Tehnic pc games: PC Games Published by Sky Technic

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating system: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
Processor: Pentium 3 @ 1 GHz or Equivalent
RAM: 128 Mb
HDD: 4 Gb hard drive space
Sound card: DirectX03 compatible
DirectX: 9.0
Also: Keyboard, Mouse, DVD ROM Drive

25. Mass Effect 2

Released: 2011

The action takes place in the Milky Way galaxy in the 22nd century. Exploring space, people encounter a hostile alien race — the Collectors, controlled by the Reapers. The protagonist is Captain Shepard, an experienced Space Fleet officer. On behalf of the Cerberus organization, he assembles a team to fight the Collectors. Players can transfer the save from the previous part and thus affect the plot.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating system: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.8 Ghz
RAM: 1 Gb
HDD: 15 Gb hard disk space
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 / ATI Radeon X1600 256 Mb of memory
Sound card: Compatible with DirectX
DirectX version: 9.0c
Also: Keyboard, Mouse, DVD ROM drive

some time after the events of the first part of the game in an abandoned Laboratory for the study of the nature of portals. The plot is based on the confrontation between the main character, the experimental girl Chell, and the manic supercomputer GLaDOS. The gameplay consists of puzzles based on using the device to create portals. They allow the player to instantly move in space.

Celeste

Released: 2018

The action takes place in the vicinity of Mount Celeste, which has some power. The girl Madeline decides to climb the mountain. As it rises, it passes through Dire Maul, the Sky Resort Hotel, and many other places. Along the way, she meets mysterious characters: the old woman who lives on this mountain, the photographer Theo; ghost hotel concierge. Pass all the tests of the mountain and overcome your inner demons — that’s what the player needs to overcome along with the heroine.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating system: Win 7 64
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6400 2.13GHz / AMD Phenom II X3 B75
RAM: 3 GB
HDD: 1.2 GB hard disk space
Video card: AMD Radeon GT or NVIDIA Radeon X1900 GeForce GT 340

30. Wolfenstein: The New Order

Released: 2014

The action of the dystopian game takes place in an alternate reality. The Third Reich made a technological leap and won the Second World War. At the beginning of the game, the protagonist, Captain William «BJ» Blaskowitz, suffers a head injury during an assault on a German fortress. He comes to his senses after 14 years and sees the world under the control of the Nazi regime. Now the player must fight Nazi soldiers and robots in various parts of the world.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating system: Windows 7 (x64)
Processor: Inten Core i7-930 Quad 2.80 GHz / AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
RAM: 4 Gb Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 / ATI Radeon HD 6850 memory
Sound card: Compatible with DirectX
DirectX version: 11
Also: Keyboard, mouse

Authors: Veronika Kizima, Elizaveta Krypaeva

Computer games in the life of a student

In modern society, there are many problems — alcohol addiction, drug addiction, and computer addiction can also be attributed to this series. The game entices a person so much that he does not live in the real world, and often confuses the world of the game with the world around him. Such a person stops working to benefit society, closes himself, very rarely leaves the house. Modern Russia needs full-fledged healthy people, specialists in various fields, people who are able to make non-standard decisions, who can think creatively, navigate well in ordinary everyday situations and everyday economic and production activities. Scientists and the government, noticing the harm from casinos and slot machines, amended the legislation and banned their location in cities so that people continue to work fully and benefit society.

Ordinary computer games threaten no less danger, especially for the young population of our country. Computer games are such programs that are designed to entertain a person, to occupy free time. When playing computer games, people relax, go headlong into the virtual world. Sometimes you can calm a child down only with the help of computer games, sometimes, when there is nothing to do, this is a remedy for boredom. However, not all people think about how computer games affect the human psyche.

From the beginning of the 80s. computer games in the West are becoming part of the entertainment industry, which captures a large number of people, mainly children and teenagers. The new hobby is assessed in two ways: on the one hand, it is associated with the admiration of society for the capabilities of the computer, on the other hand, a large number of messages appear in the media warning about the dangerous impact of the computer in general and computer games in particular on the psyche of adolescents. In the articles, the authors express the opinion that using a computer is a kind of addiction, which is expressed in such psychopathological symptoms as the inability of adolescents to switch to other entertainment, a sense of imaginary superiority over others. There is also such a danger as the impoverishment of the emotional sphere of a teenager, since the player, if he wants to win, must constantly suppress his feelings and remain cold-blooded. Some computer games provoke, according to the authors, aggressive behavior, glorification of wars and violence, as well as right-wing extremism. A number of studies have shown that the subjects who played the virtual game had significantly stronger physiological arousal, as well as a greater number of aggressive thoughts compared to the control group.

Games developed and improved, attracting more and more people. Modern games offer a beautifully drawn 3D world that, if played, can be mistaken for a real one due to the high quality of the image and sound effects.

Games and the problems associated with them take second place in the list of computer evils (after eye diseases). Gambling is more dangerous than carpal tunnel syndrome, Internet addiction or information overload. Firstly, there is a powerful gaming industry that contributes to the development of negative phenomena associated with computer games. Secondly, many people associate computer games with gambling, which are a real danger, especially for the wallet. The development of gaming technologies leads to an increase in the number of gamers who love to play. Among gamers there are different people — watchmen, heads of large companies, housewives, journalists or artists, and, of course, programmers, designers and system administrators. Among gamers, there are those who take their hobby calmly and understand that the game is not life. However, there are those who go into the game from reality. This is where the serious problems begin. The game replaces the real world for such people. Their social circle is narrow, other activities are aimed at satisfying elementary needs, and everything else is subordinated to the game. From time to time there are proposals to eradicate the «gaming evil». Examples are given in which gamers, having played enough of a shooter, go to destroy and kill in the real world. It cannot be said that such cases are an invention of journalists, but it is not worth blaming all fans of computer games and banning games as a form of entertainment.

The influence of computer games on a person has many aspects. One of the visible problems is related to the fact that gamers spend too much time at the computer, and this, as you already know, is fraught with health problems that are not directly related to computer games, but are a consequence of them. These are problems with vision, with the spine, hands, psyche and sleep, as well as information overload. The game requires close attention. While playing, a person practically does not stop looking at the screen, which causes dry eye syndrome. Long games also affect sleep and the psyche: if you play for a long time and then go to bed, then such an abrupt transition is fraught with problems with sleep — closing your eyes, the player will see pictures of the game that prevent you from falling asleep. Especially often this situation arises with relatively simple games with a repeating picture — Tetris, Minesweeper or Lines. The subconscious work of the brain not only makes it difficult to try to fall asleep, but also makes sleep of poor quality. The game is dreaming, and not in the best manifestations. Such dreams are even more tiring: a person can sleep for a sufficient amount of time, but such a dream cannot be called a good rest. Recently, gambling addiction is often compared with drug, alcohol and other more well-known ones. It cannot be said that they are equally dangerous, but they have common mechanisms of occurrence. Any addiction is the result of psychological problems that lead to its development. The type of addiction — alcohol, drugs or gambling — is a matter of chance, the result of the manifestation of the environment in which a person lives. For this reason, if gambling addiction has manifested itself, you should not hide the discs, but contact a psychologist. Gambling addiction is a variable value. Over time, it can grow, as, for example, addiction to drugs grows, although for many players the passion for computer games eventually fades. The decrease in the degree of dependence can be associated with various factors, for example, with the process of becoming a person and an increase in life experience. Experienced players who began to get involved in games in adolescence, over time, there is a reassessment of values ​​​​and the game no longer replaces the world for them. True, this happens at best, at worst, gambling addiction becomes rampant.

Symptoms of computer addiction

There are a number of diagnostic criteria that help determine the presence of a pathological addiction to playing at a computer. Symptoms of computer addiction can be of two types: mental and physical.

The mental signs of computer addiction are, in general, similar to the mental signs of other types of addictions. The most common mental signs of computer addiction are «loss of control» over computer time, failure to keep promises made to oneself or others to reduce computer time, intentionally downplaying or lying about computer time, loss of interest in social life, and appearance, justifying one’s own behavior and addictions. Important symptoms of computer addiction are a mixed feeling of joy and guilt while working at a computer, as well as irritable behavior that appears if, for some reason, the duration of computer work decreases.

A person suffering from computer addiction, as a rule, pays less attention to work and the performance of various social functions. The untidy appearance and obvious aloofness of «computer people» makes them unattractive to society, which in turn exacerbates the conflict between society and the person suffering from computer addiction.

The physical aspects of computer addiction are characterized by general exhaustion of the body — chronic fatigue. As a rule, people suffering from computer addiction neglect sleep and rest. At the same time, the euphoria and excitement caused by games or being on the Internet can mask fatigue, which causes even more fatigue of the body. Against the background of computer addiction, various mental and behavioral disorders can occur.

Most parents do not pay enough attention to controlling their children’s pastime near computer monitors, believing that this option is better than wandering the streets with incomprehensible companies, not even suspecting that the consequences of such pastime can be much more serious than they think. You have probably seen on television or listened to the news on the radio with the headline «A teenager committed a crime under the influence of a computer game.» And lately there has been more and more such news. But how can parents or close people determine that the stage of passion for computer games has grown into something more and has become not just a harmless hobby, a serious problem. Psychologists have identified a number of signs by which it can be determined that he does not just play computer games for the sake of passion, but arrives in a state of dependence on them. These signs are:

— unwillingness to be distracted from the gameplay;

— increased irritability in case of a forced break from the game;

— lack of scheduled time for the gameplay;

— constant discussion of computer games among peers, friends, colleagues;

— loss of appetite, willingness to be satisfied with monotonous irregular meals;

— outbursts of emotions during the game;

— detachment from reality during the game, loss in time;

— neglect of natural things for a person — sleep, hygiene, eating in favor of spending time at the computer;

— the ever-increasing costs of buying games and add-ons to them.

Stages of development of gambling addiction

1. The stage of mild enthusiasm occurs after a person has played a computer game several times and saw the beauty of graphics, appreciated the reality of sound effects, as well as the possibility of imitating real life. A computer allows a person to realize dreams with an approximation to reality. A person enjoys playing a computer game, while feeling positive emotions, and wants to repeat it. However, this desire for play activity is situational rather than systematic.
2. The factor indicating the transition of a person to the next stage — the stage of enthusiasm, is the emergence of a need to play. Spending time playing is systematic.
3. The addiction stage is characterized not only by the importance of the game, which becomes as important as, for example, sleep or food. This dependence can manifest itself in one of two forms: socialized and individualized. In the first case, the player communicates with people, however, more often with the same game fans. However, the connection with society in this case is not lost. The social environment, even if it consists of the same gamers, does not allow a person to completely go into the virtual world and bring himself to mental and somatic deviations.

With an individualized form of dependence, such a prospect is real. In this case, a person loses contact with the outside world and a computer game can already be compared to a drug. Such attachment requires the intervention of a psychologist.

4. The attachment stage is characterized by the extinction of a person’s gaming activity, a shift in the psychological content of the personality as a whole towards the norm. This is the longest of all stages — it can last a lifetime (depending on how fast the attachment fades).

Gambling addiction can stop at one of the previous stages. The most dangerous is the third, where you can not do without a specialist. However, the natural transition to the fourth stage does not pose a danger to the user. Moderate time spent playing a computer game can even be beneficial.

There are reasons that lead to gambling addiction. The main one is the escape from reality, the desire to throw out emotions. The term «escapism» is used for such a process. In the absence of addiction, computer games can have a good anti-stress effect.

The process of the beneficial effects of role-playing games is presented as follows: a person goes into virtual reality for a while to relieve stress, distract from problems, etc. However, one should be careful not to cross the fine line when the beneficial effects of games turn into a painful addiction. In pathological clinical cases, the opposite happens: a person leaves the virtual world for a while. The real world begins to seem alien and full of dangers, since it is impossible to do in it what is available in the virtual one. The statement «everything is poison, and everything is a cure» is especially true in the case of computer gambling.

With the development of computer technology and the expansion of the gaming software market, the number of people who are fond of computer games is growing. With the improvement of computer technology, the number of fans of computer games, which are popularly called «computer fans» or «gamers», is growing.

A gamer is a person who plays video games, although at first gamers were called those who only play role-playing or war games. Although the term includes people who do not consider themselves full players, they are often referred to as those who spend a lot of time playing or are interested in games. There are many gaming communities around the world, which can take the form of various web rings, forums, and other virtual communities. Stores that specialize in games often serve as gathering places for groups of players. Before the advent of the Internet, many people played play-by-mail games that resemble online games of the present day [Wiki] via regular mail.

The existence of psychological dependence on computer games is still in doubt among many specialists and people who are fond of computer games. However, the fact is indisputable that the number of people who are fond of being in virtual reality today is quite large. There is an opinion that the mechanism of formation of gambling addiction is based on partially unconscious aspirations, needs: avoiding reality and accepting a role. These mechanisms work regardless of the person’s consciousness and the nature of the motivation for gaming activity, turning on immediately after a person gets acquainted with role-playing computer games and starts playing them more or less regularly. That is, regardless of what a person is guided by and what drives him, when he first starts playing computer games, the mechanisms of addiction formation are turned on, and in the future, the need on which the prevailing mechanism is based takes on paramount importance in the motivation of gaming activity .

Adults are also affected by computer games, both good and bad. Games make you fight, games are excitement. Each computer game can teach you something: strategy, logic, they teach you to think and draw conclusions, to strive for something. However, a person who abuses computer games can forget about real life. It is an addiction, just like alcohol, smoking, drugs, and gambling.

There are many online games on the Internet. This is a great way to make money. A person, carried away, drags on. As a result, he is ready to give all the money for the sake of some kind of game. This is psychology, and those who know how to influence the human psyche can make good money on it.

Getting into the virtual world, people do not think about their problems in the real world. The virtual world is often more interesting than the real one. It captivates, attracts. There a person can live the life he wanted to live once or wants to live now. However, many people forget that a person builds his own life, and only he can change it. Computer games are just a way to hide from reality. That is what attracts people.

Computer games are not only an interesting game. Movies, cartoons, books are written on computer games. People gather themed evenings that are dedicated to a particular game.

Pluses and minuses of computer games

Today, when almost every person in the world has his own personal virtual life, through laptops or other devices, the popularity of computer toys has been able to reach its zenith. Both children and teenagers, and even adults can sit at the computer for hours, addicted to their favorite computer game: Need for Speed, Doom, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Age of Empires or some other. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the question of the benefits or harms of computer games worries a large number of users, especially parents.

First, consider the advantages of computer games. Repeated studies have been able to confirm positive results from playing computers. These include excellent developmental characteristics that form these games, and they also play a positive role in the learning process, which is confirmed by experiments.

Also among their main advantages stand out: the development of logical, abstract and creative thinking, the development of the child’s imagination, learning new skills when observing actions in the game. And also these games are able to develop courage, realism, leadership, teach emotional stability. And thanks to their vivid image, surprise and constant change of actions and circumstances, all kinds of strategies, shooters, arcades help a person learn how to respond to non-standard conditions and situations as quickly as possible, as well as find the right solutions.

Moreover, computer role-playing games like Diablo, Shining Force or Сrysis 2 help users escape from real life with all its problems and worries, and at least for a moment find themselves in a new, bright and very colorful world of virtual games. Today, you can play games not only using a computer, but also other devices such as mobile phones, tablets, gadgets, etc.

But the main disadvantages of computer games include: the development of cruelty and aggression. The appearance of distracted attention, some difficulties in communication and loss of connection with the real world. But the most dangerous threat to a child is the emergence of addiction.

Therefore, in order to avoid dependence on virtual games, it is necessary to know which types of games are extremely dangerous for the human, especially children’s, psyche. Role-playing games are considered leaders that cause addiction, because they contribute to the complete merging of a person with a computer character. These include shooters, rpg games, shooting games. Unlike virtual role-playing games, non-role-playing games such as card solitaire, world of tanks and others have a minimal impact on a person’s psychological state. Therefore, they can be played by almost everyone, even children.

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