Asperger Syndrome is NOT Caused by Gaming

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you are more likely to be considered addicted, thus supporting the conclusion. That's nice.

That proves it is caused by cartoons and anime.

I think that the games are designed and programmed by people with a lot of AS traits.

I think that it's a "by Aspies for Aspies" thing.

For instance, virtual worlds that contained many switches, buttons and machinery would appeal to the Aspie because it was in the Aspie like minds of the programmers and designers that created these worlds.

A world with few people to interact with and lots of puzzles in the physical environment to solve...

That's the world of Spelunx
That's the World of the Myst Series
That's the World of Cosmic Osmo

That's the world of the Aspie.

Or the world of the Geek anyway.

Because I played these games and they validated my view of the world, I didn't see a "problem".
I thought that the world was a physical environment to be investigated with curiosity.

In fact, I think that studying these games and others would give valuable insights into how AS people and those with AS traits view the world. A sort of computer game and video game anthropology.

For instance, I've noticed that the archetype of the "mad scientist" is used in many games such as the Sonic Series. Machinery vs the Natural physical environment. There are also anthropomorphic characters and "power animal" abilities.

Games were often solitary explorations of virtual physical terrain, rather than the social terrain, or they certainly used to be when I was a child.

Now, with the advent of The Sims, RPGs, Online Gaming and Second Life, games are becoming more social.
Consoles are now aimed at families and older people also, and some of the games available now encourage more social interaction and multi-player elements.

That's if you can find someone in real life to play the game with...

If you find someone to play the game with, I think it could actually help with cooperation skills.
There was a good Sega game a while back called "World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck".
It was a two player with cooperative elements: players had to work together and help each other to get through an area. It was very non-violent.

I think, if used responsibly and in moderation, this technology could actually be used to help people work together towards a common goal, without the pressure of eye contact.

I was going to say: "Morons! I'm almost 36 and they didn't have video games 36 years ago!! !"

But then I recalled that the purpose of media is to increase ratings/circulation so they could sell more advertising and make more money. Publishing a controversial story helps further that purpose, isn't that right?

After I was labeled AS and ostracised for being AS by the other children, then I turned to gaming, not the other way round.

I was called AS long before I was called a gamer.

In fact, it was the label itself that isolated me and hence drove me to gaming to handle my frustration because I didn't want to be labeled. I wanted to be myself. At least, I could take out my social and stigamatised frustrations out on a fairly non-violent video game rather than other people. All that extra creative and problem solving energy had to go somewhere.

Sometimes, when no-one is prepared to listen to you or be friends with you, the game is the only thing you can turn to.


At least, when playing computer/video games, I learned the skills and values of:

-Bravery
-Persistence
-Goal setting
-Problem/puzzle solving
-Turn taking
-Exploration and discovery
-Dealing with failure and frustration
-Dealing constructively with intense anxiety and planning a strategy (Boss Battles)
-Task management/efficiency

The values of standing up for what you believe in, in the face of peril or independent exploration and discovery are rarely taught in schools now. It's mostly all a lot of content spoon-fed or rote learned.

Also, when I was a kid, most of the feelings of challenge and peril came from the games because people were afraid that if I went out to explore the peril of the world alone, I would be abducted by a stranger. I needed to develop my personality in the face of some kind of adventure or peril, so this is why I turned to video games. Many over-protected children today probably do too for similar reasons or boredom.

When I applied the general concepts what I'd learned in the games to real life, school and exams, my grades and knowledge improved, when I learned to try and manage and control the addiction.

I'd reward myself when I completed a school assignment by playing a game, but not before.
I learned self discipline.

It has to be managed.
Games are powerful tools and can be learning tools (there are educational games out there too).
This power can be used constructively, or abused and used destructively.

For a while, my life became academically and virtually a:
"I must get past the next check-point."

Existence.
School attainment targets and levels started to look like video game check points and levels to me.
The formulae and definitions I had to learn for exams became the "cheat codes".
The exams became the "Boss battles".
I don't know if that was a good thing or not.

And the psychological characteristics of the programmers and game designers.
As with any art form, the psychological struggles/personality make up of the designer is communicated in the game.

For example, Starship Titanic (a PC game) is about interacting with robots, animals, plants, the weather, astronomy, architecture and levers/buttons/switches on a deserted space ship. In this Sci-Fi setting, all of the humans are either absent or dead (apart from the player).

The player moves through the deserted (uncrowded) ship's corridors to solve puzzles by interacting with the ship's physical environment. The ship is a space age equivalent of the Mary Celeste mystery.

The ship's garbage disposal and object movement system consists of tubes connected to machinery units that look like anthropomorphic monkeys. There are other servant robots porters milling about the ship or attached to devices such as lifts and desks.

Each of the robots has emotional states or 'settings' that are controlled by levers and buttons in the ship's art gallery. I found this game concept particularly interesting because it means that the player can experiment interacting with the robots and change the robots' emotional settings. The player interacts with the robots by typing on a communication widget. Misunderstandings are common and phrases the player types are often interpreted literally by the robots' AI systems. I used this to practice my P's and Q's, and some conversation skills.

This is why I wonder whether some of the game's designers had AS traits and were projecting their struggles reading human emotions into the design of this game. Or perhaps projecting feelings/motivations/human characteristics onto inanimate objects and machinery.

I don't think it's surprising that AS people may be attracted and addicted to games that deal with issues that AS people experience on a daily basis. If someone designs a piece of media that appeals to how your brain works and that someone has a brain that works in a similar way to your own, the media is going to appeal to you.

I think that we all buy and consume media that has characters, issues and situations appeal to us and that we can identify with.

As smart as this researcher is, he is seriously missing a link to this pic in his clarification:

Aaaaahhhh. Lightbulb moment. This makes such perfect sense. I never played video games and still don't. But one day a coworker gave me a copy of Myst (right after it came out) and said I should take it home and play it. He said it was world-changing, earth-shattering, mind-blowing and a whole lot of other superlatives that made me curious. So I took it home and devoted a 3-day holiday weekend to it. I wanted to give it an honest shot. I really did. He had made such a strong recommendation. But it just creeped me out. The puzzles were fun and all but after awhile I found it too creepy to wander around in a an enviroment that was full of the artifacts of civilization but had no people in it. He was right that the level of animation surpassed my wildest dreams of what was possible on a computer (remember, this was just after it had come out), but there was a dreadful last-person-alive feel to it that made me stop after that 3 day weekend.

And now I see that the very thing that made it so wrong for me would make it so right for other people. Gaming doesn't cause Aspergers. Aspergers caused gaming.

or gummy bears

I feel calm and a sense of solitude when I play games like this.
Not that lonely at all.
I feel relieved to get away from the social buzz of civilisation and go exploring on my own.
There's no obligation to go out with other people to do things or be chaperoned about.
I feel free to explore the scenery and architecture without crossing someone else's social boundary or territory every five minutes. I could solve puzzles on my own in peace. I can develop problem solving skills without being disturbed or have to contend with a babbling classroom. Lots of educational software used to be like this too.

I wish that real life could be like this, wandering around alone without fear, just free to explore, look at the details of the beautiful scenery and use bits of machinery and find things for myself.

It's escapism.

I wish I could go out into the real world and discover things like that, but there's too much 'red tape' and nowhere deserted I can go safely.

Playing the game means that I can go on an adventure without leaving the house or risking being taken advantage of or attacked.

If something bad happens to me in the game, it's of no consequence, I can just restart from the last room I was in. I can also backtrack and undo mistakes I've made.



Exactly.

Some of it probably started from a need to escape from everyday life and create other worlds for entertainment and exploration.

Gamers topic

I have played very few of the popular computer games, but my NT kids are fond of them.

I like the pinball, solitare, scrabble, and other games that were around long before computers, but the computer versions are good.

This reminds me of something in my old text book about how people uses to think that magots came from rotten meat because that where you found them, then someone put a cheese cloth over the jar that had the meat in it and was able to see the flys laying the eggs that became magots.

I think that some of those kids are using constructive coping skills by using video games, possibly more than they are being given credit for.

These games can be a constructive force and teach kids a lot of things.
Problem solving, creative thinking, systems exploration, thinking about the situation in a new way.

The problem comes with dependency and over-use, which comes with stress, as with any addiction. I think that discipline and use can be effectively managed if the life situation isn't stressful.

Perhaps, if the kid is being bullied, isn't allowed out of the house, family abuse/problems and has no one else to turn to, perhaps gaming is the only "escape".

Games with themes such as retribution or a hero with superpowers overcoming adversity may appeal to these kids.
Perhaps as a virtual punch bag.
Or as a means of expressing bravery and ingenuity, when these traits are stifled or ignored in the real world.

Also games that are virtual "vacations" and interactions with the natural environment like the Myst series if the kid isn't allowed to play outside by himself.

Also intellectual challenge and lone exploration (if this kind of learning isn't encouraged at school).

I think that the kid would use a game excessively to meet a need that is not being met in the real world. I think that this is true of other addictions too.

Definitely. After all, AS can be diagnosed as young as two, far too young to play computer games. But not too young for cartoons or anime...

Or maybe people who are bored with school and would like to learn in a more interactive way.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed video games so much when I was little was because they encouraged me to think for myself and find my own solutions to problems. This was at a time when I felt stifled by the school system. I felt mollycoddled by well meaning aides, even though some of them were nice to me, no one really knew how to deal with me. There were times when I really didn't want to march in line with everyone else, but go my own way.

Video games gave me the opportunity to explore and learn on my own in an uncrowded environment. I was bought some educational CD ROMs and games for independent learning at home. These were the making of me.

Bored and restless people try and find other independent ways to learn and experience "peril". I'm not surprised that so many boys are turning to video games, given the passive teaching styles in classrooms.

I think that independent exploration and feeling fear/peril in an imaginary situation is an important part of growing up. If kids aren't allowed to play outside or go off by themselves to discover things, they turn to video games to satisfy this hankering for adventure.

The problem with suburbia is that the kid is effectively boxed in by houses and parental moral panic, which makes adventuring and developing a heroic identity very difficult. I remember feeling very frustrated at this time and turning to video games for this reason because I felt like a "caged animal".

I think it would be great if a healthy balance could be struck between outside play and gaming, even inviting friends round for a game.

Obsessive computer gaming is not a cause of ASD or necessarily a symptom. It can be an Addiction like any other or an escapist past-time for someone seriously unsatisfied with life.

In earlier times we had distinct rites of passage and rituals in our upbringing, that fulfilled our needs in the transition from child to adult. Such as how to conduct courtship, or the mentoring of child by parent. We don't commonly have that now. children usually don't see their parents enough of the day, and teachers and similar tertiary mentors don't want to take that responsibility. children don't spend enough alone time with parents of the same gender, or are able to be shown clearly their parent's vocation and how / why their parent chose it.

Now imagine a child with the social difficulties common in Asperger's Syndrome. how would you prefer them to be raised - in a manner (or lack of) common today, or the more distinct manner of earlier times? Perhaps this is why the difficulties of Asperger's Syndrome, despite evidence suggesting it's presence in people living centuries ago (e.g. Newton), is a "disease" in modern times. It's a consequence of social "illness", the breakdown of old constructive rituals of upbringing that fulfilled our needs in becoming adults.


Some of this comes from recent counselling, and recognizing anger I feel at my father for his remoteness and lack of role-model-ship in my childhood. Also from reading "Iron John" by Robert Bly, part of my efforts to rediscover what Masculinity and "Man-hood" means to me.

Also I don't condone the destructive practices of earlier times. Punishment and Discipline are different things.