Games cause trouble. Perhaps not to the extent that the mainstream media would like us to believe, more the “Why haven’t you done the washing up?” kind of trouble. To be honest that may be worse, at least you’re not nagged whilst you’re in prison. I’ll be perfectly honest here, gaming has clearly caused me trouble.
Only two weeks ago I was sitting and playing Assassin’s Creed II. I thought to myself “I’ve got a free hour, I’ve finished work, I deserve a treat.” Sadly Assassin’s Creed II is a game that sneaks up on you, rather than playing through the first hour of the game like I’d intended I played it for about 3 hours. That wouldn’t be so terrible, except I was supposed to be catching a train to go and see my parents. In the end I didn’t arrive until gone ten in the evening, not quite what I’d planned originally.
For some of us trouble may go a little further than that, take a certain prison officer in the Phillipines. Stupidly he decided to partake in the crack that is Plants Vs Zombies whilst at work. Playing games at work might end in getting fired if you get caught for most people, so it’s hardly the best idea. Of course it does get a little worse when you’re supposed to be guarding prisoners and you’re distraction allows them to escape.
I wouldn’t say Plants Vs Zombies is entirely to blame, although PopCap are the undisputed kings of addictive gaming. No it is tough to blame a game when the officer left his keys within reach of the prisoners. Unless you’ve gone to the ‘easy escape in a movie’ school of jailing it seems like a rookie mistake, the zombie killing distraction just allowed them to get away before he noticed.
We need to remember, and remind the mainstream press at every chance, that games don’t always lead to trouble. Yes there have been a few, relatively rare cases where people on trial have blamed video games for influencing their crimes. It’s hardly like every gamer is a criminal, or every criminal a gamer. This study from the Secret Service suggests that gamers aren’t even the most troublesome group. On page twenty you’ll find some stats which indicate that only twelve percent of school shootings in the US can be linked to games, compared to twenty-seven percent for movies and twenty-four percent for books. The largest group (thirty-seven percent) actually express anger in their own writing, rather than being influence by others.
Sorry for that little spell of darkness in what was supposed to be a light hearted piece on the trouble that gaming has caused us. I think it’s my own bitterness about the way that the gaming industry is treated by main stream press that leads to spontaneous outbursts of relevant statistics. I’ll try and keep it in check in the future.
So to return to the light heartedness that’s supposed to be brightening your presumably dull Sunday – as pretty much all Sundays are dull – let’s hear what you’ve got to say about getting into trouble. Have you ever shot someone because of gaming or, more likely, forgotten to take out the rubbish? Have you suffered the nagging of a loved one due to your love of electronic entertainment? Of course don’t reveal anything that might get you thrown in jail, I actually advise against admitting to any acts of violence.
All credit to bunimomike for suggesting this and sending in the tip about the Phillipines. Good job.
gazzagb
I don’t think gaming has caused me many problems, maybe the odd rushed homework but thats about it. I still put friends and family before gaming, I don’t think I would ever switch that around.
As Roy said, gaming has probably helped me more. My reactions, coordination and ability to think quickly have all improved as a result.
PoorPaddy89
Assassin’s Creed II is a little bitch for play time. I got it delivered on release day to uni, played it for 11 hours solid (bar a quick visit to the shop to get snacks and beer). Chaffed off the skin of my left thumb, and it’s still not the same.
Severn2j
I’m already in trouble today for gaming.. I picked up COD:WaW this morning for cheap and, quite rightly imo, had a blast with it when I got home.. My wife disagreed for some reason and believed I should be redecorating the bedroom instead. :/
Peter Rushton
Redecorate the room in the style of ww2 and have COD painted in huge style writing, that will teach her
Grey_Ghost13
Back to the prison officer who let all the cons exscape: what I don’t get is before we had gamming the same thing probably happened countless times when guards were playing cards or sleeping, its just that where we are now with technology it happens to be that he was playing a game. But I bet there wasn’t the same stigma then as there is now!
Origami Killer
my main trobles are:
my tea go’s cold as i was ‘saving’ the game
i am told something important when playing, then asked about it later i dont have a clue what they r on about and get shouted out
on phone, Me: ‘im in town, and ive just bought a game’…. Other side: no answer….. in trouble when i get home
oh and yes ive massacred a whole airport under the influnce of gaming but thats not a biggy
Shakugan
You sounds almost like me :D
Origami Killer
which part lol?
Shakugan
All
matty
I have handed in many late essays because my new game came and i thought I’d play an hour only to play all night and complete the story haha
bunimomike
For me, the biggest thing to suffer is everything else around gaming when you’re happy to let things slide in the name of digital tomfoolery. Thankfully, I’ve not had any previous girlfriends whinge about me playing too many hours as I’ve rarely obsessed about a title to the point of me playing it each and everyday. Although a few times I end up playing for too long a time (read: six hours or so) and I have to take a nurofen to wipe the eye strain and mild headache I can often get. Two sure signs that I need to put down the controller and go focus on something different; possibly with a dollop of fresh air.
Where’s Double-o-Dave when you need a good reply to this. :-)
samiro05
UFC Undisputed 2010. If I get submitted in the first round and my rotations do bugger all to prevent it again I may lose it…
Rocket_345
MNR for me. I only go on there to create a mod but then i decide to create a kart to go with it and then i decide to have one race with it but it turns into several. So what was a 10 minute go at the game turns into a good hour. Then when i next turn the game on i realise that the mod was crap and an hour of my life was wasted.
Story based games are a bitch though. The biggy was Heavy Rain when i played through it all in one day and then the next day decided to do it all again to get a different ending.
Rocket_345
Sorry for double posting but i forgot about online games in my rant. Those are a bitch as i go on there for one match or race amd get incredibly frustrated so i want to beat somebody on the leaderboards and be done with it. But when i finally achieve that a friend comes online and wants to play that and when he leaves after about 2 hours another person frustrates me and the process starts again.
samiro05
More on topic, like the majority I too have put myself in a bad position in the mornin’ when I’ve not slept due to playing Fifa all night, this game is my most common troublemaker as you just play game after game not realising that it may be 4 mins for each half but a match will probably take 20 mins if you including loading times, pauses and team changes. I’ve only realised the times on these occasions when it appears light outside and there are loud birds ‘singing’. I’ve done this the night before a few exams and I know for sure before I went on a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong in which I did not sleep miraculously and my eyes were soo soo red when I got to the hotel. Oh well, McDonalds made me better :)