C'mon face it, video games are a complete waste of your time! Every time you turn on your console you should be asking yourself "Is there something better I should be doing with my time... like reading a good book... or watching a good movie... or flirting with a beautiful girl? Do I get anything out of this, does this make me a better person?"

I hear you on that man. But I usually play video games after I get home and it is around 2am. I have already studied and read all my books. I have usually spent over 12 hours with my significant other, and I'm probably really trying to bore myself to sleep ^^

But I do see what you mean. I do get pissed at those people who spend their entire lives playing games and not really accomplishing anything and then *BLEEP* about their lives.

Games drives the modern world. Video games triggers your brain to think critically. It is a way to train your strategic part of the brain without something boring like chess. Video game is now essential for kids and teenagers.

Face it, if you take away your son's XBOX forever after he played it for 2 months (especially HALO 2), he'll melt or even take away his internet and all that stuff.

Side note: it also depends on his interests.

Well, of course if you take away something that a kid has been obsessively playing then s/he's going to be pissed, you can't say that just about video games.

And not all video games (in fact most) do not make you think critically. They are not essential for kids and teenagers!! Some games do, of course, for example puzzle games. However, many are just 'go in and shoot all the bad things while trying not to die', with possibly SOME thinking involved about what to do for that particular situation (ie Halo). But are you really going to face that situation in real life? Most likely not (unless you are in space and come across a huge ring with lots of life on it and the convenant trying to use it as a weapon to destroy life in the galaxy so that the swarm or whatever they're called don't have any food and will die...).

Anyway, videogames distract people from real life. True, this is not always a bad thing. It can be argued from both sides.

Ok i agree with you, And i dont agree with you. Video games do take up alot of time. Youll turn on your system and be like im only going to play for like 15 mins. and yet you are sitting there for about 3 hours. so yeah there are other things you could be doing but alot of people dont relize the reality of it.

Ok end i dissagre with you because, Video games are a learning experience. If your job was to create and program Video Games i bet you would love it. And it takes a long time to do that also. and You learn from video games Belive it or not , You do.

So thats my say on this. ( even though its coming from a Hardcore Socom 2 player )

Gee... I was hoping for a little controversy here but it looks as if we all agree that, to say the least, gaming is not the true meaning of life, no matter how hard Sony is trying to convince us that this is the case. I mean "life is short , play more"... c'mon, gimme a break! If this was your last day on earth, how would you spend it? Certainly not playing any video games, I hope.

I would like to add one thing to the discussion, though. There is now a whole generation of teenagers who grow up shooting each other online on a daily basis. We know this can affect dramatically an "odd minority" among them - remember Columbine - but what about the vast majority, what about your teenage friends and mine? In other words, do you think violent game culture can have any behavioural effect on teenagers who enjoy a normal upbringing?

hmm, interesting.
but you dont make a good point.
to alot of people, videogames bring joy. so what would they rather do, read a book and be bored, or play videogames and have a good time?xD

Well, perhaps they should take some time to figure out why they are more happy playing games than living in the real world.
Games are a waste of time if you spend hours at end paying them. Games should just be games and not an alternate way of living, as we see they are becoming more and more these days. There is something seriously wrong in this modern society.

Video games are fun. If you are younger, And get good grades in school, have a bunch of good friends, maybe even a boy/girl friend, then whats the big deal? I really, really do not see what the big deal about video games is. I get A's in school, see my best friends every day, and kinda, has a girlfriend. Yet I still manage to squeeze in my 60 hours of CS.