Video games make you a better killer. Opinion.

[sincreator]

I'm not here to say that games make you more likely to kill or violent. I am here to say that I think that if a hardcore FPS player was thrown into combat for what ever reason, they would be much more ready to handle it.

Here is why I see it this way. A few years ago I went for a staff paintball outing. We had 24 people show up. So that made 4 teams of 6 players. The 4 captains that picked teams were the management and formans. The youngest forman was a gamer so when it came time for picks he selected the people that gamed. Mostly COD/BF players. We actually played on 8 totally different courses on a professional course.(not out in the woods), and 6 out of 8 of them we had no one die/get hit at all, and the other 2 we lost one guy. Needless to say, it was a total massacre. Now I know that there is a huge difference between paintball and real life, but the tactics we used were bought over from the games we play. I was the strategic player in my clan(called out orders) and whatever I told them to do they did it. That day went exactly the same as if we were in a game.

So what does everyone think? If there was a draft right now, do you think that gamers could or would be targeted first?

 

[rgd1101]

age? physical fitness?

 

[sincreator]

Just say from 18-35 range. Usually if I'm not mistaken, anyone that is drafted physical fitness wouldn't be an issue. It would be more psycolocial.

 

[Bryce Demar]

They would yell out what button to dolphin dive!!! No but in all seriousness there is a huge difference between combat in even of the most amazing fps games out there and real life, and anyone who says differently is wrong, I have heard that games improve hand eye coordination but still a digital gun it much more different compared to a real weapon.

 

[sincreator]

They would yell out what button to dolphin dive!!! No but in all seriousness there is a huge difference between combat in even of the most amazing fps games out there and real life, and anyone who says differently is wrong, I have heard that games improve hand eye coordination but still a digital gun it much more different compared to a real weapon.

No doubt it is a lot different. I'm not saying it's the same at all really. Just the tactics used. I think a gamer that played those types of games would have a massive advantage in a combat situation over someone that does not play shooter/war style games at all. I mean if we were able to carry over some of our gaming skills to paintball, we should be able to use some of those tactics in a combat situation as well.

 

[Bryce Demar]

They would yell out what button to dolphin dive!!! No but in all seriousness there is a huge difference between combat in even of the most amazing fps games out there and real life, and anyone who says differently is wrong, I have heard that games improve hand eye coordination but still a digital gun it much more different compared to a real weapon.

No doubt it is a lot different. I'm not saying it's the same at all really. Just the tactics used. I think a gamer that played those types of games would have a massive advantage in a combat situation over someone that does not play shooter/war style games at all. I mean if we were able to carry over some of our gaming skills to paintball, we should be able to use some of those tactics in a combat situation as well.

To be honest i feel like the carry over of experience and tactics from fps type shooters is person to person the way i can relate to this is a article i found about if you can learn Japanese from watching subbed anime and honestly it made a good point about weather you are either reading the English subtitles on the screen or listening to the word the people are saying and trying to learn what it is they are saying. Like in a shooter like Call of duty where you are more of a less running around with a gun shooting anything that moves with a controller in you hand, but if you where to try to develop tactics to better play the game and pull those over to the real world

 

[sincreator]

They would yell out what button to dolphin dive!!! No but in all seriousness there is a huge difference between combat in even of the most amazing fps games out there and real life, and anyone who says differently is wrong, I have heard that games improve hand eye coordination but still a digital gun it much more different compared to a real weapon.

No doubt it is a lot different. I'm not saying it's the same at all really. Just the tactics used. I think a gamer that played those types of games would have a massive advantage in a combat situation over someone that does not play shooter/war style games at all. I mean if we were able to carry over some of our gaming skills to paintball, we should be able to use some of those tactics in a combat situation as well.

To be honest i feel like the carry over of experience and tactics from fps type shooters is person to person the way i can relate to this is a article i found about if you can learn Japanese from watching subbed anime and honestly it made a good point about weather you are either reading the English subtitles on the screen or listening to the word the people are saying and trying to learn what it is they are saying. Like in a shooter like Call of duty where you are more of a less running around with a gun shooting anything that moves with a controller in you hand, but if you where to try to develop tactics to better play the game and pull those over to the real world

I think battlefield would be a better example of on foot skills, and tactics. The maps are huge and open, making gameplay more life like.

 

[jungleexplorer]

As a person with real world experience with real guns and who is also a gamer (and a pretty god one at that), I would have to say that gaming has not improved my real world skills. Whether you are playing on a PC or on a console, you are using a totally different interface to interact with a gun. You push a button and the gun fires, or reload etc, etc, etc. In real life there are many elements that are way different then a video game. That is not to say that video games cannot be used to teach a person some organizational combat skills. The military does use video games in their training programs.

I know several obsessed gamers that are so good at FPS games it's scary. I have brought them out to my ranch to shoot real guns and they are horrible in real life at even the simplest gun shooting exercises. I have not found one that I would trust with a real gun without my direct supervision. If anything, videos games and paintball teach people to be careless with real guns and makes them more likely to accidentally kill themselves or someone else.

 

[ewok93]

They're completely different. You do everything differently. You don't use any of the same motions, or any of the same techniques. In video games you run out into the open, eat some bullets, and kill 10 people. In real life, a bullet passes by you and the noise alone can throw you off. Video games are also quite low pressure and relaxed compared to being next to real live guns with loud bullets coming out, so I don't expect the "exposure" to guns in video games to mean anything. If anything, they will make you worse, as they aren't accurate, guns are not that easy to aim or handle, and they are handled completely differently. Paintball is also not an accurate measure, because it is a game, you don't really care if you get hit, it's a paintball. Bullets are very different.

As for the tactics, those are also different. When was the last time you hid for an hour in a video game? In games, you aim for the most kills, in real life, you aim for not getting yourself or somebody else killed. I can't imagine one thing I've done in a game of Battlefield or Call of Duty that would be a good idea in real life, not the way you hide behind something, react to things, or where you go.

 

[Alec Mowat]

There's very little correlation between the skills used in a videogame and actually shooting a gun.
Playing a videogame won't make your aim better, and it won't put you better shape.

The only thing military shooters would really help with that could be applied to real life is teamwork. But that skill applies to any sport, not just Paint Ball.

 

[ewok93]

Not even that, though, because very few video games actually encourage teamwork. I have NEVER seen a group of even three people stay right next to each other in a video game like Call of Duty. You're encouraged to run out into the open, alone, and shoot at as many people as you can, doesn't matter where your teammates are.

 

[jungleexplorer]

I have seen some really good gamers that work as teams in Battlefield but that does mean they could do the same thing in real life. Most expert gamers that I know are lazy irresponsible moochers living on someones else's dime and would not know what the do with a real gun if they had one in their hands. Even if they know how to work as a team in a game, in real life their social skills are very poor and they lack almost all ability or desire to work in conjunction with others because on their over blown egos enlarged by their delusions of grandeur based on their success in the virtual gaming world.

 

[mackneasy]

Paintball would be a poor example for real-life war scenarios, considering that it is much more similar to gaming than it is to actual combat. People are more likely to take risks, are carrying around far less equipment than soldiers, and are dealing with far less violent firefights.

There is much more I can add but I'm pretty sure at this point I'm just beating a dead horse that's already been mauled by the eight previous responses.

 

[ctbaars]

I have seen some really good gamers that work as teams in Battlefield but that does mean they could do the same thing in real life. Most expert gamers that I know are lazy irresponsible moochers living on someones else's dime and would not know what the do with a real gun if they had one in their hands. Even if they know how to work as a team in a game, in real life their social skills are very poor and they lack almost all ability or desire to work in conjunction with others because on their over blown egos enlarged by their delusions of grandeur based on their success in the virtual gaming world.

*** +1 *** oneonewonone as a generalization. I do know an expert gamer that actually holds a job. He even brought a gaming machine to work too. Beautiful 3-monitor setup, water cooling, lights; you know. I think the company is going out of business.

 

[sincreator]

Guys I was just saying that a gamer that has some battle knowledge from a game like battlefield would be better than just some random dude off the street that never played those types of games and never held a gun. I'm talking about a draft type scenario where the army recruits civilians. In which case, I was asking if gamers could be first. That is the opinion I was looking for from everyone.

 

[ctbaars]

No.
But i'm sure the army is testing computer programs in general. Battle is not cool. There is no health bar. There is no AI. Gamer strategies don't work in real life. jungleexplorer is correct. That is my opinion.

 

[Alec Mowat]

Guys I was just saying that a gamer that has some battle knowledge from a game like battlefield would be better than just some random dude off the street that never played those types of games and never held a gun. I'm talking about a draft type scenario where the army recruits civilians. In which case, I was asking if gamers could be first. That is the opinion I was looking for from everyone.

Playing battlefield and actually shooting a gun are not very similar, requires completely different strategy and thinking. A lot of young men joined the army expected Call of Duty and it was not the case. No skill carries over.

Being an ex-military sniper will make you a far better killer than any videogame. Compared to TV, I don't think videogames even make you desensitized to violence.