Kotaku 
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Denver, 9:23 PM
Mon Nov 23
53 posts in the last 24 hours
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04/20/09
Interesting take on the subject.
Personally, I never took up the habit, and neither should other people.
04/19/09
04/19/09
04/19/09
04/19/09
04/19/09
Hey! Thats not true! We(the dutch) have some of our troops parading in the gay pride parade later this year, so even if your guys don't smoke, they still look better then our "guys".
04/19/09
And yes i do realise that was a slightly discriminating comment, so sorry for not ending the sentence with a [/JOKE] tag.
04/19/09
04/19/09
Smoking does have the advantage of training you to breath air with lower oxygen content, so in high altitude battles they're less likely to get tired out... or so claims my mountaineering friend.
04/19/09
04/19/09
Poor Snake. The guy has been through hell and back, killed both his father and twin brother with his bare hands, his body is falling apart and all the guy wants to do is have a smoke.
Then there's that little brat Sunny telling him "NO SMOKING ON THE FLIGHT SNAKE!"
04/19/09
04/19/09
Quit smoking so you can stay alive to pay taxes! You're no good to us dead!
04/19/09
04/19/09
04/19/09
04/19/09
04/19/09
But if you smoke, you're paying a load of extra tax for the privilege anyway! There's must be some perfect balance that those clever government types know where they like people to smoke a little, so they can get taxes from that, but not smoke too much so they'll die earlier.
04/19/09
04/19/09
02/23/09
Some idiot spraining their ankle, or a game that could well be good.
I'll take the game.
I subscribe to this 'self preservation' system - don't start shit you can't finish, and don't get involved in other peoples shit, because you're asking for trouble.
Seriously. How many time has some idiot been killed or injured trying to help someone else, who was in way over their head?
On top of which, how is 320 a representation of everyone who likes violent games?
02/22/09
C'mon, it's kinda obvious that if you don't know the person (or the people) harmed in an accident or any other tragic event, like, if they're distant to you, you won't feel anything.
I doubt anyone would feel normal if their mother died, or father, or best friend. It's about being close, not about being desensitized.
02/21/09
He won't want to hear this because Sontag has been claimed by the humanities. But, read her Regarding The Pain Of Others. It's not just video games, people. It's modernity. It's everyone. It's how it is. It isn't nice, but it isn't to be blamed on any one facet of society, either.
02/21/09
02/21/09
"Although in the predicted direction, there was no
significant difference in helping rates between violent and nonviolent video game players, 21% and 25%, respectively..."
So of the people who helped at all, the time it took them was significant. My only problem now is that I'm not sure if this has to do with the violence in the games as much as it has to do with how preoccupied the player was. Most non-violent games aren't all that engrossing. They don't mention the titles of the games used in the study (four from each category), so its hard to look at their findings any deeper.
02/21/09
Academic studies build on one another like building blocks - no one study answers everything or even claims to. A study that is too broad will be too weak to be useful.
Like I said, you bring up a very valid point. People shouldn't look for depth in this study -- it doesn't tell us why people acted a certain way, it just tells us that when presented with certain content certain responses occur at such a rate.
02/21/09
It's clear from the discussion here that most of you have no concept of how academic research is conducted, nor what the results actually mean.
Basically, people are having this knee-jerk reaction like, "o noez, they sayz bad thingz about my favs thing! they b wrong! they iz teh haxors." There were similar things said in response to the original reports on smoking, too -- although, probably not using such a syntax.
Nobody likes for their interests to be shown to have a negative impact -- but, we as gamers, should take all of the knowledge provided to us so that we can make appropriate decisions in our media consumption, and someday (for some of you this will already be the case) for our children.
This is just research - why are you all so afraid and angry?
02/21/09
Violent people = not so much.
Sounds about right.
02/21/09
02/22/09
I was joking.
Loser.
02/21/09
02/21/09
02/21/09
02/21/09
Then again, I AM good at compartmentalizing it. Someone dies on my calls (it happens despite best efforts), I rarely get upset or saddened. I figure they would have died if I was there or not, so at least my being there gave them a fighting chance.
So maybe this has some merit. The only time it really hits me is with kids, and that's because I have two young girls of my own. So yeah, maybe this has a kernel of truth in it. Some calls where I have to go to a CISD meeting after, where everyone else is upset and weeping, I just feel bored and want to move on to the next call.
That's not to say I don't feel sympathy for folks. I feel more than most, I'd say. I have yet to become jaded in response to people's pain and suffering or sadness. But I just figure taking that onto myself isn't going to do anything but burn me out and eat at my own sole. Best to leave one's suffering to themselves and try to help them through it than to take it upon your own shoulders.
Thanks, video games. You prepared me for the real world.
02/21/09
02/21/09
Yeah, I saw that "sole" mistake after I posted. Damn you, Kotaku, and your lack of an edit button.
02/21/09
02/21/09
They never taught that, no. They warned you of it, and told you that it's best NOT to, but never outright taught it.
See, the thing is, you can't help but get a LITTLE emotionally attached. Having no attachment means that you have lost the REASON you went into the field. No, you don't want to let that go for as long as possible.
But you have to remember, and this is something EVERYONE says in this field, is "It's their emergency, not yours." Don't rush, don't freak out, don't let yourself screw up because you panicked, and don't let their misfortune weigh on your personally.