Are video/computer games antisocial?

[BlueGender]

See title and cast your vote.

<insert something cool to say>

[Caiada]

No. I'd even say in some cases they're a social tool.

[Meleti]

Social gaming is the most important industry trend in the past few years, so I'm going with "no."

[Anthoren]

No they are not antisocial, now are there people who are antisocial that flock to video games and destroy their communities..yes(now just as a note there are two kinds of anti social people I've seen, the agressive and the benign and obviously I'm pointing out one).

[Cherrysoul]

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.

[Seezer]

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.

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.

[Erik765]

Didn't used to be til about half way through WotLK...

Just sayin...

[Mr E]

What makes video/computer games any different than any other entertainment medium?

[Christan]

i really think the question should be narrowed down.

are single player games antisocial: yes, when you put in 500 hours on games like star ocean and some of the FF games, sure that is bordering on antisocial.

are multiplayer games antisocial: yes and no, is it something like cod, where there is no real teamwork and you just 'shoot em up' that is not social. does the multiplayer game have friendships, guilds-linkshells-clans-etc, does it have an economy, etc... and maybe even voice chat? no that isnt technically antisocial, you have to build relationships.

but some games have turned into join random legion-raid, with people you will never see again, because either the server has such a huge population, or so small you have to do cross server things, or server mergers, you completely lose that aspect of community, this situation is a tossup,
depending on how you play, do you add people to friends / realid(if cross server) or do you play it like a single player game?

the question as stated, in its simplest, is a resounding yes, it is antisocial.
but you leave so many aspects of the question people have to answer for themselves, not knowing the point of your question, i can not answer.

[Poodles]

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.

These same people would be antisocial anyway.

Not that antisocial is a bad thing anyway. It's a defense and survival mechanism.

[Edge-]

It depends on your definition of social.

In the classical sense, yes. Even if you're playing a MMO, you are missing out on the physical and sensory part of socializing, so you aren't truly getting the full experience.

In the more modern sense? Not really. The younger generations are spending more and more time communicating over phone/text/web ect. so it's becoming more acceptable to them.

Personally? I think that like anything else, in moderation it's fine. If your only human contact is through games, that's a problem. But you you spend much of your time gaming and forming friendships through games, yet still spend time with your RL friends (or meet up with your game friends and hang out with them IRL), and there is some semblance of balance, that's fine.

[Burpie]

People are anti-social, not games.

[Geigerton]

It depends on what you consider social. Some people believe physical interaction is the only social interaction. Look at the flip side, look at the news now, Occupy Wall Street (whatever you think of it) was a social gathering spawned from the net.

For anti-socialness I use the same viewpoint as video games, and TV, and questionable music, and certain books leading to violence. There are people who either through nurture or nature who are prone to that mentality. In this day of age they are in video games. Pre-games their outlet may have been TV, music, books, etc.

[Lagwin]

Yes and no...some will view it as antisocial, ignoring family/friends and not going out so often to get absolutely shitfaced, but thats kind of the point...if you need to be playing games to ignore highly irritating family/friends drunks and other annoyances it's not you thats anti social...it's them

[Noomz]

Partly yes, partly no.
It all depends on the scene of the genre or game you might refer to, where, who etc.

When it comes to competitive gaming, I'd say it's a definite no. But you know, you could say the same thing about alcohol, lots of people drink it but not everyone is a drunkard.

[Ascen]

i really think the question should be narrowed down.

are single player games antisocial: yes, when you put in 500 hours on games like star ocean and some of the FF games, sure that is bordering on antisocial.

Depends on the perspective. While playing a single player game by yourself is antisocial during that time, it can also a conversational piece with friends*. Similar to talking about what was on TV last night, as I believe TV it's self is a more antisocial tool - even if you watch it with a group of friends your face is glued to it with minimal conversation and no interaction.

*assuming you have friends that talk about such topics

[Deleted]

what means antisocial? i think you have to make distinctions

[Jackuli]

I think they are a mix but in general not antisocial.

Games played alone are antisocial.

Games played with other people such as MMOs or Multiplayer games are very social creatures and should be looked at as friendly.

A few of my guildmates were passing through my town and a few lived fairly close by so we all agreed to meet up and the 30 of us went out and had a blast. The ones passing through left but 10 of us still had a few more days to just kind of kick it.

I'm friends with all of them on fbook, we got a group on there to chat it up, a few who lived near town still visit every once in awhile and since I'm getting married in July I have my best man and my future wife met her best friend through the guild and is the maid of honor.

Can't wait and yes games with other people are social.

[Deleted]

and it depends what game/system you are talking about. something such as the Wii is one of the most sociable activities around out there. get a group of people together, interacting, laughing, playing games and just generally having a good time. the industry as a whole is becoming more social, because well, people eventually get bored of playing games by themselves without interacting with one person what-so-ever.

[Borfl]

To argue semantics for the lack of info provided by the OP
anti-social: hateful of socializing
asocial: avoids socializing

No. The people that video games attract are sometimes anti-social or asocial. Sometimes people, like myself, only play games anymore for the social aspect as in it's something to do RATHER than going out to the movies of some shit.