Intro:
In the words of Roger Ebert “video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.” Well, sorry to tell you Roger, but more and more people are diverting these “precious hours into top scores and princess saving (though they may not always be in the right castle). In 2007 the game industry made 9.5 billion dollars in revenue according the entertainment software association, which for those nOObs out there, is the business and public affairs arm of the game industry. This number is predicted to grow by as much as 32 percent this year according Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter. (Should I mention the falling and then resurgence of Video game stock on Black Monday?) Not only that, but now in 65% of households you can find video games being played. And, though gaming is becoming more mainstream it has yet to earn respect as a medium. This lack of respect is due to several commonly held misconceptions, that I plan on dispelling in three areas; violent crimes associations to gaming, the physical and mental effects of gaming, and social significance of gaming. I’ll start of my advocacy with a quote from the father of the gaming industry. SHIGERU MIYAMOTO the creator of Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong once said “Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock and roll”.
Violent Crimes Associations To Gaming:
The obvious argument here isn’t that Halo is as profound as “Sgt. Pepper’s lonely hearts Club Band”, but that new mediums are always the bad guy. Where ever violence can be found, scapegoats can’t be too far behind. (Showing pictures of beaten and haggard Ozzy and Gene) Though I have heard if you play Mario Brothers with the controller upside down you can hear Satan talking to you. These false connections to violence will persist until either the genre is so old that it’s laughable or someone disproves them. If kids are playing games they can’t be committing a crime logically that is unless they have a blood proof Game Boy.” With the recent wave of school shootings one couldn’t be blamed for thinking the youths of this country are prone to irrational bouts of violence. Well convictions for juvenile violent crimes in the U.S. fell 44% from the years 1994 – 2001. During those years we saw the release of some of videos games most violent games; Mortal Kombat 1-4, the early Grand Theft Autos, Postal, and Manhunt. Not only that, but according to ucpressjournals.com when the legendary Doom was released for PC’s homicide arrest rates fell by 77%. These statistics could be suggesting that games just give an outlet for naturally violent people. But, I’ll tell you I’d rather have them practice MK fatalities than real life ones. But, is this just another place gamers are trading real life in for an imaginary one?
Physical and Mental Effects of Gaming
Alright, so gamers aren’t killing people when they are playing with their joystick, but they are also not exercising. Well according to Livescience.com “[video game] players were also 10 percent leaner than the average American”. Though obviously, that isn’t the case with myself. It must have been all those Hot Pockets and Halo-themed Mountain Dews. (Pics of both plus the southpark guy). so you’re thinking great“ instead of fat-anti-social-shut-ins we have thin-anti-social-shut-ins”. Not so fast “Sonic” according to a “$1.5 million dollar Government-backed research US study, headed up by PHD Lawrence Kutner “non-gamers are more prone to anti-social behavior”. So be on look out for the thin-socially confident guy in a “I pwn nOObs for breakfast” shirt next time you go to a bar. But, just so the guys here don’t think they are stuck with the “blonde who takes black and white photos of lawn chairs who thinks she is deep and brooding”. Girls play games too. According to the ESA’s most recent studies 40% of gamers are women (esa). In fact “adult women represent a greater portion of the game-playing population (33 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent)”and are the fastest growing segments of game consumers. But, like Roger “When I was a kid” Ebert said it’s a waste of time. What possible skill can you get from dodging missiles, raiding Molten Core, or collecting more vespien gas. Well just a quick rundown;
Mitch Wade- an information consultant for firms like Google and Rand Corp. said “professionals who grew up playing video games…[are] better at things you need in business — like team play and careful risk-taking."
MSNBC – reports, “Researchers found that doctors who spent at least three hours a week playing video games made about 37 percent fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task 27 percent faster than their counterparts who did not play video games.”
Mark Prensky Ceo of games2train - “
frequent game players learn how to parallel process and multi-task, because they have to in order to succeed. They learn how to take in many sources of information at once,”
So gamers are better business men, surgeons and are capable of generally improved thought processes. Now that I have lowered your ships shields and procured the Red key to into the next level let’s move on to the social significance of gaming.
Social Significance of Gaming
Not only do video games have some fairly significant practical applications, they’re also a means of extending friendships, and re-creating the lost frontyard. America’s big cities have been slowly condensing, and with this the front and backyard’s have faded into the Norman Rockwell memories of an America that was. Due to foreclosures and job loss the American family is becoming increasingly mobile, and housing is becoming less and less permanent. But, video games and Al Gore’s series of tubes are here to save the day. Although “Wonderdog” and “Mightymouse” did send in applications. According to statistics on 1up.com, the top 8 best selling games of 2007’s were co-operative games. This allows gamers to play the same game together simultaneously, think Contra and Halo not Mario. These games connect people from not only the same city but the entire world. The new fangled console on the market today the Xbox 360 was designed for online gaming; unified friends lists across all games, instant communication either via voice chat, or text chat and, the ability to invite numerous friends to play with you no matter what they are doing. As of November 2007 according to gamesindustry.biz the Xbox’s internet service “live” subscription numbers have “eclipsed seven million" users. Nightly these players are able to exchange gatling gun fire, highly offensive insults, and if they are so inclined afterwards, form new friendships. Xbox live though the most popular is not the only service for gamers to connect. Every gaming system currently in production allows for online gaming. Though Nintendo’s service is highly sanitized for children and prudes. This represents the first time in the history of entertainment that a medium allows the user to expand their personal interactions beyond the product they purchase. So new friends, new skills, and no one dies, sounds like an auto-win to me.
Closing:
So when we started this level I told you we would go over three distinct areas where the game industry has a bad rap. We went over violence associated with, the social consequences of, and the social aspects emerging in gaming. However, these beliefs have less links than Zelda. So folks though it may be cool to demonize gaming, think of all the people you know who play games. And, ask yourself does reality match the popular pre-conceived notions? Until next time game over.
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