Video Games : A New Realm Of Possibility

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.

Video games have become a massive icon that has spanned decades, technology and even cultural boundaries. Whether you play on a computer, tablet, phone, or console: at some point in your life, video games have been a part of what you do. Strike up a conversation about games and you can make lasting friendships or bitter enemies. Even if they might not know the specific game, everyone knows what the genre is, and because of this, video games have taken their lasting place in our pop

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

From the past till now, video game never loses its popularity, from Gameboy to Wii, and from NDS to LOL, millions and billions of people are obsessed with this imaginary world. Some of the video games are created for educational purpose, however, most are created for the people who wants to escape from reality. “In a national Harris Poll survey of 1,178 American youths (ages 8-18), ISU Assistant Professor of Psychology Douglas Gentile found nearly one in 10 of the gamers (8.5 percent) to be pathological players.” ("Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) ") Not only the statistic shows the high rate of addiction towards video games, terrible consequences of the addictions are more than enough to be served. For example, an extreme case of an Chinese kid called Xioyi suicide because he lose in one of his game on December 27, 2004; where he left a note that said he wanted “to join the heroes of the game he worshiped.” Video game has the potential to ruin a person’s life, as well as their family, or even the

Kutner and Olson also report on interviews with kids. One respondent said that he plays video games because he wants to see something that will hopefully never happen to him—experience it without actually being there (Kutner and Olson, 2008, 116). Some other kids said that they played M-rated games with groups of friends, and further research showed that M-gamers were more likely to play games in social settings or with more friends in the room (Kutner and Olson, 2008, 130). Other research shows that video games are a good tool for bringing people together—especially new kids, shy kids, or mentally disabled kids (Kutner and Olson, 2008, 132-134). This book does a good job of describing the effects of video games on lots of different kinds of kids—from different regions, different races, depressed kids, both genders, and mentally disabled kids (Kutner and Olson, 2008, 134).

The term “gamer” tends to be synonymous with “geek” in many people’s minds. They see gaming as a device that absorbs the majority of the time of the user, leaving them as mindless empty, pale husks with no ambitions other than beating that next boss or shooting the enemy in the face. However, few gamers waste their life away. On the contrary, many of these so-called geeks tend to be more social than the average person, and farther down the technological curve than most. For the truth is that gaming is a rather useful and beneficial hobby. It gives people an outlet to focus on, and can connect them with many others worldwide. It can teach and entertain at the same time, and can be a useful distraction at other times. In this essay then,

A gamer is someone who plays video games as a hobby. Gamers are usually quite good at this hobby. Gaming has been around since 1958. It’s ancient. Few people in the United States have gone untouched by video games at some point in their lives. In fact, it is estimated that the number of gamers around the world is about 1.2 billion people. That is a good portion of Earth’s 7.2 billion population. Gaming is huge. Despite that, there are quite a few stereotypes regarding gamers. Some people seem to think that gamers are all a bunch of nerdy losers who do nothing but sit around and waste their lives behind a monitor and with a controller in their hands. No matter how many gamers are not like this, there will always be at least one individual who will fit this stereotype perfectly. But, this paper will bring to light some things that are more typically true of most gamers, regardless of what other stereotypes they may happen to fit. Believe it or not, video games can actually be

"Gamer" is a term that means someone who plays games like computer or video games. But nowadays, most people prefer not to use this term because of the stereotypical identity and label of ‘gamer’ in the society. In the article “Do You Identify As A Gamer? Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Gamer Identity”, Adrienne Shaw is trying to deconstruct the popular stereotype of the ‘gamer’, and she find that the identity as a gamer intersects with many factors, like gender, race, and sexuality.

Being a far cry from the stereotypical “geek culture” it originated from. The concept of “gamer” has undergone a major metamorphosis. Nowadays, the gaming demographic includes almost everyone under the sun who owns a computer or mobile device. The proliferation of these devices and increasing complexity of games have broadened the purpose and role of a gamer. Henceforth, it is far from

Thus, we can observed that the ‘gamer identity’ has greatly evolved according to these mentioned factors. The influences of social categorisation, social identification and social comparison can be seen at play as well. As far as being described, the core notion of being a gamer is relatively unchanged. Though, the exclusivity of the straight male gamer has been lost. With the ever incremental progress of technology and increased liberal social views associated with time. We cannot deny that the notion of being ‘a gamer’ will always stay the way it

Imagine a world where you can fight dragons in medieval times, be a soldier in WWI, or build a fortress while gathering resources to survive a zombie apocalypse. Gamers can experience all of this and more through the world of video games, but many people have developed false perceptions of who the gamer community consists of. These false perceptions have only formed negative stereotypes for the gaming community, but the truth is gamers can be anyone.

Like any other thing in the world video games have positive and negative aspects too. According to a study, those who spend hours and hours in playing ‘civic games’ were found to take more part in different community services like social work, politics or protests, as compared to those who never took interest in video games. Hence video games are proved to increase one’s social interaction skills. The kind of friendship and ethics those are knowledgeable by the young gamers while playing video games provide evidence that they are not completely harmful to our society. (Heins, 62)

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.

Video games have been known as a form of entertainment since its introduction in the 1980’s. With an ever growing market driven by millions of people, video games have become one of the largest industries in the world. However as the video game industry has evolved, so has the content of the video games. What started out with family games like Super Mario and Donkey Kong that involved maneuvering over obstacles, evolved into violent games such as Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto which required the player to kill people within the game. With the market for video games increasing, there has been growing concern for the effects video games may have on the individual with numerous studies looking into this. Since video games have the ability to affect or influence a person, it is important to understand how they may influence a person. Specifically how video games influence an individual in the emerging adulthood period, defined as a developmental period between adolesance and young adulthood spanning the early to mid-20’s.It is in this developmental period were individuals are not only prone to influence but also begin to develop a sense of what they want to become were they experiment a little with their identity. The question is not why, but how does video games influence an emerging adult positively and negatively. Since emerging adulthood is such an important developmental period, this paper will examine the effects of video games on the individual during the emerging

For a lot of people in the world today video games are a perfect break from a reality filled with deadlines, stress, worry, anxiety, and responsibilities. People play them because they are entertaining, riveting, and a way to spend leisure time. Most often, they are used to go after certain passions. Sports fans love to play football and baseball video games. Hunters and outdoor enthusiasts enjoy playing action packed Big Game hunting games and extreme sports games. Many chess lovers and even gamblers who cannot find enough human opponents to compete with will play computer chess and gambling games or even seek competition from online players.