[BBC] Why Reading Matters [Part 6 of 6]

[standingonair777]

Yeah, some games, for instance, the Final Fantasy games have massive, complex narratives that deal with many themes and often reflect issues found in our "reality". While perhaps older rpgs required MORE reading than more recent ones, there are narratives and stories presented to the gamer that are intellectually stimulating.

[freeshyne1234]

Fuck the bitch ass princess!

[Z4N4RD1N3]

reading is good but games are not that bad they should know that many games have an awesome story, and the game companies hire writers to write the story of the game, they make us love the princess to save her, ok not every game but the good ones have good stories!! and also have garbage books with stupid ideas! I love books I`m always reading books but I like games too :)

[chizerk]

thanks for adding the captions.

[johanneswingerlang]

I'm actually reading wuthering heights :))

[Sagradia]

But she does preface her opinion with "My own view is that ... ".

[jolmanska]

Many things in this video like where they say English is a very complex language is... an opinion.

I just liked the parts where they use neuro-imaging

[AlohaLittleDude]

accounts accounts.

[AlohaLittleDude]

Same, video games and some anime alone gave me an empathetic ability that seemed completely absent before hand, and way before I started reading. BUT the reason for including that woman's opinion is clear, it's a DOCUMENTARY PEOPLE, they have to account for another view, however unlearned it is, BECAUSE there is no evidence, only first hand accounts accounts.

[WinwinLS]

I learned how to speak and write English, almost exclusively from video games.

[cloneofbogart]

holy shit.... linguistic mistakes aside this was good documentary until the attack on video games...........

[mburke000]

I think her view of video games vs reading is not complete "quackery" since it seemed mere opinion rather than any scientific statement. But video games will NOT give you the same mental stimulation that reading does. Not that is doesn't give you mental stimulation--just that it isn't the same. It may develop your motor skills and hand-eye coordination, but other activities can do that as well. Not many activities can so easily replace reading, though.

[bamb04]

Was an ok documentary up until they decided to show a skewed view on video games, pathetic. Did no one tell them about the dozen of games in which, shockingly, you actually have to /read/? Planescape Torment for one. A few thousand others after.

[sharpezor]

@bamb04 I could not agree more, I should add a caption warning

[rejuvenile21]

@sharpezor TED tv debunked video games and showed the world how they actually can enhance learning. There tools like anything else including reading. The important part is to continually use em.

[rejuvenile21]

@rejuvenile21 But on the other hand i was thinking about "games" like VLT (video lotery terminals) where you consecutively hit a button. The game dynamics and how it interacts (which she forgot to state) may play a large role.

[Tapey01]

@bamb04 To be fair reading is on the way out in video games. Everything is voice acted in mainstream games today. Gone are the days of reading the story. Planescape Torment was released over 10 years ago, find a game made today where you read. The option is normally there but it is no longer essential. That said they certainly develop your brain just like reading does, just different areas of the brain.

[monkeyrocketsurgeon]

barroness greenfuck says there needs to be a authority... imagine that.

she wants you to consider beyond the here and now, like all good "authorities". she desires you not try and enjoy the moment (as she with her wealth is priviledged to do)... but consider the long term (which you can only ensure is good by being a slave to the system - thus ensuring her stocks value increase) for she values this system greatly...

she want to be the princess you care about.

i say fuck her

[100TimesFuckeder]

@monkeyrocketsurgeon I don't think you understand the point. By allowing an "authority" take you from point A to point B, you go on a "journey" that is out of your usual character- as she said, a journey that you would not have otherwise taken. When you play a video game, you are in control, and as such may not learn (relatively) as much from the experience. I don't know where all this "slave to the system" stuff came from, but I think that is a far reach given what has been said in this video

[TheEpisteme]

Whats this about the narrative of MGS4 being so great? It was a bunch of convoluted gibberish. Maybe it seemed deep to people who've never read a book before and want to use it to defend the intellectual merits of gaming. Honestly I felt like I was watching those overly drawn out cut scenes more than I actually played the game all of which contained nothing truly compelling or that hadn't been in a dozen or more books including those by the authors of Will Gibson, Phil K. Dick, or George Orwell.

[Zarathustra06]

I also think this doco treated the reading of fiction as reading in general. I would be interested to know what sort of distinctions are made - particularly for empathy (emotional, intellectual) - between fictional and non-fictional literature.

[vmurali]

I too have the same question. I've moved on, thankfully, from reading fiction (LOTR, Harry Potter) to non-fiction. So does this mean readers of non-fiction don't develop empathy? I would prefer to read something useful rather waste time read some figment of romance between imaginary people (especially the latest Twilight craze). I also want to know about what effect does watching a movie or documentary or science video have on our brain. Does watching movies too help create empathy in brain?

[Kikkies68]

@vmurali Reading fiction is just as useful and important as non-fiction. Do you seriously believe that readers can't gain anything useful from reading fiction? If so, then that's ridiculous. Not all fiction books contain terrible writing and vapid characters as Stephenie Meyer's books do. Readers can learn about historical facts, a moral education, and empathy from fiction. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini has taught me historical information about Afghanistan, and it's fiction.

[BloggerMusicMan]

@vmurali

The fiction I'm reading right now (Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe) is a book about the Ibo tribes of Nigeria and UK imperialism. When you read it, you not only understand how a person's understanding of the world can be intellectually advanced (it has a great deal of real Ibo words and ideas, and provides accurate paintings of UK imperialism), but at the same time provide an emotional attachment that's the achievement of any good book. It sounds like you've read some crap fiction.

[megamarsvin]

I really think they're conflating "reading" with "buying books" here in a way that doesn't really speak to the facts. If I read my books in e-book form does that mean I haven't read? Even if they take into account e-book sales there are other avenues. Many older books are available free online, I've read more than a few straight off a webpage.

These sorts of statistics can be very misleading.

[Tracymmo]

Did that study include libraries? I've seen that mistake before. Libraries are the main source of books for millions of people. Not to mention that book sales fall for reasons beyond interest in reading, something I know well as a former bookstore manager.

Thanks Sharpezor for uploading the whole documentary! I'm going to look at the Liverpool Get Into Reading program, which looks interesting.

[Nades129]

Shes wrong.. have she every played MGS4

[sikurzu]

Actually you are wrong.

Have you ever played my dick?

[Zarathustra06]

The narrative arc of your dick is quite impressive, but it's nowhere near as good as MGS4.

[morse3388]

I really enjoyed that.