Are video/computer games antisocial?

[Spaceshaman]

20 years ago (or even 10) gaming was antisocial. Now with all the online games it's less antisocial. But I think it's still antisocial.

[Seijuro]

nothing beats a deathmatch/raid night after a hard day's work!
I'll go with no,obviously.

[Bramickias]

People are antisocial, not videogames.

Even pure singleplayer games, like Final Fantasy, can be a real social gems. Just find someone else who like or dislike a Final Fantasy you played, and start talking. You will probably still be discussing it after a couple of hours and after enough time you might have a new friend

Same thing goes for books, music, movies, sports and so on. Unless your hobby is torturing people, everything can be turned into a social experiment.

[Deleted]

I say yes, because a lot of people out there do nothing but play games.. and i mean NOTHING but GAMES. Which is sad, but true.

Yes the game itself is Social (mostly) but if all you do is get up , play games, sleep, get up, play games, sleep etc then yes your Anti social and have a gaming problem.

No reason to call my lifestyle sad! Well I don't game 24/7 but I am on my computer most of the time,doing other stuff than games aswell of course.

[vindicatorx]

depends on a few things I think. While they tend to make you socialize less with people who actually live around you they do make you socialize with a wider variety of people in the long run.

[La]

uh, just because you have friends on the internet that you talk to easier because, they`re on the internet and they don`t really know you and you have a game in common, doesn`t mean you`re not completely anti-social and couldn`t hold a conversation or start one for the life of yourself in real life...

it`s funny when I do dungeons or try to talk or ask questions people never say a single thing, I mean it`s nice to freaking talk to people you`re doing crap with but they just sit their silently, it`s so annoying I mean come on.

[Deleted]

I don't play any single-player games, I only play games where I can play together with friends and work together. If that's asocial, well then let it be that, I don't care what other people think about my social life, I'm fine and dandy the way I live my life
The only reason I use most of my free time on video games is because nothing else interests me. Why should I do something I find boring to avoid a stereotypy?

[Nightc2k]

Well not if its online...

[Zeliak]

Does the OP mean "Are video games causing people to spend more time playing the game, for the sake of playing? Yes or No?" as that would make more sense then a question asking if Games make people be against Socializing (that is what Anti-Social means).

I believe a lot of people here are confusing Anti-Social with Asocial. A person who plays nothing but video games (this only counts if you are the type who only consideres physical interaction to be Social) is not Anti-Social, but rather Asocial. A douche bag who walks around hitting people, doesn't want to listen to reason, doesn't want to make friends, and causes a lot of annoyance, and disharmony among a community, is Anti-Social. Most Gamers don't do this. And those that do, that might go on a rampage are going to do it regardless if they were playing a game or not.

So no, Games are not Anti-Social, and many people don't seem to be anti-social. Games are also not Asocial (specifically games with an online mode and mmos) and some people may claim to be Asocial, but then still post on Social Media like Facebook for some reason. So Are people Asocial?

Well, the problem with making a generalized statement about Human Behavior is that it is most of the time wrong. I don't find it possible to have such a large data size to be able to include the whole of humanity for the statement "People are anti-social/asocial" to have any value.

[Rafdal]

While this exists, I think it's greatly exaggerated. You have people that do too much of anything. Anything that exists on planet earth. There are people that drink too much, play guitar too much, collect baseball cards too much, watch too many movies, watch too many sports, etc. Gaming is not in it's own class.

I couldn't possibly agree more with you on this. Even the Norwegian Ministry of Culture says that, "Video game addiction comes mostly from reasons other than the
game itself." After having research done on the matter.

Norwegian report on video games And
people that play a lot.

You'll have to be Norwegian if you want to read it though.

[Deleted]

a game is as social or antisocial as you make it. play with other people to be social whether its via an mmo or by just sitting next to another person playing the same game and sharing experiences. There is no such thing as an antisocial game, only an antisocial person.

[wombinator04]

You'd have to be a complete and total retard that needs to be slapped If you think Video Games are antisocial. In fact, It's an extremely social type of media. Video Games depend on communities. You want something that's antisocial? Try T.V.

[Deleted]

FPS games = anti social
MMO games = social

[ro9ue]

Online games are social. However, people behave differently when they are behind an avatar and when they are out in the real world. I think some face to face, 'out in the real world', social situations are needed. I don't think you can look at an activity and dub that as social or antisocial, only people. Like if I'm outside chopping wood by myself, I guess I would be antisocial for that moment. In general a person can be more extroverted or introverted, and typically gaming cause the latter because anonymity makes it easy to socialize. At least that's what stereotypes tell me, and they are usually right.

[Deleted]

You'd have to be a complete and total retard that needs to be slapped If you think Video Games are antisocial. In fact, It's an extremely social type of media. Video Games depend on communities. You want something that's antisocial? Try T.V.

This.
Any game is social if you let it be.

[bloodwulf]

Numerous research papers have been written about this exact question, and more and more the answer has been, No they are not antisocial.

My belief is if you are playing an MMO or any other game online with other people than you are socializing, and often times with people and cultures you would never experience. Just in my time playing wow i raided with Swedish/Germans/Canadians/Russians/British/Americans and so on and so forth, if you are in a group long enough you learn some of their values and norms, and that is the essence of socializing.

[terrahero]

Playing a videogame by yourself is no more antisocial then watching TV, a movie, reading a book, listening to music or anything else you do for entertainment by yourself.

And now a days alot of games feature multiplayer, where you play together or against, other players. So no, videogames are not antisocial nor do they cause people to be antisocial. The fruitcakes that lock themselves in their room now and just play videogames are the same as the nutcases who locked themselves in their room and only listened to music 50 years ago. Or the creatures that locked themselves away and just read books before them.

Its the people, not the videogames.

[Poppincaps]

In a lot of ways gaming is one of the most social forms of entertainment. I mean even when I'm playing a single player game I'll usually hop in vent or a xbox live party and I'll talk to my friends. I think people still view gaming in kind of a nerdy way. For instance if I said I played a couple hours of CoD with my friends then some would say that's wasted time, but if I went to the movies with my friends people would see that as being sociable. While I still think you need to interact with people face to face, gaming is still a social interaction if you want it to be. It is anti-social people that make gaming anti-social, not the other way around.

[Zamfix]

Video games aren't antisocial, people are antisocial.

[Magisleeper]

Games are not Anti/Asocial - People are Anti/Asocial

The fact that Massivly Multiplayer Online games are the latest biggest trend in gaming actually suggests that gaming is in fact very social. A game where you have to interact with people to accomplish most aspects of the world is quite social indeed.

Anything done to extremes is bad and it is definitely not unique to gaming to overdo it. I know people that cant be alone, they are for lack of a better word addicted to socializing; They have never lived alone, they have no solo activities, they even require other people to be around them while they talk to other people on facebook. These people have no self identity anymore they are so lost in the group mentality, if they were ever forced to be alone they would likely have a break down, This is to me a bigger problem than someone who spends a little too much time on video games.