wraggster
December 28th, 2008, 19:41
Playing as super buffed up hunky dudes can make men insecure, according to a Kansas State study. But read on, if these stories are correct, this piece of scholarship has some serious problems.
The study's investigators themselves say other factors may contribute to one's perception of body-image. But, after watching groups of men and women play video game characters with "extreme" male and female body types, respectively. In as little as 15 minutes, both genders showed negative body-image behavior.
Two things: 1) It doesn't take 15 minutes of a video game to make a dude conscious of his spare tire. Any reasonably attractive woman strolling into the room produces a response called "gut-suck-in-itis," which is believed to be vestigial mating behavior from our days as savage eohippus-slayers and monolith-touchers.
Secondly, I did some searching around, and an AP story vows up and down the male study's game was — record scratching sound — "WWF Wrestlemania 2000." That's right, a ****ing Nintendo 64 game. And if that is enough to give a guy a complex, then our self-esteem is far, far more brittle than that of any girl gamer facing down the jiggly queens of Soulcalibur.
Oh, the AP story said the womenfolk played a volleyball game. Please, please, please let it be Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
Anyway, I am not a psychologist or a scientist of any kind of training, but as presently described, these findings aren't worth much. Sure, I don't make a super-realistic avatar when given the opportunity, but I'm not sent into depression just because I don't look like Kratos. Come to think of it, it would be depressing if I looked like the Roid Dealer to the Gods.
http://kotaku.com/5119122/study-video-game-physiques-give-guys-body-image-issues-too
The study's investigators themselves say other factors may contribute to one's perception of body-image. But, after watching groups of men and women play video game characters with "extreme" male and female body types, respectively. In as little as 15 minutes, both genders showed negative body-image behavior.
Two things: 1) It doesn't take 15 minutes of a video game to make a dude conscious of his spare tire. Any reasonably attractive woman strolling into the room produces a response called "gut-suck-in-itis," which is believed to be vestigial mating behavior from our days as savage eohippus-slayers and monolith-touchers.
Secondly, I did some searching around, and an AP story vows up and down the male study's game was — record scratching sound — "WWF Wrestlemania 2000." That's right, a ****ing Nintendo 64 game. And if that is enough to give a guy a complex, then our self-esteem is far, far more brittle than that of any girl gamer facing down the jiggly queens of Soulcalibur.
Oh, the AP story said the womenfolk played a volleyball game. Please, please, please let it be Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
Anyway, I am not a psychologist or a scientist of any kind of training, but as presently described, these findings aren't worth much. Sure, I don't make a super-realistic avatar when given the opportunity, but I'm not sent into depression just because I don't look like Kratos. Come to think of it, it would be depressing if I looked like the Roid Dealer to the Gods.
http://kotaku.com/5119122/study-video-game-physiques-give-guys-body-image-issues-too