Taiwan news sources are reporting on a new study that claims the playing of videogames, especially violent ones, may cause harm to brain functions and have an impact on their learning capabilities and emotional control. On top of all the murders that these games are making us commit, they're now turning us into retards with mood swings ... which might explain the denizens of Xbox Live a little.
The study was undertaken by Chou Yuan-hua of the Taipei Veterans General Hospital. He took thirty twenty-five year olds and recorded their blood circulation and brain activity before letting them loose on the games. After playing, he noted a decreased flow of blood to the brain and declared that the findings are more dramatic in those brains that have been subjected to violent games. With the bloodflow decreased after only thirty minutes of playtime, Chou went on to suggest that children who spend far longer on their game sessions are damaging the frontal lobe of their brains.
There is no actual proof, as of yet, that reduced bloodflow to the brain can severely damage it, but Chou is pretty sure that we'll all be mewling spastics before the day is done. He backed his findings up by stating that schizophrenics and depressives have a lower bloodflow in their frontal lobes as well.
What do you think, readers? Have videogames made you stupider over the years? Are you an emotional wreck, unable to retain information? Or is this just rubbish? Personally, I feel that videogames have only improved my mind, as I exercise my thoughtbox to strategize and improve my reflexes, not to mention the rare moments of education that my playing has provided me. All I know is, I play games almost daily, and I'm smarter than most of the people I know who don't.
[Travis Kelldorf]
It's true! Yashoki is the living proof! :P
Brain..what..wheres my shoulder to chew on.. on here it is..
I'm with KamikazeTutor.
unpossible!!
this scientific motherfucker stole my name... THEN took an opposing viewpoint to my own on gaming! He must be destroyed before I vanish.
my brain done go hurt now
I done been made smarter from dem vidja games
Am I an emotional wreck? well, yes. Has twenty years of intense gaming done irreprable harm to my frontal lobe? Yeah, probably. But, on the other hand, I keep get smarter and smarter. Im so goddamn smart right now I could probably blow up these taiwanese scientists with my mind. And maybe I should.
Does Chou Yuan-hua play video games? Because that sounds pretty stupid to me.
And cancer.
Don't forget that.
THAT PICTURE
BWAHAHAHAHAH
The only thing you can really blame gaming on is ruining your (my) social life.
But it's definitely made me smarter, if anything.
ShadowXOR, I was joking dude.
Yeah, Monty Python lives forever and ever.
Wow, the guy on the far left looks exactly like my old chemistry teacher!
Taiwan?
*goes back to shopping for posters*
Wooh! Mr. Gumby!
This is proof! Since you know, fMRI's will also indicate a reduced bloodflow when you meditate or reach enlightenment.
I bet your bloodflow rises a lot from watching Ben Stiller's collected works.
decreased blood flow does not necessarily mean brain damage, could just indicated a relaxed heart since the person is relaxing. The guy probably had the subjects playing soccer before having them play games or something else to pad his first number.
Wait, so if I didn't play video games I could be going to Harvard Law instead of St. John's? Someone get Jack Thompson on the line, it's suin' time!
Also, Monty Python references make me warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Ahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahaha,
Wait, what? *wanders off confused*
I'll confirm that there is a decreased blood flow to my brain when I play games.
I have to maintain my massive erection somehow.
I dunno, he may be right. You ever listen to some of these kids on XBox Live? Although I personally would blame that retardation on pop culture and the public school system.
Also, I think they should tax people who stand in the middle of streams *briefly pauses to look down and notice that he's standing in a stream*
XBox Live didn't invent the retard, it just perfected it.
You forgot to misspell it "untie".
I've been a gamer for 13 years and I'm still an honor student, so it's either I used to be Einstein's clone, or this is ridiculous. I'm going with the latter.
what games did they play? that is a very important factor to disclose because a lot of games are stupid by nature, you know, because they suck
Bleeding hell, only thing games are missing causing now is cancer, unless they snuck that one out there when I wasn't looking. Although it does explain why my short term memory is kind of bad sometimes, its all Dizzy's fault that little egg bugger!
It seems like this day you can be wearing a white coat and say anything these days and it can be factual. So I say that Studies that are complete and utter bullshit is doing brain damage to our society.
this is bullshit anyway. nothing can change the bloodflow to your brain , its the only part of your body that has a constant and unchanged flow of blood. less blood flow means less oxygen which does mean brain damage, but nothing can change the actual blood flow.
Have them play a god damned Sh'mup and take that study over again.
I dont know how I manage to study medicine, work at IT, play games and keep my cerebral blood vessels just fine.
So typical, less is worst and more is better. So lets have an aneurisma alltogether Destructoid!! Then we wont have to worry about lack of blood in the brain.
Plain stupid. So yeah, Mr. Sterling where is the scientific paper? I would like to read it.
If only I were as smart as Yashoki...
We haven't read the full study, but this study would have to include or at least provide citations for other activities, like playing football, soccer etc. Then again, you can't play soccer all day long but you can play games non-stop for hours, the prolonged effect might not be desirable.
After a very long session of playing, I feel quite 'dumb', both for having wasted that many hours but I feel I lack the inability to assess problems, but if I play for an hour or so I feel fired up.
Maybe we should not over-do this playing games thing, anything that you do too much may end up hurting you: over-exercising (exercising is good), over-eating (eating is good) would all hurt our systems.
Brain damage from excessive gaming? I think not.
Brain damage from the BS of everyday life? Most definitely.
No. Just plainly no. Whilst we as gamers may not be as [fingerquotes] "Scientifically objective" [/fingerquotes]as that previously totally unknown taiwanese doctor professor guy researcher thing, I don't think so.
Although it really might bring light into the darkroom of XBOX LIVE...
I suspect he jsut jumps on the bandwagon of "Blame it on video games".
Kill the man that made this report.
I've been going through a VERY Rough time lately and video games have helped me through the tough times.
@timtheterrible, i reckon your quote should go down as an all time classic! You made me lol
True. Just go into a public game on Xbox Live. Full of foul mouth retarded (erm...mentally handicapped) people.
AH DURRRRRRRRR....
BUHHHHS!
But I love the vija gaemes!