FPS Syndrome

[Jokerswild]

First Person Shooter Syndrome Leaves Man Psychologically Damaged

By Zach Seemayer
Staff Writer

In the virtual gaming world, a plague has ravaged the population, and this time, head crabs and flaming skulls that turn you into Zombies are not the problem. The new illness is a psycological one. It is called 'FPSS' or 'First Person Shooter Syndrome.' "We're seeing FPSS cases popping up everywhere," said Dr. Duke Freeman, head of psychology at John Hopkins University. "I mean, it has been around since the early 90s, but it has gotten significantly worse since the improvement of graphics, the invention of better physics engines and more immersive environments." According to Dr.Freeman, FPSS is a psychological condition that causes games to feel like they are in a first person shooter, when they are really walking around in the real world.FPSS can apparently lead to paranoia and aversion to certain surroundings such as railroads and industrial wearhouses. Jacob McEwen knows first hand the trouble FPSS poses to gamers. He has had it since playing the popular game Half-Life 2 for 35 hours straight. "It is weird, i know it's completly irrational, but I'm totally averse to big, industrial settngs now. Anything that looks rusted out or rickety, it freaks me out. Whenever I walk into dark rooms, I instinctivly reach for my flashlight and my gun, then I realize I don't actually carry either," said McEwen. "I was walking through a supermarket a few days after my HL2 marathon and I saw a bunch of first-aid kits on the floor. Someone had knocked them over by accident I guess. My first reaction though was 'oh shit! A bunch of medikits. Something fucking tough must be coming up soon!'It really scared me." McEwen has also had several problems with simply getting into his own home. "I remember I came home after going to a party or something, and I had locked my front door before leaving. I was so pissed when I tried the handle and found it locked. I thought "SHIT! Now I have to go all over the fucking place looking for another entrance!" It didn't even occur to me that I could use my keys." He has had similar trouble when trying to get over the waist high wall in the back yard when he or his roommate throws their frisbee too far. McEwen spends hours looking for ramps or short ladders before he realizes he can climb. According to McEwen, he often finds himself reaching for a non-existant gravity gun to get things from accross the room when he feels too lazy to get up off the couch. "I don't believe that FPSS makes a person more violent or physically agressive," said Dr.Freeman. "I think it just increases your fear of abandoned buildings, sewers, and explosive barrels." However, vocal anti-videogame activist and "lawyer" Jack Thompson disagrees. After reading the public report on FPSS, Thompson spoke out. "FPSS proves that video games are responsible for all murders ever. In history." When informed that First Person Shooters have only existed for the last 15-20 years, Thompson screamed that we were lying homosexuals, then sued us for criminal harrasment.

[halutzparilla]

cr@p where is my gun let me shoot them!!! this is more truthful when a bunch of kids left alone with a violent video games without guidance ... come on man, why would you let a kid play with out a grown man guiding them what is reality from not. whats logical from irrational...

its basically psychological conditioning, i wouldn't let my kids play without me around and showing them which is acceptable on real world and what is supposed to be left in videogames [ no matter what medium] or even at watching news, thats why TV ratings are available for Parents to use as a guide... its not one cause alone, environment have to play along, people around them have to contribute or trigger condition that will provoke someone to go over sanity of mind...

Hal

[Jokerswild]

I think the whole thing is done tongue in cheek.

[screwballl]

If they are simple minded enough to let stuff like that get to them, then they really need to be sure that they are never around firearms or put into situations where they freak out and go on a killing rampage with a gun from housewares.... maybe some time in the psycho ward where they are brainwashed to never like computer games again and that everything he "learned" from HL2 was just a dream... or something to that extent... if they are this simple minded then the brainwashing should be easy...

[Elysium]

All they need to remember is that any video game is not the real world................. And don't need to be.

[Stormcrow]

Guys this is a serious issue, one I personally had to deal with recently
It started with excessive hours of Farcry, then Battlefield, then Call of Duty... At first it was empowering, it's like..hey, look at me. I can single handedly conquer Germany with a good supply of ammo and medkits. Then at first things just seem out of place. Like jets flying upright, and the environment being fully interactive. Thats when the paranoia set in...it can be slow at first. I would get angry and confused at just not being able to jump..I couldn't do it, even though I knew I did before. Then I would wake up in the middle of the night and immediately scurry to the nearest dark corner, so as not to be spawn killed.
I started wearing a vegetable strainer to protect me from head shots, and the grocery clerks were getting pissed I was smashing their crates and boxes looking for "ammo". And the worst, being outside for several hours...then remembering, I hadn't found a check point yet! I would panic and hyperventilate, just knowing this was when I'd get sniped and have to start over at Yesterday. By far the most embarrassing part was when my neighbor called the police on me for sneaking around his backyard under a cardboard box. Thats when I knew I needed help.
Luckily, I'm past all that now. But FPSS is a serious case, don't just scoff and tell them to remember this is reality. I lived the horror, and by then the only reality to them is their current kills on the Cosmic Scoreboard.

[Elysium]

Wow, Storm. You really did live the nightmare. How did you get better?

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

Wow, Storm. You really did live the nightmare. How did you get better?

Fantasy Based MMOs. They made me realize what a fool I was, and how badly FPS can alter and change people, taking over their minds and ruining their lives. Without them, I would have never discovered that I am actually a Level 25 Lich King with Grasping Death and a unique Howling Sword of the Fallen. Of course...sunlight is now an issue..

[Elysium]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

Of course...sunlight is now an issue..

Ha! How how many hours a week................. (?)