@Tbag Either as much, or no more than socializing on FB and crap haha. I’m pretty sure friendships have been made on CoD…but enemyship, also.
I think the worse way it can affect someone is if games ruin their school or work. As for all this bullshit about games making people violent, I just don’t buy it. Games get the same shit about this as rock music and movies did before. Violence has always existed, long before any game was ever made. Exceptions to the rule do not define the masses, because if it did, the streets would be in chaos right now. A lot of people play games, it’s not an industry for nothing. Most gamers are non violent.
Addiction to gaming, which exists, is probably the worst way that gaming can modify one’s behavior. Unfortunate, but it happens.
I may play video games myself, but unfortunately I can’t really find anything good about how it can change you, at least not anything practical unless you work in the gaming industry. It does sharpen coordination, I guess. It also offers inspiration, some people may get into art, writing or computer programming because of games, but that’s pretty indirect.
Although some gamers can be a weird bunch…obsessing over characters, fan fictions, rule 34, fighting over consoles and games in message boards, ugh. To each his own I guess, but I rather not affiliate myself with those kind of people. To be fair, this obsession thing happens with a lot of other stuff. Anime, movies, TV, books, comics…it’s not unique to video games at all.