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Share some heavy tunes. The metal shred thread! Kicking it off - Haiduk Melodic black /death metal

I've deleted the most recent post in this thread. Please debate without personal attacks (both of you) or move onto another threads. Thanks in advance.👍

So, I have moderate OCD. I’m mostly functional most of the time, but I do get panic attacks, and I do have trouble sleeping. Literally the only thing that reliably distracts me and calms me down is gaming, so I game before bed and I do so consistently every single night if I can. Anyway, a friend with OCD just told me that her psychiatrist “prescribed” her to play video games for her anxiety! So, apparently this is a thing, not just my thing. He explained that the task-based nature of games is an ideal fit for hijacking the compulsive part of the brain and redirecting it away from the anxiety thoughts and toward doing something relaxing and enjoyable. Makes sense to me. Kind of how I figured it worked, but cool to hear that a psychologist somewhere thinks the same thing and actively advises patients who like gaming and have OCD to game more.

I've been noticing a shift in video games over the last several years. Especially since the N64/PS1/Xbox era. Games are getting more violent, graphic, vulgar, and just not particularly kid oriented. So I'm thinking that gaming may not really be meant for kids anymore, but instead, meant for adults. Sure there are games such as Mario, Sonic, and Zelda that are kid friendly. But the majority of what I see on the shelves, and in online discussions, are not for kids. I remember when NES came out, there were a lot of parents who either sold or threw away the Zapper because they thought it would teach their kids gun violence. Then we have the whole controversy of fighting games (MK, SF2, etc.) and games like COD and GTA. So is it just me, or are kids being phased out from the gaming world to make room for adults?

I use it all the time. Usually those likes are what's called invite links. When you open them up, it should take to you new tad asking to collect accept the invite then the app will open with the new server displayed. If this doesn't work, it's likely because you need to download the desktop app. A users tag number is unique ID set by Discord to each user. Player are able to diffent screen names for each server they join and change them anytime. Here's mine for example. Using this number in search... ... can take you to this individuals profile. There, you can see information like what servers they're on. If you know or can find out this youtube/steamers ID, you could g to that sever through this then apply for membership directly. I hope that helps.

And cultural and individual perception of that content. I mean, my mother highly disapproved of Doom, but in a rare moment of live-and-let-live, ignored it. But my father didn't find Doom objectionable at all. And as a kid, I didn't have a hard time distinguishing video game violence from the real thing. So maybe it also depends on the kid and what is appropriate for that specific kid?

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Dream catcher fails to prevent a nightmare, therefore I dream of getting stabbed by toenails and end up dying in my sleep. Ice cream

I would say a part of it would be because they're less constrained. With children they would have to be careful to make sure there's nothing "inappropriate" in the game. Think of all the sexual scandals Disney has had with their movies. Whereas with adults, they can make a game with whatever the hell comes to mind, and unless it's just a shitty game, no one will complain. Take Banjo Kazooie on N64 vs The Witcher 3. BK was a cutesy kiddie games. You run around as a bear/bird combo collecting puzzle pieces to save the bears little sister from having her beauty stolen by an ugly witch. The Witcher 3 however....not so kiddie. Even Conker's Bad Fur day initially started off as a childrens game, until the writers decided to get a little kinky. So adult games are limitless, and childrens games are very limited. Especially in this day and age with all the SJW bullshit going on.

Well I cant say that gaming has helped me or affected my personal life, well one time my ps2 felt on top of my toe so I can say that I've been harmed by gaming xD

Thats actually whats getting me confused, according to the guidelines the new policies will help content creators to prevent their videos from being shadow listed from a certain age group due to violent content. I know that YouTube has been demonetizing a lot of videos recently and these guidelines are supposed to help prevent that, well at least thats what I understood.

In PUBG and Fortnite you are sane.

Could it also be a factor that adults simply have more money to spend on games than kids do and thus become a target market? Sure, parents spend money on games for their kids too, but most kids either get them for Christmas and birthday, or save up for them from their allowance, so as not to get spoiled, while adults pretty much can buy all the games they want. And then there's a big chunk of adults who don't have any kids to spoil, so they only spend their money on games for themselves (I don't have kids, which means more time for games and therefor ultimately more games bought than if I had a kid taking up my time).

Smooth as silk, with graphics I would never have imagined from a handheld system that runs on such a small game cartridge.

Well, I could repeat a lot of what I said n the other thread, but basically the three point you've mad sum it up. The kids who played in the 80's and 90's are the adults playing games now, so we grew up and gaming grew up with us. That gernertion is having children as well now, and I think we are more lenient than previous generation because we know hat the risks once associated with gaming are unfounded. I would never actually describe games as art (My reasoning for that is another topic for another time), but they are a medium that is (at last) being respected at the level of TV shows and movies, not to mention the lines between them have gotten more and more blurry.

Video games were, at the start, marketed as kid's toys that utilized televisions as visual interface with some form of controller to interact with the game. This started in the very late 60's and grew into the 70's with Pong machines, video arcades them home consoles and computers as the next couple of decades rolled on. Then in the later part of the 80's and into the 90's, video games stated to change. They were getting more detailed, closer to real life situations and with an already strong "boys toys" style connection to action, were thus becoming more violent. July 29nth, 1994 A coalition of game publishers presents Congress with its proposal for the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, a voluntary industry-wide standard for age ratings on videogames. A joint congressional hearing in December 1993 took up the growing concern that the game industry was irresponsibly marketing violent videogames to minors. Spearheaded by Sens. Joe Lieberman. This was important as concerns from parents about how violent games like Mortal Kombat were becoming and if they were appropriate any more. Video games, despite these concerns, were still very much considered to be toys at this point. That's something some areas of the game's industry were actually determined to keep that way, more specially Nintendo who famously censored games like Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein 3D. However, something had to give. The game's industry couldn't go on like that and his meeting would eventually give birth or organizations such as the ESRB, PEGI and other such self-regulating bodies for the game's industry throughout the world. This also spelled the start of seeing things like these on game boxes. (These are the PEGI labels, the ESRB labels are similar, but with some differences to the age ratings) Some may look at this like political nannying, but this is in actual fact the best thing to ever happen to the game's industry because this is the precise moment video games stopped being toys and became an entertainment media. Toys are for kids only (I'm well aware of those OTHER toys your thinking of, we all thought of the joke), but in entertainment media, you can make a product to market to anyone you want. The game industry took full advantage of this and it wasn't long before we saw games like Resident Evil. Ironically, the people moaning and bitching about games being to violent ended up giving the games industry the freedom to do make more violent and adult themed video games. Yes, this didn't stop the controversy completely. Even in 2019 there's still people stuck in the past who see games as play things and thus get all shocked and shaken when there a drop of blood, a boob or swear word. However, it's never been much more than short term political scapegoating that was never gonna cause any huge problem for the industry or prompt much more severe censorship and mostly because of what happened in the mid 90's. When stopped being toys, by definition of law. Obviously, there are still games made for kids and that's something that should remain, but even those aren't toys any more, they're still an entertainment media, just one produced for children. The ESEB and other such organizations have fucked up a few times, especially recently with the loot-box controversies, but ultimately their existence is to our benefit. Imagine if the meeting back in 1994 had gone down different and the proposal to self regulate was rejected? What would video games be like today, if they were to exist at all.

In FF8 I spend a huge amount of time stocking spells to a full 100. Not because I have any intention of ever casting them. because I junction them. I'm not a magic user, with rare exceptions. I know where to get the right spells that will make my characters virtually invincible. I can use 2 spells junctioned to my elem-def to make all elemental attacks actually heal me instead of harm me. And I can block almost every last status attack as well. There's a lot I don't get the opportunity until later in the game, but they're still worth getting. Especially if you have intentions of going all the way and beating the entire game. Typically I don't because the fourth disc is so short, easy, and boring as hell. So after I power game my characters and screw around getting items for abilities, I usually start a new game file. Gil is never hard to come by with refining items. It's easy to profit over 300k in one sale.

I would say an obvious one is The Sims. Relaxing, intricate building, nothing too challenging to rage quit over, nothing unexpected, at least unless you purposefully intend it to happen.

A great example I can think of is the "My Pet Dungeon" mode from Dungeon Keeper 2. At your own pase, without risk of attack, make the perfect dungeon within the games mechanics. No challenge? Wrong. You have to unlock the privileges with some challenges that lock certain privileges behind paywal... wait, no, doing stuff in game . I know that's mad these days. War of the Overworld, the spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper, also has this game mode. Buy it. Play it. But also, pay for it. It wouldn't be right if I didn't point out this feature is a paid DLC, but I swear this game is worth it.

Something that is relaxing are some of the classics. My top two recommendations are Q*Bert and Galaga. They’re simple games, and extremely relaxing. Also the original Diablo would be another good one. It’s on PS1 and PC. But if you’re wanting something else then try AOE2. Exploration and building are both involved in success. None of the games I’m suggesting are new, but I think they would be a good idea for him. You can also try to get him into one of the older Final Fantasy games. Nothing after FF X2. You know I would personally recommend FF8, but he might enjoy another one more.

If you guys are Doom fans, I say you should check out Hexen. It's basically Doom turned medieval. It's flat out awesome.