Decline The Decline is soothing

[Stokowski]

A new study into the links between video games and violence has suggested that it is the difficulty of the game and not its content that leads to players feeling aggressive.

Sauce.

 

[Gregz]

The Decline is soothing

So you think!

 

[I_am_Ian]

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

- Jack Handey

 

[I_am_Ian]

Just when we all though casual gamers couldn't be any more oafish. Now when they can't figure out a difficult game they want to crush things.

 

[anus_pounder]

Just when we all though casual gamers couldn't be any more oafish. Now when they can't figure out a difficult game they want to crush things.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Just when we all though casual gamers couldn't be any more oafish. Now when they can't figure out a difficult game they want to crush things.

I'd agree, but this is still probably the angriest place on the internet that I visit, so I might tread lightly on that one.

 

[Renegen]

I read the exact same headline that said it's not violence that makes people angry but bad gameplay. I mean if the researchers increased the difficulty artificially you can't except anything more than some hp bloat or super high damage values, nothing actually interesting to go up against. So basically people get angry at bullshit, hmmm.

 

[DalekFlay]

I've played a ton of games that make the final sections super hard compared to everything else in the game and that can be SUPER frustrating. I've definitely cussed at random shooters especially for having horrible end level swarms with no checkpoints and whatever else. Oddly this is mostly a modern frustration since classic shooters allowed for quicksave, which made these problems less annoying.

 

[Outlander]

Proof:

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The decline is soothing...





...third person soothing.

 

[Konjad]

What decline? I like modern games.

 

[taxalot]

Just when we all though casual gamers couldn't be any more oafish. Now when they can't figure out a difficult game they want to crush things.

Hence Candy Crush Saga?

 

[Black_Willow]

GUIZE ITS SIENCE SO IT HAS 2 B TROO!!!11!

 

[Abelian]

The Decline is soothing

 

[Aeschylus]

It's true. The only time a video game has ever made me violent was when I died to a wolf for the 10 bazillionth time on my first playthrough of Gothic 2 NoTR and I smacked my laptop so hard I broke the hard drive.

 

[Farage]

"A new study", "The study", "The scientists"
No links, no references, nothing nominal. How is this any scientific?

Uh, video games might cause violence 'cause is hard... i think.

The decline is soothing...





...third person soothing.

why can't i brofist.

 

[Abelian]

"A new study", "The study", "The scientists"
No links, no references, nothing nominal. How is this any scientific?

There was a link to the Oxford researchers in the article, but the link to the Singapore study only provided the name of the journal, JAMA Pediatrics.
Welcome to the age of freelance Internet reporting.

why can't i brofist.

You need to wait a year from your registration date or make a donation (not sure what amount).

Meanwhile, feel free to use this image from the smiles:

 

[Farage]

Meanwhile, feel free to use this image from the smiles:

All i can see is

And it hurts

 

[RK47]

Shd've stuck to dating games...

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Shd've stuck to dating games...

I take it it's not frustrating to play Shira Okrah or Kawaii Dojo?

 

[RK47]

Shira Oka is badly designed and will enrage anyone attempting to 100% clear.
I did beat the game and it wasn't difficult. Just a bunch of choices from start till end.
If you are a completionist, you're pretty much have to endure repetitive shit.

These are gimmicks VN. Usually they are the ones to avoid. Shira-Oka tried to tie it to stat requirements and training schedules, much like Long Live the Queen.
TBH this isn't a bad idea, but Shira Oka neither provides satisfactory reward nor good gameplay to go through. I beat it like 4 times before thinking, ehhhh fuck it.

As for a recent playthrough of Toradora Portable, I was somewhat drawn to it due to the 'clue gathering'. But there's flaws to it, and it adds up to frustration that after completing one good path on my own, I decided to read on a guide. There was no way I can keep trying when all I see are 33% identical sets of scenes.

In the end, it was pretty horrifying to realize there are many fail-states that you reach by simply speaking to the wrong person or missing out on a clue due to the limited attempts you can try to gather it. (Do you clean the bin, the shelf, or the desk, Takasu-kun? Only 2 out of 3!) Couple that with conversation system that punishes you for getting it wrong while having like over 20 choices like STARE PASSIONATELY, BLANKLY OR CALMLY. It was just too much.

As for Katawa Shoujo - it was pain-free vanilla in the veins of classic, non-gimmicky VN.
Just click. Save at every branch. It's piss-easy.
Vanilla VN with basic character dialogue and choices as its main gameplay are not really challenging at all.
You just gotta create save points as needed. Fuck it up? Go back to previous bookmark and continue.
That's all there is to it. Hell, some even doesn't have fail-states: look at Go-Go Nippon.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

GUIZE ITS SIENCE SO IT HAS 2 B TROO!!!11!

Actually, from my experience, that's true. Sometimes at arcade there would be dudes that would hit the machine after losing. Never saw anyone do such a thing after performing a successful fatality, for example.

Then I had some computer rage incidents myself. Mostly in C64 times and in times when I would SFL through Fallout 2. It's mostly about not knowing when to stop playing.

 

[circ]

I've never hit any computer hardware because I don't feel like replacing it because it costs money and involves walking. I've cursed a bunch though. I knew this japanese kid and we were playing some game at his house on his c64 and whenever he'd lose he would slam his foot on the machine real hard. Commodores were sturdy stuff but I'm surprised it never broke. He later traded that thing for a NES.

 

[DraQ]

I've hit computer hardware a number of times (mostly as kid, sometimes as percussive maintenance - I had this CRT, for example that kept losing blue channel unless it was hit in particular spot in the upper back), but only damaged its functionality twice and repaired it myself immediately after in both cases.

In all but one cases the hardware was already malfunctioning, the exception was friend's amiga joystick when I was a kid (which was done out of pure frustration, and somewhat tricky to fix without solder).
The other case I broke something was assploding (and then reassembling) my awesome, but unfortunately then malfunctioning 4 button 2 wheel mouse that spontaneously rocketjumped me in Q2 (which was then a new game) when I was low on health and long since last save - so sort of understandable, especially for a 13y.o.

I read the exact same headline that said it's not violence that makes people angry but bad gameplay. I mean if the researchers increased the difficulty artificially you can't except anything more than some hp bloat or super high damage values, nothing actually interesting to go up against. So basically people get angry at bullshit, hmmm.

Also this. Frustration rage and ragequitting are real phenomena, but the methodology is questionable - you can't just tweak single variable in a game without upsetting its general feel, which in itself is important for creating good gameplay.

Anyway I can't really see frustration rage so prolonged that it could actually result in aggression against people or pets, even in little kids - especially given that it's usually targetted at hardware or software involved, not some vague general need to hit something.

I've never hit any computer hardware because I don't feel like replacing it because it costs money and involves walking. I've cursed a bunch though. I knew this japanese kid and we were playing some game at his house on his c64 and whenever he'd lose he would slam his foot on the machine real hard. Commodores were sturdy stuff but I'm surprised it never broke. He later traded that thing for a NES.

Speaking of c64, mine had this infuriating issue when sometimes it started interpreting 'O' as 'Q' (making typing LOAD"*",8,1 impossible).
Yes, it's good that they're so sturdy.

Fortunately later I discovered that you could clear the issue by sticking a joystick into port 1 and switching autofire on for a while (and repeatedly hitting 'RETURN') - protip for anyone encountering the same issue with their antique c64.

 

[DragoFireheart]

praetor felipepepe meanwhileInPoland Kanedias Hobo Elf Surf Solar Invictus 80Maxwell08 Jick Magger LivingOne

Should have used one of the Souls games instead of Half Life.

5-2 anyone?

 

[Cassidy]

I'm shooting this piece of Scienmagistics down. Decline increases violence by appealing to the most irrational and mindless drives and reinforcing them instead of intelligence, as proven by:

Meet Alex Hribal who liked Hitler, playing Skyrim, and stabbing people with kitchen knives:

http://www.heavy.com/news/2014/04/franklin-regional-stabber-alex-hribal/