Still no cure for cancer...

Broken News:
Faux News serivce: Assimilated Press announces today that studies reveal that most video games cause a decrease in intelligence, grade point averages, stress, and emotional reactions.

Oddly enough, the one game researchers found that would cause an increase in players was Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.

Researchers at Dead From The Neck Down Institute, where these studies were performed, are at a loss to understand exactly WHAT is being increased by this game or why.

For Faux News, Geri Jeri.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

@Meggie

the thing that I witnessed being the cause of failing out: boozing.

That was strictly controlled too, because it was a "dry" town. So very hard to fail out due to boozing at that college.

If you think about it, boozing cuts into study time too. ;)

This is definitely a "Thank you Professor Obvious" moment. THough it would've also been nice to see what the effects would've been if they'd used that other 35-ish minutes doing something other than gaming and seeing if it had the same effect or not.

Or if you spent it napping. I bet they'll eventually show that naps are good for you.

BTW, let's see them do a study on students who put more effort into their college sports "careers" than studying. Probably already happened. Or did the colleges block it because it would affect them financially in some way?

Nightwng2000
NW2K software

These morons waste time trying to draw non-existant lines between video games and social woes* and yet there is a staggering, very real problem concerning guns, people buying guns and shooting other people with guns. Why has no one has done a study linking guns to murders and killing people and then tried to start a witchhunt against guns, with a crazy right-wing homophobic racist 'lawyer' (which I use very loosely indeed) from Florida spouting lies, bullshits and stereotypical, offensive statements against people who make guns and use guns? Is it because Americans are inept morons? Of course, I guess this could be attributed to people playing too many video games and not realising that they and their fellow countrymen have the collective brain power of a dried fig, and the sad thing is it probably will be too.

COMING UP NEXT - 5 GUN-RELATED MURDERS IN LA, BUT FIRST, A VERY IMPORTANT AND TERRIFYING REPORT ON VIDEO GAMES CAUSING BAD GRADES

Seriously, when you see that on your TV and you don't think there is a problem where gun crime is viewed as normal and yet video games are a social evil, you are some kind of stupid.

* - I am not saying that if you game more and study less, you'll get lower grades, but the fact is that applies to everything, from video gaming, to watching TV, to playing sport. But hell, no one is blaming too much football for bad grades are they?

And in other news, spending 3.5 hours studying instead of playing games decreases your skill at playing games.
Film at 11!

In other news...

People that stop going to work get fired... Next up, Bob with sports...

Tomorrow on a Special Report, the sky is blue.

I have some contrary evidence.

Got Wind Waker and playered for 8 days during my GCSEs, got 10 As and a C

Played counterstrike source during my A-levels, easily more hours than I spent revising. got AAB in the end.

"We're sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled TV program, but an emergency news bulletin has been issued containing the following research that could be critical to your child's safety and future:

- Gaming instead of studying lowers your GPA

- You are watching this announcement on TV

- If your child stops breathing, they could pass out or even die

- A child who dives under the water is likely to not breathe until they resurface, be sure to catch the earlier announcement on breathing

- Avoid letting your child play in the following areas - an enormous microwave, the oven, a pit of spikes, a pit of pit-bulls, a pit of lava, a pit of pits containing lava coated spikes strapped to pit-bulls, in Michael Jackson's house, and anywhere else we've scared you enough to not allow your child outside for the rest of his/her life

- SENSATIONALISM

We now return you to "Big Brother Lost on a Survivor Island of the Bachelor"

I read about this on USAToday the other day.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-09-18-videogame-GPA_N.htm

It had some ver good points that are missed here:

"The study's authors were not trying to prove anything about video games. The study sought to determine how much of an effect study efforts have on grades."

"He added that he does not think these findings mean students should give up distractions such as video games. In fact, happiness also can be a factor in how well a student does in school.

But the findings could help counselors educate students on the importance and impact of studying."

Just thought I would share this view point.

@Ias, Attorney

These morons waste time trying to draw non-existant lines between video games and social woes

I don't think so. The study summary certainly doesn't lay it out that way. They seemed to be looking for a common 'distraction' to studying that the school itself couldn't control, namely time wasting activities in the dorm room itself. Video games fit the bill, are measurable, and are relatively common amongst college students.

It sounds like they were looking for a measurable factor so they could determine the study's final conclusion, namely how much your GPA is affected per hour of studying.

Their methodology was just a bit strange, that's all.

@VenomandCarnage

Unfortunately, common sense isn't very common at all anymore. People thinking there's a need for "studies" like this just prove it...

The thing about this that annoys me is how they single out "If you *play video games more* and study less, you'll get lower grades in general." What about watching TV? What about tooling around in your car (if you're old enough to have a license)? What about hanging out at the mall? Doing ANYTHING in excess over studying can cause a drop in grades. People need to stop singling out "them evil vidjagames" as a scapegoat.

This seems more about personal responsibility to me. Integrated academic study and gaming into a single package seems like it might work.

Ha!

http://news.filefront.com/editorial-video-games-not-the-only-threat-to-s...

GamingToday did its own independent study* of the pornography downloading habits of student-age individuals and found that, much like the recent findings of the National Bureau of Economic Research, downloading pornography for forty minutes per day instead of studying correlates with a lower GPA.

@Demontestament

I think it depends on the person and it isn’t only video games that can produce this outcome.

It's true, which is why they said overall. And they were only using video games because it seemed a common-enough distraction factor vs. other activities, one that the school itself couldn't control (the school they used seemed pretty strict on outside-the-dorm activities, so they could rule all those out as affecting grades).

The point of there study wasn't that playing games lowers your GPA, but that not studying usually lowers your GPA, and video games are a common activity that contribute to not studying (because you're busy gaming).

someone did a "study" of google pictures of people waving and said there are now more left-handed people because of more pictures with people waving with their left hand.

i did a study confirming that my wife's boobies make me happy.

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't want to go to a college that treats me like an irresponsible kid ("Roommates were randomly assigned, nightly homework and attendance is strictly controlled, outside jobs are prohibited..."). It's all about time management, like janarius said. While someone I knew failed out of college thanks to too much RP and video gaming (we named a "study or you're out" clause in our geek interests club after him), the thing that I witnessed being the cause of failing out: boozing.

No study = Lower GPA? OMFG! D:!!!



-__-;


What a waste of time and money... My god...


Yeah I never study and play games all the time... 4.4 out of 5 GPA... Then again...I'm a Senior at High School




....I'll actually study when I go to College...

While the greater time studying=better grades hypothesis does seem pretty much common sense, it misses some fairly significant determining factors far more important to student performance than studying (emotional and mental states, drive to do well, enjoyable classes, quality teachers, nutrition...this list could go on forever).

Not studying doesn't create low grades--not caring does. When you are more interested in social life, drinking, reading, gaming of any type, significant others, or the classes you actually like, certain classes suffer and so does overall grade. When you're only in a school to lead up to a job or keep parents quiet, grades suffer. Again, this list could go on forever.

The problem likely isn't that these students didn't study as long as others, it's that they didn't WANT to study (or put effort into classwork) badly enough (although really, who does?) or honestly had better things to care about than their performance in classes.

Some people don't NEED to study to do well; while some people could spend 8 hours a day (per class) studying and still fail a certain topic because it's difficult for them to comprehend, or not presented in a way they can learn from, or they're studying ineffectively for their study type, or any number of reasons. Any study suggesting that length of study time determines grades, without taking into account the quality of study time and the attitudes of those studying, is crippling its own validity.

If I can pull off a 3.85 (out of 4.0) GPA (only so low because my Algebra grade was a fairly low A in a class where the teacher refused to explain anything and the book we used received a D- and F grade from independent textbook ratings programs) during a time period when I was working 13-20 hour shifts every day with variable start times and no off days, for a month while I was preparing for finals in three honors-level online college classes and starting up in 3 other online classes, only two of which were honors-level, with three of those classes writing-intensive (one was a creative writing course with a loooong final paper), two reading-intensive, and one requiring several lengthy explorations of current political issues each week, how would this study account for that?

Or the fact that I had a 4.0 in high school with basically only last-minute studying in everything save the lecture course (again, mostly honors courses), while one of my best friends literally studied during every free moment and had a mediocre B average?

It can't, because this study doesn't take quality of study time or attitude of students into account (both of which are considerably more important for determining grades than actual LENGTH of studying), and therefore fails.

Also, I think even Jack knows what he said isn't true. It was probably just a joke. Although it was an immature one.

@ Jack Thompson - WTF?

Are you smoking something?

Considering how many times we've ripped apart your poorly constructed lawsuits and legislation, you should be asking yourself that question.

What a dumbass. You can't even see your own demise. How sad.

Yea, I'm pretty sure that this is Jack being funny (kinda hard to believe)

Though, I am very smart for my age (4 languages, and taking college classes at the age of 15) I spend much more time playing video games than I do studying.

Infact, I've never had to study for a test, yet I've never gotten bellow a B.

Heh, go figure.

@ Jack Thompson

My friends 6th grade brother makes more mature jokes than you. Grow up.

The study may show this, but I think it's missing other important aspects. Despite what people think, if you're on the edge, and your future is constantly on the line because you're in a hardcore program, grades aren't all there is to it.

When I was in school, the biggest thing I learned was, I had to balance. If I didn't have any balance in my life, if I only studied day in day out, I'd come very close to suicide or homocide(I actually learned philosophy over many hours in one term, because working or being in class 16 hours a day 7 days a week was driving me to the breaking point). If I relaxed every once in a while, kicked back with a couple good beers and some video games with friends, suddenly, even if my grades were lower, my retention was higher, and my stress levels were exponentially lower, and there wasn't a huge chance of me dropping out and becoming a disgruntled gas station attendant.

this stuff pisses me off
anyone who has had a science class in public school should know you need a control group
this study is obliviously engineered on some level to attack gaming because of the lack of a simple control group.

no study conducted by a professional should fall so short of scientific standards

Why do you people leave messages for JT? He's a bully. He's obviously not interested in discussion; If he was, he'd realise that if he had a strong arguement that video games were evil, he'd be able to convert moral gamers to his cause by simply speaking undeniable moral truth instead of factual inaccuracies and slanderous quarter-truths.

@ Jack Thompson:

Act your age, not your shoe size.

I studied for like 5-10 minutes right before I went to bed, and got A's and B's. Even aced calculus.

Practice what you preach, assclown: Grow up, get a life, and get a new cause while you're at it since yours has been lost for the last eight years.

I say we start emailing him lame lawyer jokes in response to this. :p

There is also a study that shows video games can lead to increased scores on IQ tests, due to increased problem-solving and strategic abilities.

Priorities. If you want a ridiculously high GPA, spend all of your time studying. I prefer to be human.

Hey Dennis, do you ever consider just slapping something at Jack with his constant slander? I mean, it'd be easy to do something, or do you get as much enjoyment out of proving everything he says incorrect as we do? =P

I will say that games have helped me learn a lot, sometimes I'll put games in other languages and historical games help me learn a lot for classes later on in life.

@Wack Thompson

This is your brain.

This is your brain on christianity.

**cue photo of Jack Thompson crucified on a cross made of televisions looping uncensored Manhunt 2 executions over and over again**

[...] http://gamepolitics.com/2007/09/21/not-rocket-science-game-more-study-le... [...]

Funny, I've been playing games since I was four, and not only am I in honors classes, I'm in the National Honors Society and have been accepted into all four colleges I applied to---including UMBC, an honors university in Maryland. The only thing that video gaming cost me was my dating life...poor, single girl me.