Video Games & Mental Illness
Every two to three months, someone manages to come up with evidence which links video games with negative health effects, be they mental or physical. It’s so predictable that you could set your calendar by it. The resultant outcry is equally predictable, with sensationalist tabloids (usually The Sun and the The Daily Mail) making ill-informed arguments about the evils of gaming while many gamers respond with equally ill-informed comments about how journalists don’t understand them and how they’ve never seen any negative effects personally.
I have to confess that the rubbish printed by the tabloids doesn’t bother me that much. After all, an occasional story in which a tabloid news paper is wrong about the cause of medical conditions is a drop in the ocean compared to the list of things which they’ll happily claim will cause cancer. The fact that gamers (and games industry lobbying groups) are so quick to deny that games have any negative effect at all disturbs me more. After all, very few activities if taken to extremes, even if only by a few individuals, cause absolutely no negative effects.
Take for example a recent study by Douglas Gentile. Professor Gentile has a PhD in Developmental Psychology and heads up Iowa State University’s Media Research Lab. He has spent more than 30 years studying media and psychology and has a list of peer-reviewed articles as long as my arm. One of his latest studies is a paper based on a survey of nearly 1,200 American youths which shows that a small, but significant number of the surveyed youths (specifically 8% of those surveyed) have pathological symptoms which may be characterised as addiction. The paper can be found on Gentile’s personal website, here and in the Journal of American Academy of Paediatrics.
A quick glance at it reveals some interesting tipbits. For example, depending on the way that the results are interpreted, up to 20% of the respondents may be characterised as having pathological symptoms of addiction, although since some of these symptoms are comparatively minor (missing chores, planning to play games in advance) and that this larger figure includes individuals who answered “sometimes” as well as “yes” to the questions.
More interesting is the percentage who answered yes to what I’d view as as the more serious symptoms. 2% of respondents said they had stolen video games or money to pay for video games. Questions on whether or not respondents became bored and restless when attempting to cut down on the amount they played and whether or not respondents had unsuccessfully attempted to cut down on the time they played for also received a positive response from 2% of those surveyed. These statistics are largely meaningless individually however, as one or two potential symptoms on their own is not indicative of addiction.
What is important, rather then merely interesting are the conclusions which Professor Gentile comes to in the closing paragraphs of the paper. Firstly, he notes that there are limits on the survey and study due to the methodology. Secondly, he notes that considerable further study is needed in the area of the long-term effects of video games on individuals and that his study only serves as a basis for further research. Finally, he notes that this study does suggest that there is a high possibility of there being mental health issues related to high levels of video game use in a small number of individuals.
For video games journalists, industry bodies such as the Entertainment Software Association and the moronic commentators on CVG to contend that this report is “flawed” or indeed, completely wrong, demonstrates an astonishing ignorance of academic process and genuine, albeit small, risk posed by video games to a minority of people. It is important to recognise that such risks do exist, so that those at risk can receive support they need. It doesn’t mean that the game-playing experience of the majority needs to be affected though.
Day 92 – Two Days, Two Issues
I’ve had two completely unrelated issues on my mind for the past few days: China and domestic abuse.
My meditations on China largely come from a meeting between a group of Parliament assistants and Ambassador Song Zhe. The meeting was arranged by a Chinese-born assistant to a European People’s Party MEP in order to foster a greater understanding in China-European dealings.
I went to this meeting because my main source of information regarding politics within China is the Economist, supplemented by occasional articles in the Guardian and the Herald on high-profile Chinese citizens who have been placed under arrest or executed by the regime. The picture built up by these sources is not necessarily the most balanced, ignoring, for example, how the controlled economy deals with the overwhelming poverty in areas of China.
The meeting, as it turned out was terribly balanced either. The Ambassador made a twenty-minute presentation on how China and the EU could work together in the 21st Century, highlighting various cultural similarities and differences. This was actually quite educational, and I learnt a few things I didn’t know about Chinese culture. Unfortunately it was also very much a party line. I’ve read propaganda from the Soviet Union and from Nazi Germany which struck a similar tone.
Following the presentation, the floor was opened to questions. Given the enormity of China’s human rights violations, I suspect no-one will be surprised that this was one of the main issues raised. Several specific cases were referred to, with the Ambassador largely stonewalling on them. It was interesting hearing him attempt to justify the human rights violations as being down to differences in perceptions of human rights in China and the West. I don’t buy the idea that exercising freedom of speech endangers the rights or quality of life of others in China. In fact it would seem to be the opposite of what freedom of speech results in.
After the Ambassador left, one of his staff opened up a lot more. He talked at length about his negative experiences growing up during Mao’s Cultural Revolution and certainly seemed to indicate that China is liberalising slowly (something which would seem to harmonise with my reading in the Economist and diplomatic trends over the past decade). One point which he made which has stuck with me was that the Chinese people remember Mao too well and they don’t want another violent upheaval. The phrase he used was “evolution, not revolution”. I can sympathise with that sentiment given historical precedent in China, Russia and Iran.
I wouldn’t say I view China particularly favourably. I dislike the CCP’s environmental policy, their nuclear policy, their attitude towards human rights, their continuation of the cult of Mao and I’m very nervous about the rate of Chinese resource consumption and European reliance on Chinese imports. I can certainly see room for working with China to deal with these issues in a mutually beneficial way while building up a stronger European export market.
As regards domestic abuse, this something I’ve been doing some research and writing on the past few days. One of the things which came up was a recently launched campaign by Scottish Women’s Aids, simply called Stop. I’ve signed up to their pledge to help stop the abuse of women, as have Alyn and my manager. I also signed up to the White Ribbon Campaign, which is a male-orientated campaign to end domestic abuse against women.
This is an issue which I have very strong feelings on. There is no excuse for the fact that one-in-five women in Scotland will experience domestic abuse of some time during their lives. Sign up to the campaigns, raise awareness and remember that domestic abuse can be perpetrated against everyone, not just women (although they are the main victims).
Day 90 – An Early (and Unpleasant) Start
It’s 1:13AM local, and I just got off the phone with the police.
This is part of a progression of events.
Around about 9:30PM, I heard some shouting and a smash. The flat next to me and both flats upstairs have kids, so shouting and the odd thump isn’t unusual. It’s actually kind of reassuring.
About 10:30PM, I nipped out to the shop across the road. I noticed that the glass door to the lobby had been smashed from the inside out. The lift door has also been jammed open on the ground floor. I tweeted, worrying about whether I should call the police or not. I decided not, thinking the vandal either wouldn’t be back or would have calmed down.
Around about 1AM, as I was drifting off to sleep, I noticed some thumping. I didn’t give it much thought until about it had gone on for about ten minutes or so. Then I noticed there was also a smashing sound. After sticking my head out the window, noticing a car that might be a police car (they aren’t as garish in Belgium as they are in Scotland) and thinking about going downstairs to investigate, I called the police.
For reference, the EU-wide emergency number is 112. If you phone this in Belgium, it puts you through to the ambulance line. 110 is the police number here. I presume 111 gets you the fire brigade. Also useful to know is the fact that the emergency operators in Belgium speak fluent English, although you might need to repeat “Parle vu Anglais” a few times before they realise.
After I’d given him the details, the operator informed me that there was a car at the scene with a second car on the way. There had also been other reports of a domestic dispute. Since then, the thumping has stopped, but the lift has been going up and down a lot and there was the sound of a child crying coming from upstairs. As of 1:30AM, the police cars have gone. It’s all rather horrible.
Of course, I’m now wired on adrenalin. I did send a text to my manager saying that I might be late in tomorrow. I think being up till 1:30AM due to a police incident might be a reasonable excuse in this case.
Last time I had a night like this was about four years ago when a couple where having a violent domestic in the car-park beside my flat in Maryhill. It was equally horrible, possibly even worse. I just hope the poor woman in that case got good support and got rid of the fellow ASAP.
I am glad to say that this doesn’t reflect my experience in Brussels overall. It’s just the sort of event which happens all too frequently all over the world. The sort of thing which really needs to be stopped, and can be stopped if people act with more sense and maturity.
Anyway, I had better try and get some sleep.
Day 89 – St. Andrew’s Day in Brussels
Many national days are acknowledged in Brussels. Since I’ve been working in the Parliament, special dishes have featured in the canteen menus for Spanish, Romanian, Latvian, Polish, Maltan and Lithuanian holidays. Lobbying groups, MEP social clubs and Member State Representations also arrange events for days of national importance.
Unfortunately, there’s a bit of internal politics which prevents the acknowledgement of St. Andrew’s Day in the Parliament: if one devolved nation is recognised, then all devolved nations must be recognised. So there was no haggis, neeps and tatties to be had today. C’est la Vie.
Of course, that’s no excuse for not expressing a bit of national pride.
Day 87 – No Snow Here!
From reports on Twitter, Scotland is grinding to a halt due to snow. Being of hardy Cairngorm stock, I tend to take my sassenach friends’ tales of snow with a pince of salt. The media are, of course, useless when it comes to snow, defaulting to a bizarre “shocked and awed” response to an annual event.
Still, not my problem, because today is a stunning day in Brussels.
Day 85 – Countdown to the Homecoming
It’s less then three weeks until I return to Scotland on the 16th of December. I have to admit, I already have my first night at home planned out.
- A long bath to wash off the residue of Brussels’ hard water.
- An Indian take-away, because you just can’t get a good Indian or Pakistani meal in Belgium.
- Some West Wing, starting with the fantastic Season 1 episode “Mr. Willis of Ohio“.
- Playing some Xbox games with my flatmate.
These are just a few of the pleasures I’ve particularly missed while being in Belgium.
Unfortunately, it’ll be back to reality with a bump on the 17th, since I’ve yet to find gainful employment.
Day 84 – Some Days, You Can Change The World
One of the things I’ve learnt in the past few months is that actually being at the centre of politics is much more frustrating then being on the fringes. The problem is that the closer to the centre you are, the greater understanding you gain and the more you see the problems which prevent action on a given issue.
To give an example: a while ago, I was reading the Economist in the pub after work one day. The main story was about poverty levels, education and the rich-poor divide in India. It made me very angry. I thought, well what can I do about this where I am just now? The answer, of course, is not much. EU-India trade relations are under negotiation, but in many ways these are the domain of Council and not easily influenced. There is also the small issue that the EU can’t interfere in India’s domestic affairs. India is, after all, a democratic state, a strong military and economic power and in many ways a well governed. For the EU to attempt to dictate policy to India would be a slight to them, a slight to their sovereignty and likely to set diplomatic relations back.
Indian domestic problems are an extreme example of how you can feel powerless and frustrated when you should be doing something. There have been plenty of other times when I’ve felt the same in the past few months due to letters, goings on in the news or even just walking past a beggar on the street.
The flip-side are the days when you feel like you can change the world. Today was one of those days. Unfortunately, I can’t explain why because it’s related to a constituency letter and is thus confidential. In the greater scheme of things, it’s a small matter, but it’s one which is very much within the scope of the EU. I’m intending to do everything I can to get the powers who be to notice this issue and deal with it in the legislation planned for 2011 (where it fits nicely in with some similar trade and commerce issues).
The days like this are brilliant. They are the days you know you are doing the right thing and genuinely helping people. I had a similar feeling after I spent two days researching the oil moratorium for Alyn, in an effort to ensure that it didn’t pass and have a grave impact on Scotland. Unfortunately, for me, they are less frequent then I’d like. There are a lot of obstacles in politics.
I can understand why people do this job though. When you know you are doing the right thing, and doing all you can to achieve it, it feels utterly fantastic!
Day 83 – The New Benefits System
This week, I was party to a briefing by a senior civil servent on the future plans for the benifits system in the UK. The plans haven’t been formally released yet, although given the open invite to the briefing, I can surmise that they are in the public domain.
Since the benefit system is of interest to so many in the UK, I’ve reproduced my notes in longhand. It’s worth noting that I may not have all details quite 100% correct.
Situation at Present
- Approximately 5 million people are jobless and on benefits.
- The largest group of claimants is those on disability benefits.
Coalition Goals for Welfare Reform
- Reduce the number of benefit claimants.
- Get people into sustainable employment.
The New Welfare System
All benifit claimants will be subject to twelve months on Job Seekers Allowance and other benefits as at present. During this time, they will receive support from the Department of Work and Pensions through JobCentre Plus.
If employment has not been found within this period, claimants are handed to private service providers. Private employment providers will receive a small payment for each individual taken on. They will then provide claimants with support in order to find long-term, sustainable employment. This support may include training, provision of treatment for mental health issues or a variety of other services. These will vary considerable depending on the providers.
When claimants have found sustainable employment, the private service provider receives a large payment. It is envisaged by the DWP that companies will lower the required payment on successful employment in order to remain competitive with each other. These payments will come from savings made through getting benefit claimants into work. Free market economics will (in theory) ensure that any inefficient providers will go bust (NB. this was the same argument used during rail privatisation).
There appears to be a high risk of those who are considered too unemployable being left behind as private companies race to make a quick buck using those who are more employable. This may result in those in need of greater support suffering.
This system is intended to be implemented by Summer 2011. Full plans are due to be announced in the next two weeks.
Named Potential Providers
- Serco
- Working Links
- “A Local Authority”
- “A college”
- “Various Third Sector Parties”
Thoughts At The Kinect Launch
Last month, I laid down some thoughts about Kinect and Move – the second generation motion controllers to hit the video game market after the Wii. This week, Kinect went on sale, and it’s been interesting to read the reviews of it given my pre-launch opinions.
Seeing the short article on Sonic Free Riders on Ars Technica, it seemed that a lot of my feers about Kinect had proved to be true. It isn’t that accurate, the controls require a lot of movement and it doesn’t feel immersive. If you watch the video in the post, the game doesn’t even look particularly fun. In short, that particular article doesn’t make me feel confident that Kinect does anything more then the Xbox Live Camera and it’s awful motion games did.
So it’s probably just as well that that wasn’t the only article about Kinect that I’ve read recently.
From proper reviews of the system, I’m left with the impression that Kinect is a technology which has been rushed to market. The videos of it in use show that the control system for the Dashboard and games is quite slow, the device needs a lot of space to be effective and that Kinect simply isn’t as integrated into the “Core Xbox Experience” (in particular the standard Dashboard) as Microsoft led people to believe it would be. All of this could likely have been improved given another six months development time. It also seems, and this is a recurring theme, that there is little you can do with Kinect which you can’t do with a controller (other then dance presumably).
That said, I am convinced that Kinect still has potential. Developers need to make sure they avoid the pitfalls which Sega fell into with Sonic Free Riders for a start. Microsoft also needs to build on the launch and quickly, much in the same way they built on the initially poor Games On Demand and Xbox Live Arcade services. In the last four years, the overall Xbox experience (as MS refer to in their PR materials) has improved considerably and Kinect may well do the same.
Even if Microsoft and developers fail to build on Kinect’s launch, it doesn’t mean it’s a failure. I could well see Kinect being the next Mega CD: unpopular, but showcasing an emergent technology which may come to the fore.
We’ll have to wait and see. I know I’m not going to be rushing to buy Kinect based on the recent reviews…but that doesn’t mean I’ll never buy it.
Requiem For The PSP
The PlayStation Portable isn’t a dead console yet, but it’s days are certainly numbered. In December, it’ll be six years since it’s initial Japanese release, making it comparatively aged compared to Nintendo’s various models in the DS range. Vultures are already circling, with developers claiming they already have PSP2 development kits and photos of an Android-powered PSP Phone being leaked to Engadget.
Before the media completely consign the PSP to the electronic cupboard of history, I’d like to pay tribute to it for it is: an underrated system which has been plagued by bad management decisions and short-sightedness.
The PSP is a quality piece of hardware. Back in 2004, when the PSP was first revealed the screen was stunning compared to other media devices at the $200 price point. The screen was several times the size and resolution of the screen on the Game Boy Advance and DS, and far sharper then either. In terms of hardware configuration, it’s processing capacity and graphical abilities were closer to the PS2 than to the original PlayStation. PSP models remain considerable more powerful then the Nintendo DS or the released specifications for the 3DS.
Standing at the forefront of gaming technology, the PSP should have been a massive success. It wasn’t. Instead, it has spent much of it’s lifecycle towards the bottom of hardware sales charts with dwindling support in game stores. UMD copies of many games are now quite hard to find, simply because they have been produced in small runs compared to games on other consoles.
So what factors left the PSP in this situation?
- Lack of a “Killer Game” – The success of the DS was almost ensured by the release of Mario Kart DS and Mario 64 DS. Established titles such as Pokemon and the Final Fantasy III remake helped to cement this. There was no killer title for the PSP. The launch line-up was devoid of highlights, with the established Metal Gear brand being turned into a not terribly popular a card-based-combat game.
- Short-Sighted Distribution System – The PSP was the first major handheld games console to feature a wi-fi connection and writable media. From day one, the potential existed for the PSP to be used to buy small, Xbox Live Arcade style games online and to access indie games. Sony effectively ignored this potential by allowing the PlayStation Network Store to stagnate for two to three years while Microsoft were forging ahead with digital distribution on consoles.
- Quashing Homebrew – The PSP is easy to code for and would have been a godsend for small developers. Except rather then supporting them with an online indie game store, Sony continually tried to block people from installing homebrew software on the PSP.
- Bonding To The PS3 – The PS3 was designed to work with the PSP. Nothing wrong with that. The problems started when Sony made PS1 games playable on the PSP but only available for download on the PS3, cutting out a large chunk of their market. This problem is now resolved, but support for PS1 games would have been something that should have been there from day one and independent of the PS3.
- Lack of Platform Titles – Platforming games are the bread and butter of handheld gaming. They are sadly lacking on the PSP, despite the potential existing for platformers from defunct consoles to be ported to the system in the same way they’ve been ported to the Wii, Xbox and DS. More homegrown intellectual properties, such as Ratchet and Clank would also have helped the system, although lack of good, first-party titles has been a problem which has plagued Sony.
The PSP is not a perfect system. The analogue ‘nub’ is a particular point of contention, while some have criticised it’s shoulder buttons and battery life. Still, it deserved a far better life then it ended up with. It had the potential to change the handheld market in the same way the PS1 changed the console market. It failed, almost entirely to make an impact however, allowing the Nintendo DS to completely dominate the handheld games market.
There were a lot of brave decisions in the design of the PSP, as there were with the PS3. The choice of a disk drive and the propriety UMD format was one while inclusion of a web browser and the recent release of a version without the UMD driver were others. Some of these worked out and some didn’t. I will continue to use my PSP, no matter what Sony release to succeed it and I am very glad that I bought what turned out to be a very good piece of hardware.