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[RustyNails]

Video games: a danger lurking in our homes

Video games have rapidly gained popularity in Arab societies in general and in the Gulf societies in particular. Hardly there is a home that does not feature a video game console.

Foremost among these games is PlayStation, which is very popular with children. Parents like to accommodate their children’s wishes and let them take a handheld gaming device wherever they go.

Omar Al-Attas, the owner of a large video game store in Jeddah, says that families in the Gulf region spend around $400,000 (SR1.5 million) a year on these games at his store.

“These games carry a risk other than addiction, bad as it is. They affect player’s visual acuity and their nervous conditions. They also have, and this is more important, a strong impact on the behavior of gamers, since they are exposed to scenes that contain nudity or abusive language. A kid can easily become a solitary person who likes to keep to himself or herself. We notice that many gamers like to play in dark rooms,” he said.

Salim Bal-Sood, PlayStation sales manager in a Jeddah store, says that most of his customers are children of 12 years of age or less. “The most popular games are the banned games. We have requests for these every day. We try to give advice to the parents regarding these things, but some of them shun our advice and even ridicule us,” he said.

Fahd Dawood, a PlayStation expert, said that video games are indispensable in any home. “They encourage a spirit of entertainment within the individual, especially after a long and hard day. It is the kind of harmless entertainment and encourages a spirit of competition, and self-development. The Saudi market sells around 2 million of these games every year. And many consumers are adults who are obsessed with playing the games in dark rooms. They particularly like games with bright colors, loud audio and violent action.”

Said Al-Olayyan, a manager at a games marketing company, says that salesmen on the move usually sell the illegal games. “They are sold secretly. Some stores buy them at high prices, and then they sell them at prices that are many times the original purchasing price,” he said.

I completely agree with the PlayStation expert. What about you guys?

 

[Enchanted]

Everything in moderation works for me.

 

[seat]

I like how they bring up the "dark room" thing twice, as if that's supposed to be the sure-fire sign of a sociopath.

 

[jmcoo7]

Jeez another home tutored psychologist.

 

[Poetic.Injustice]

Seems better than fox news articles we get. Although the headline may be similar to them lol.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

He may have a point, I bet half of you are in a dark room right now!

 

[jmcoo7]

He may have a point, I bet half of you are in a dark room right now!

True, it's 2:49am

 

[Zukuu]

I like how they bring up the "dark room" thing twice, as if that's supposed to be the sure-fire sign of a sociopath.

So do they watch movies in bright light? I bet they got a 5.1 setup: 5 surround lights and 1 chandelier.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Fahd Dawood, a PlayStation expert,..

I can't.

 

[Hexa]

So do they watch movies in bright light? I bet they got a 5.1 setup: 5 surround lights and 1 chandelier.

Wondering the same. If I don't need light, I turn it off. Screens look nicer and it saves electricity. What's the issue here, or rather, there?

 

[KingFire]

A PlayStation expert?

 

[Dongs Macabre]

GAF, I sleep in a dark room. Am I a sociopath?

 

[QaaQer]

There was a saudi minister recently saying something like "women who drive risk having children in the future with deformities." yeah, it was really that stupid.

 

[RustyNails]

I can't.

Why hasn't Sony hired this man?

 

[NeoGash]

By PlayStation expert do you mean a Sony employee? If so, his opinion doesn't mean shit.

Shouldn't gamers be welcoming this discussion? If there are negative effects to gaming, then I want to know about it. If there aren't, then you have nothing to fear. I don't like it when these people are ridiculed, as they are doing it for the good of everyone. I'm not defending those religious nutters who believe it is a sin worthy of being tortured for eternity in hell over though (which is more fucked up a message than any game can send, but that is another discussion).

I welcome studies into the negative effects of games. Those who don't are biased fools IMO.

 

[Night Hunter]

Saudi Arabia has shot itself in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about Playstation culture (I am an expert), but dark rooms and bright colors are huge parts of it. It's not like with Xbox where you can become successful in well lit interiors. If you screw a Playstation owner over, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the Playstation Nation, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase a game for either system, nor will they purchase any games in Saudi Arabia. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Saudi Arabia has alienated an entire market with this move.

Saudi Arabia, publicly apologize and cancel all lightsources and muted colors or you can kiss your business goodbye.

Spoiler

Ok, this didn't turn out as good as I imagined it in my head

 

[Bronetta]

How about the effects of oppressing half of your population based on their gender? Then we'll talk about the effects of gaming.

Spoiler

I lived in Saudi Arabia for 8 years. The government really counts on keeping the populace as ignorant and in the dark as possible.

 

[Square2015]

Bump. (This could use further exposure.)

 

[Messofanego]

This quote is full of so much bullshit, that I just...

“These games carry a risk other than addiction, bad as it is. They affect player’s visual acuity and their nervous conditions. They also have, and this is more important, a strong impact on the behavior of gamers, since they are exposed to scenes that contain nudity or abusive language. A kid can easily become a solitary person who likes to keep to himself or herself. We notice that many gamers like to play in dark rooms,” he said.
​

If this guy is just saying they're going to wear glasses, you can say the same for anything with screens. Nervous conditions, as in...what? Psychosis? Seizures? Every single mental condition? What does nudity or swearing do to their behaviours, make them closet sexists or something? If a kid is keeping to himself/herself as an introvert, they would just do that anyway without games. Gamers playing in dark rooms, maybe horror games are their favourite genre. Or the sun is too fucking much over there that they want to reduce glare off the screen.

Like, all of this is shit you measure in experiments to test these unsubstantiated claims.

 

[Gaz_RB]

Kinda cool hearing about gaming culture in other countries

 

[Currygan]

A PlayStation expert?

this reply + your awfully fitting avatar made me laugh hysterically for ten seconds

 

[Vodh]

They particularly like games with bright colors, loud audio and violent action.

Saudi arabian gamers caught the Resogun bug I see. For fledgeling sociopaths they've got good taste.

 

[Sora2k7]

no one reads arabnews. it a shit newspaper that only exist because its the only English newspaper in Saudi Arabia

but yeah a lot of people are convinced video games are bad for your nerves (my father cant stop talking about it when I game.. but in his defense I game for like 4-8 hours with almost no breaks ).

 

[coldfoot]

Middle ages level violent oppressive regime complaining about violence in video games?
LOL

 

[Sora2k7]

Middle ages level violent oppressive regime complaining about violence in video games?
LOL

can I ask a question what do you know about Saudi Arabia?

 

[NeoGash]

How about the effects of oppressing half of your population based on their gender? Then we'll talk about the effects of gaming.

Spoiler

I lived in Saudi Arabia for 8 years. The government really counts on keeping the populace as ignorant and in the dark as possible.

You don't have to live there to criticise it. That being said, there are plenty of people over there who aren't happy with the treatment of women and are fighting that fight, but this guy's focus is games, which I think is noble. I as a gamer think that excessive use of technology (which includes video games) is detrimental in many ways to people (mostly psychologically, though physical as well). That is my belief, and this guy should continue his preaching. He is like an arab Superman in my eyes.

You'd think gamers who have kids and who might have kids in their life would be open to scientific, FACTUAL analyses on this subject, but it seems so many people bury their heads in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong as if it is a given.

 

[Foaloal]

this guy should continue his preaching. He is like an arab Superman in my eyes.

You'd think gamers who have kids and who might have kids in their life would be open to scientific, FACTUAL analyses on this subject, but it seems so many people bury their heads in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong as if it is a given.

I think we're all open to a scientific and factual analysis of videogames' effects on children/people in general.

This guy is not providing anything even close to that, he's just throwing out his personal beliefs as fact.

Not only does he claim that all gamers are exposed to nudity and strong language (really, what percentage of games have nudity? Are parents unable to control what games they buy for their children?) he's claiming that videogames actually damage a person's visual abilities, which has been shown to be the opposite in actual studies: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0528_030528_videogames.html

I don't disagree that technology comes with negatives as well as positives, but c'mon, there are no facts in this article that support any negativity towards videogames.