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Papers > Technology > Video Game Industry
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1. VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES
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Video Game Industry |
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ENGLISH 101 JOSE SIQUEIRA NOVEMBER 27, 2000 Video Game Industry: Cult or Culture? I was introduced to the fantastic universe of video games about fifteen years ago. ... Later, after he hooked it up to the TV, I found out that those two tiny handles were used to control a “line” representing the person playing the game. The object of the game was to hit a square past the other “line,” which represented my neighbor playing against me. ... From that moment on, I was hooked into the colorful world of video games. ... Maybe because of my intimate knowledge of the subject and personal experience as well, it pains me more than many other people I know whenever I read an article or watch the news on TV and there is biased coverage on any topic involving video games depicting them as bad influence to people and other things that are attributed to behavior incited by uncontrolled exposure to the medium. I am a firm believer that video games are not responsible for shaping the violent behavior displayed by people at different times and places. Thanks to the development(s) of this industry, many important technological advancements have occurred in other industries. Many people, especially parents, educators, and children’s advocacy groups, see video games as extremely addictive, anti-social toys. ... They don’t see that video games can actually help children become more familiar with new technology and that physical movements needed to play a game can help develop eye-hand coordination and strengthen muscular reflexes. ... I think that video game technology is not only beneficial to the individual players but has also helped shape other industries such as the automotive and the military. ... Bret told me that at time he went to the Gulf war, the United States Air Force was using programs such as Microsoft Flight Simulator to train its pilots, while the Marines were using a tweaked version of the best-selling game “Quake,”, in which players take on the roles of soldiers using weapons and strategies to survive the most adverse conditions. According to him, the game helped by training soldiers’ physical and mental reflexes. ... Today’s video games would not exist without a young student of technology by the name of Steve Russell, whose “interest in science fiction led him to create a game titled ‘Space War’ in 1962 on a DEC PDP-1 mainframe computer. By the end of the 60’s, participation in playing this video game became ever increasing amongst the other students.” (“The History of Video Games” No page numbers? ... In the early 70’s, video game systems soon became available for consumer use. ... By 1982, people spent more money on video games than they spent on films and records combined (Turkle 59). In the later part of the 1980’s, the first game consoles were hitting the UK. One such console, Atari, came with a 32 game cartridge. ... Both companies’ machines were CD- based to play audio CD’s and had the capacity to be upgraded for video CD movies. ... This machine was more powerful than the 32-bit machines, but could not hold video footage like the CD-based machines due to storage capacity. ... As we can observe from history, video games have been around for a while, but it was not until the mid eighties that the biggest industry boom actually took place. All other entertainment mediums used by us have been around longer and haven’t changed or evolved as dramatically as video games. ... Video games on the hand, have been directly impacted by the light speed computer technology advances which have became more pronounce since the mid-eighties. ... Unlike TV and radio, video games are interactive; the player becomes an active participant rather than a passive viewer or listener. ... The same applies to radio, but in the world of a video game, this can be done, and it can be done in style. The enemy can be “discarded” by shooting him, chopping off his head, exploding his torso, and by almost any other means of destruction and torture conjured up by the minds of the game creators. ... from an environment where 10, 20 or even 40 hours of game play take place in dungeons, war zones or military camps killing and destroying things? ... “The existence of a goal is the most important factor in determining the popularity of a game” (Malone in Greenfield 91). The multiple levels, which are found in most video games, allow a visible sign of progression, which can add to the users’ feelings of control. And that is what keeps people coming back to give one more shot at beating the game. Video games demand a high level of attention and give the feeling of being close to the edge of death or extreme danger, just as being in a real situation where there is no time for wandering thoughts or rest periods. The video game has zero tolerance and is ruthless in its demands for the users’ full attention – putting the user at the mercy of “one false move and its’ over. ... I owned a 486 computer and at that time I bought a new game that had just hit the shelves of stores nationwide named Warcraft. It was a game in which you had your choice between two different races: humans or orcs. ... After I was through with the game, my younger brother started playing it, trying to understand what the big deal was with that game that made me stay up many nights trying to make it to the final level. ... He was so concentrated on this game that it was hard for me sometimes to tell if he actually remembered to breathe (the whole concept works in real time simulation, so if you lose your focus for a minute, there is a good chance your adversaries can get stronger and take you down), and my mom came into the bedroom to ask him a question which he completely ignored. ... My point here is not that the game turned him into a rude person, but rather that he was so involved into what was going on in front of him, and adding the tension of being attacked by surprise by his enemies, that his animal instincts erupted. And in spite of all the involvement with a game where there was a lot of killing mixed in, my brother didn’t turn into a psychopath. ... According to Patricia Greenfield, there are also a number of important mechanics inserted into a game to keep the user playing. |
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Title: Video Game Industry
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