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The Dumbest Generation


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I am streaming the Riviera show from Roadcase right now during my night school class. No one has yet complained and they are working diligently. I don't know what this says vis a vis the thread but they are all either drop outs from day school going exclusively to night school or day school students making up a credit that they failed. A totally different animal from what I do during the day!

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I've seen studies that show that video gamers have improved coordination and problem solving skills. So why is it written off as such a terrible alternative?

 

Sure, you don't want an 8 year old playing Grand Theft Auto, but that isn't the game's fault that 8 year olds are playing. It's the parents for allowing it into their homes.

 

I actually find WoW to be really boring, but it certainly has it's merits, and as someone who has 22,000 posts on a message board, I'm in no place to criticize the obsessiveness with which some view the game.

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Well, that is sort of like saying "I hate music because if you are listening to it, it has already been made. There's nothing left to do with it."

 

Not quite what I'm saying. If a ghost is born was simply Jeff yelling "Hey, I'm fucking whacked out with migraines!", there wouldn't really be any reason to listen or try to get something out of it because its all laid out there for you.

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Not quite what I'm saying. If a ghost is born was simply Jeff yelling "Hey, I'm fucking whacked out with migraines!", there wouldn't really be any reason to listen or try to get something out of it because its all laid out there for you.

 

You are certainly entitled to your opinion on this, but there are plenty of games out there that don't lay it all out there for you. One should never judge a whole medium based on the most popular items from it. It would be like judging music based solely on Hannah Montana or something. I respect your decision to not be interested in videogames, but there are plenty of games out there that make you really think, and dont just hand you the story and make you point and kill things.

 

(full disclosure: I minored in videogame programming in college)

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Not quite what I'm saying. If a ghost is born was simply Jeff yelling "Hey, I'm fucking whacked out with migraines!", there wouldn't really be any reason to listen or try to get something out of it because its all laid out there for you.

what about movies? or comics? videogames are more similar to those than music, and they're extremely legitimate. I'm not expecting you to write a thesis, I just wish you would attempted to be educated and open before making a bold, black and white statement.

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You are certainly entitled to your opinion on this, but there are plenty of games out there that don't lay it all out there for you. One should never judge a whole medium based on the most popular items from it. It would be like judging music based solely on Hannah Montana or something. I respect your decision to not be interested in videogames, but there are plenty of games out there that make you really think, and dont just hand you the story and make you point and kill things.

 

(full disclosure: I minored in videogame programming in college)

 

 

:yes

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Video games are dumb. Really fucking dumb. Not because of the content, but because the people I know that play them often are generally really fucking dumb.

 

Shit...was that poor grammar? I don't even know. Damn, that article totally distorted my fragile young mind. Time to go post my reaction on Myspace using no capital letters or punctuation. LOLZ

 

Console or PC games?

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My older kids mostly play the Ages of Empires games on the PC and also sometimes Sim City 4.

 

Other than that, they play Star Wars Battlefront on the x-box and a bunch of games on the Wii.

 

 

AOE games can require some serious thought/strategy. a lot of multitasking

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My parenting? well, my parenting says - you should take care of the things you have. you want a new iPod? save your money and get one. end of story.

 

My daughter does have an inflated sense of entitlement (which is troubling) and I see this rampant not only in her generation, but in American culture period.

 

 

Baby Boomers > Generation X > The Age Of Entitlement

 

 

And I am most certainly not writing genetics off. I agree 100% with Ikol here, it is a very complicated mixture of genetics and upbringing, and I have my doubts that we'll ever even be able to figure out what affects which areas more. And I think TDW is doing a great disservice to himself and to the science he holds so dear by writing off the impact of upbringing.

 

 

Potential is the gift of genetics. Environmental factors speed up or slow down potential. IMO

 

 

sorry, had to go back - :moo

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A show of hands...

 

How many of us people with our really awesome work ethics spend at least 50% of their workday surfing? :ninja

 

 

 

For the record, an awful lot of the recent grads I work with are possessed of a corporate-go-getter attitude that would put the Alex P. Keatons of my generation to shame. I can't decide if I should admire it or by terrified of it. They're probably the ones going home talking about me--the guy who just wants to put in enough hours to get the job done so he can go home to his family and enjoy the things that are actually important in life. In their eyes, I'm sure that I'm the slacker.

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Well, my first statement was kind of a joke...just saying. I wasn't really trying to add to a serious debate, just being my usual douchebag self.

 

Most of my argument is simply my distaste for modern video games. I don't think there's any virtue in 128-bit graphics or super 5.1 dolby sound. It was lost for me when there were more than 2 buttons to choose from.

 

I think my generation was better off because when the NES froze, you either had to have the patience or craftiness to get it up and running again, or you went and rode bikes or something.

 

And we've gone from a debate over intelligence to a debate over video games. LONG LIVE THE SHORT ATTENTION SPAN GENERATION!!!

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How can anybody claim the baby boomers are smarter than those of us in our teens / twenties? This astounds me, frankly.

 

Did WE start the war in Iraq? Did WE ignore the environment for half a century? Did WE run through most of the world's natural resources? Did WE engage in the self-indulgent, antisocial, drug-addled bullshit behavior of the 60s and 70s? Did WE run social security and medicare into the ground? Did WE allow money to come to dominate American politics? Did WE ignore the inequities of the primary education system and allow "two Americas" to emerge? Did WE go straight from hippie idealism to cynical suburban isolation, without stopping to pass "behave decently to other people and take responsibility for your own actions"?

 

No. We are more like to have served in the military / serve our country in some way, speak foreign languages, know more about the world around us, are well-read, write and listen to awesome music and generally kick ass. We have more in common with our grandparents than our parents and we know that is a good thing.

 

The only thing the baby boom generation got right was the civil rights movement, if you ask me. You can argue the Cold War as well but I don't think that's as cut-and-dry.

 

There are exceptions on both sides, but I think it's hard to argue that the current crop of young adults is really inferior to the assholes who ran this country between 1960 and 2000. I understand that hindsight is 20/20, but it sure as shit ain't people in their 20s and teens who are responsible for the decline of America.

 

...Also, Halo > GTA IV. That's just science speaking there, the science of awesomeness.

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While we are on the subject, are there any World of Warcraft players out there?

 

I myself do not however I have two very good friends who do, not just regularly, but like it's their job. The only thing that bothers me about it is the lack of sleep and how while it seems social yet it tends to be anti-social IRL. I mean they have these "raids" that last 4-5 hours and usually in the middle of the night. They have made some good friends, tho and even did meet them IRL finally.

 

One finished school and graduated with the degree he wanted and is on his way to running his own restaurant.

 

The other is kinda of what one would call a "bum", a little wayward, doesn't have much motivation or drive to succeed in life...yet!

 

They are both 22 years old. They both graduated from the same high school and grew up in the same town and are best friends.

 

So I guess what you can take away from this is the video games only have a direct impact on you outside your home if you let them.

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I have a friend who spent over 8 years of his life playing Everquest. Sometimes playing on multiple computers, while at the same time, making sure the systems for his employer ran smoothly. I have no idea how he didn't lose his mind.

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Still working on it.

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Have we decided if young people are ok yet?

 

I LOVE young people...they make up a good percentage of my friends :D

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