility of playing a “demonic satanic hell-bringing” game, I want to be able to enjoy it fully without no pangs of my consciousness, to play it openly and be confident of my decision. But thats a story for another day.

So no, IMHO, it isn’t a sin. I have done many sinful things, D&D isn’t one of them. Its like music, it can worship the devil, it can worship God(Christian Rock is NOT an oxymoron!). In D&D, they gear the game towards “good overcoming evil”, especially in the 4th edition(so I heard). Music is easier to use for demonic purposes than D&D imo, infact i can confidently say, more people use music for less than “holy” purposes than D&D does. So, it is not so much as Music(like say rock) is unholy, but more its use is. In D&D, I myself stay away from including much religious stuff in, be it Clerical deities, or from real life influence. It will always be about good overcoming evil, Good clerics vs Bad clerics, etc etc. I made up my mind, no evil necromancer games for me.

Now the other thing that pissed me off:
This reminds me of a very recent trip of Mr Burlew’s comic, This , where basically she asks: …So, the real question is: Is your financial outlook so rosy that you can afford NOT to accept this money based solely on the assumption that all said about D&D is right?

CCF is saying, they do not wish to use that money to help provide “health care, day care, safe water, nutrition, education and training programs, and projects for handicapped children.” I promise you, if i needed healthcare, water, education and all that, and some stranger on the street offered me them, I really don’t care who gives it to me, I’ll take it, say thank you, and use it wisely.
Is CCF really so well funded and the kids so well taken care off that they can say no? Amazing, I know they won’t be a charity I will support nor seek to go under. If I see starving kids around me, and I ask CCF for money, the last thing I would want to hear is a “No, but we were offered some money but unfortunately part of it is possibly demonic, so yea, Amy there is going to die of starvation after all. Pity.”
I would smack that person, and scream SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Maybe it is because my family background is one of less than stellar financial status, I dunno. Saying no to money to the needy? If a friend won a lottery and gave me one million, ill accept it, and most probably use most for donation, but still, its one million towards a POSITIVE change.
Rome 13:14 says: Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
You not only hurt the kids, you hurt one of the (imo)hardest to reach people groups, atheist gamers.

Ahhh, I have so much more to say, my heart feels so heavy. So I’ll end it early.
I believe in WWJD, Its a good idea to keep it in mind. Thus, when I read this, I see myself in this scenario:
I am standing on a hill, a guy on my left, a malnourished kid on my right, and Jesus standing infront of me. The man, he won the lottery and wishes to give me part of it to donate to some kids who are lacking basic necessities. I know he may gamble the rest away, maybe invest it instead, maybe even give it all away, but I know how he received it, and he is offering it with sincerity. The kid, she lack proper food, clean water, probably education and love. She is reaching out to me, her skin dirty, her smile filled with yellow unkept teeth, but her eyes, they look into my soul with sharp clarity. As tears well down her cheek, it begs of love and acceptance. I really want to help her, so I turn to Christ for counsel. When I look at Him, I feel the need to look at the man once again. When I turn to look at him, I finally notice his eyes, they too are crystal clear. Just like the child’s eyes, it begs of love and acceptance, they are both wanting the same thing deep down inside, the needs manifest differently. I look down and ponder, what I should do. Do I tell the girl to go away, unfed, unwashed, with no one to look after her, and then tell the guy, I don’t want his money, it is dirty? Or do I go against the Book, take the money give it to the child, and hug both of them really really tight…. then have my Peers condemn it as a sin? As i look up back to God, I am reminded about the bible verse on breaking the Sabbath day to help others. I know what the real question at stake is. How important is keeping Sabbath to you?

Note: longer question for those who did not get it, Is your love for these people greater than the need to keep the law? Or is love the overriding factor? Is it the root of the reason God gave us such Law?

Updates: Link
Right, they couldn’t sort things out with the GenCon people, especially seeing that all previous receivers of the charity auction money was considered beneficiaries. But like the post says, good of them to reply so quickly.

Links:

Original source
Original Story

Quick news about Jack Thompson

Sexier than you thought.

Rawr! We r da fittest of em all!

Ahem.

So, apparently, “Online gamers are fit” BUT, we are depressed people who abuse substances, and possibly use games as an emotional escape.

Now, this is a survey of 7000 players, but only from one Game, the MMORPG Everquest 2.

Thoughts:

• Some of the things they noted, like older population, could be due to the age of EQ.
• I can imagine this conversation going on between the game and the Player…Game:”Psst, complete this survey and get c001 3p1c WMDs!”Player:”Hmm? Sure, lesse… A A A A A A A A and… B. Done, now SHOW ME DA MON…GOODS.”
• What exactly does substance abuse constitute? Any and all use of illegal substances, or actual abuse of it? And why take crap when you are trying to frag that guy who teabagged you?

Aniway, I think if they tried it on WOW, there would be different results, with the younger and female gamers being significantly higher in %.

Checking out the comments: “Age Demographic Skew” and “Gaming Stress Relief” I agree with both of them. (Ctrl+F those two phrases to find them)

Interesting Links:

Annnndddd if you think us gamers don’t have time to snack and stuff cos we are bz gaming, guess again:

http://everquest2.station.sony.com/pizza/

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/pandaren-xpress.html

Yes, I was equally shocked when I 1st learn’t about this a while back. WHY DOESN’T MY COUNTRY HAVE SUCH THINGS!!!

God, Games and Girls

When people ask me, what is my life philosophy, what are the most important things in life and so on, I answer:

“God, Games and Girls. In that order.”

This three G’s came about after learning about the Three C’s(Christianity, Commerce and Civilization) in a history class.
After a while, my brain somehow spit it out, and wallah!

Food is also a major theme in my life, and I gleefully admit that I have successfully increased eating habits upon my own church cell in the time that I have been with them. As much as I wanted to write God, Games, Girls and Food, it somehow lacked the oomph of GGG, so yea. Pity.

Anyway, this blog is mostly a mix of thoughts and things I come across, and wish to share. Just as Salvation is a Treasure that can be given freely without loss, so is the things I wish to type out. They probably will range from Games, Technology, Electronics to God, Christianity, WorldIsEndingOMG. Girls as a topic is something I will touch less on, as this blog was purposely made as an anonymous blog, not attached to my own life, nor my online presence. No, googling my username doesn’t give any hits but my older blog. And no, there’s nothing on it that isn’t here already.

For the Spiritually minded, the level of theology you will see here will not blow your head off, pray you will bear with my less than stellar understanding of God. Help helps btw.
For the Gamers, I won’t stuff God down your throat, Lord knows, the world is full of people who, with good-intentions, over do the “BeChristianOrBurnInHell… NOW!” thing. Hope you get some insights.
For the Girls, I’m currently single. Nuff Said.