For this week’s topic, the course begins to explore internet subcultures with a focus on the “gamer.” While video game playing and similar practices have developed into a legitimate entertainment medium with narratives, art design, and addicting gameplay, the industry creates a sense of community. However, continuing similar cases of “trolling” on the internet, gamers are often subject to various forms of harassments such as disruptive gameplay, verbal assaults, and hateful messages. In the first reading, “Spectacular Interventions of Second Life,” author Burcu Bakioglu explores the practice of “griefing” in the game Second Life, which he describes as disruptive gameplay in the effort to negative affect the other players’ experiences (Bakioglu,
In the past few years, we can notice a certain type of story regarding gaming culture which reduces to the idea that computer game aren’t actually a complete waste of time. This story points to
Video games have become as pervasive an aspect of our society as television, with many people spending more time playing video games than watching television. There are many perspectives with which to gauge videos games’ effect on society, from a functionalist, conflict or interactionist perspective. (Schaefer, 2011) Each of these sociological theories can provide a different view of video games, how they affect society and the subcultures that develop around them.
The ideas of video games and computer entertainment are often met with a concern for children or society. The belief that a violent computer or video game could have negative everlasting effects on individuals has coexisted since their creation. All across the globe many forms of computer entertainment have been blamed for the alleged increase in aggressiveness, violence, and addiction in both children and adults. While those who are in closely related fields may see the benefits from such technology many still forgo the positive applications of this so-called entertainment. Since the mainstream appearance of computer entertainment multiple organizations have devised beneficial methods in order to help educate parents and end-users on the material
Video games are progressively becoming a crucial medium today, despite the light connotation of its initial categorization. Today they are a business that produces billions of dollars and employs engineers and artists alike in an art form connecting interactive games, to virtual societies where millions of people dwell. However, like all human products, our same emotion, flaws and injustice show in the games, with the impression of hatred, racism and stereotypes that are our everyday background. What are the creators of these video games real intentions in the desire they produce in the human?
As video games become more and more popular, we will inevitably see an increase in amount of video games being produced. The growth in popularity of video games is facilitated by the creation of a website known as Twitch.com. This website allows gamers and content creators to stream themselves playing video games online and interact directly with a live audience via chat. This new platform makes gaming both more accessible and more acceptable. The social stigmas that accompany video games are diminishing; in fact there has been an increase in competitive electronic sports as well. Logically, the growing interest in video games encourages programmers to make more and more games. Melinda Burgess et al presents an interesting perspective about video games. She explores the prevalence of racial stereotypes and how their effects are detrimental to society as a whole. In Burgess’s essay, “Playing with Prejudice: The Prevalence and Consequences of Racial Stereotypes in Video Games”, she provides fantastic commentary on how top selling video games show “overt racial stereotyping” (Lunsford et al 551) and negatively affect how we think. By providing statistics and data about the videogames that she is critiquing, she effectively shows that there is may be a correlation between video games and how we think and interact with the world around us.
Though gaming has its drawbacks, it also has many benefits to cover them. If controlled, gaming is extremely useful and with the amount of gamers in the world today, it proves that it is not just for children or for teenagers. There are millions of adult gamers that understand the importance of gaming in the under the existing circumstances of the world. Individuals that have studied gamers believe that gaming in today’s
Shouldn’t this generation be required to play Pac-Man, Asteroids, Galaga, Centipede Pit Fall or Frogger before they get to play Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto or Halo? The games these days have real life graphics and by some can be considered offensive and too graphic, having an (EC) early childhood to (AO) an adult only rating (Entertainment Software Rating Board). Games went from being a nice hobby to a young kid to the average gamer now being an average age of 34 years old. The popularity of game usage is detrimental to the American society, changing our nation to
After watching the film “Second Skin”, I want to talk about Dan, an addicted online gamer. He got addicted to the game as he spent 11 hours a day playing the game by losing everything in his life. He wanted to commit suicide for not only once. Sometime later, Dan sought help through Online Games Anonymous. The support group is founded by a woman named Liz Woolly, whose son committed suicide after being addicted to online games. She regretted about the events leading up to her son’s suicide. But Dan thought Liz Woolly’s “12 steps” didn’t help. Finally, he pulled out of the addiction using his own will, self-realization and determination.
Gender disparity in video games is a topic that both scholars and major gaming icons have discussed before. However, the topic recently resurfaced with the upsurging population of female gamers. The integration of females was a spectacle that caused a massive culture shock. Many members of the gaming community were unsure how to handle the change and took to discriminating females. While discrimination may seem unimportant, many scholars and icons believe it is a prominent factor of gender disparity: an environment which typically favors males, a hostile or “toxic” atmosphere, and repeated stereotypes all manifest certain behaviors of both genders that can cause a disparity to grow. Although some sources claim gender disparity is evident in gaming as a whole, others insist the novelty of female discrimination in video games is less prominent due to a more leveled percentage of male-to-females in gaming. However, both agreed that the competitive gaming community is a different story. Time and time again the competitive gaming community was mentioned for its exclusion of women due to biased and misogynistic members who sexualize and degrade females. These members believe women are inferiors that encroach on their territory with unskilled and seductive natures. Therefore, for the females in the gaming community, their actions will shape the future of women in the competitive gaming community. The change in female treatment is detrimental to gender disparity. Not only because
The video game industry is a multibillion dollar a year industry, so it isn't hard to understand why they go through great strides to protect their image. They provide entertainment to all ages, genders, nationalities, and ethnicities. Contrary to the opinions of the industries opponents, video games are not destroying our youth, they challenge, educate, and provide an escape from an oppressive world.
Ever since the release of the Atari 2600 in 1977, home video gaming consoles have become so much more popular. In the past forty years, home gaming has grown exponentially in the youth of America. This growth has caused both negative and positive influences on the future generation of America. Some games may improve attention and motor skills, whereas some games can be a platform for children to be abusive to others. Due to the availability of mature video games, many children under the age of seventeen can play games meant for an audience of seventeen or older. This can cause toxicity in the gaming community and opens a new avenue of abusive behavior.
Over the past decade any person with access to the internet could experience first-hand, numerous ‘’uprisings’’ within the confines of countless video-game related discussion boards, YouTube, and plethora of social networks. Whether the vocal minority was rebelling against an alteration made by a developer within a game, or even the game itself, they’ve more often than not, failed to achieve their ‘’goal’’. And their failure doesn’t usually stem from the fact that in majority their arguments are irrational, flawed to the core, and simply absurd, but from the fact that a message on the internet, no matter how strong, will not result in any desirable outcome.
In this essay, I will provide an insight into the game industry, which created a very strong sense of community with its audience. The demographic of players is extremely varied. The statistics from America reveal the potential of this sector, proving that anyone can play games nowadays (Fig. 1). 18-35 year olds are the biggest group of players, slightly outnumbering users
In this article the author says that some men who play video games online make sexually harassing comments to women who also enjoy playing games online. The author describes these young men as “bizarrely embittered.” He takes issue with research that claims men harass women online because they are poorly skilled. His conclusion and his idea for a solution are quite simple.
Gaming has been such a huge part of nearly everyone’s life growing up as a kid and it’s only getting bigger and bigger every day. Growing up as a kid, online gaming wasn’t as popular as it is today. I started off with a Gameboy and Dreamcast console that later shifted to better consoles like the PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, and Nintendo. Nowadays, almost everyone, including myself, have shifted to the more popular gaming platforms in mobile games and online PC games. More specifically, certain types of online gaming styles like FPS, MOBA, and MMO are distinctly more popular than many others. Not only has the popularity for online gaming platforms evolved but the importance and relevance of