Player and Controller

Being a gamer this is probably the best topic I can think of for myself.

There are many stereotypes for video games that promote violence and sex, but at the same time we can also say that movies promote the same thing. They also say that video games are for lonely, antisocial people. But think about what people get in virtual worlds; they are rewarded more for the changes they make by achieving through leveling up and currency, they get more feedback from their community, they can achieve more things in smaller spans of time and feel positively rewarded for what they do.

I am not denying that video games do utilize violence in their interface along with using sex to sell the game, but I don’t believe that video games promote violent behavior in the real world. In our project we will be discussing how sexism is prevalent in gaming. League of Legends on professional terms, is a male dominated competitive sport. The only female that represents the face of League of Legends and Riot in tournaments is Shocks, who is a player herself, but mainly a newscaster and does the hosting of the game with introductions and sometimes appears on the analytical table.

I don’t believe that video games induce violent behavior outside of virtual world. It’s foolish and very passive to just write off the reason someone is a serial killer because they happen to play video games. Digitized Lives states that 97% of Americans play video games and only a small fraction become serial killers, but 100% of humans use air to breath and we don’t attribute breathing as reason why people are serial killers. There are far more factors and prevalent themes of violence that those 97%  are exposed to through the daily news and media.

The book also argues the difference between the “gaming world” vs “the real world”. There isn’t a direct link between what happens in the media vs in the real world. We don’t just happen to pick up a gun and forget we’re in the real world. Gamers are aware of the difference between the two. This is a myth that needs to be broken.

I do believe that some of the good things that video games promote a strong desire to achieve and learn. All games set their players in an unfamiliar environment or interface and following under certain constraints and rules asked to achieve a goal. Players will be induced with motivation and positive feelings to achieve the goal of the game. Why can’t we do the same things in the real world with solving real problems big or small?

Gaming promotes us to stick with the problem and think critically about the situation and actively collaborate with others in order to achieve a goal. Urgent Optimism is another way of saying believing that achieving is possible, Social Fabrics that creates more connections and trusting more, and given Epic Meanings that allow the player to feel that what they’re doing is important and valued. We get this feeling in the virtual world that we have the power and ability to change the world and make a difference, but how can we change the location and feel the same way in the real world.

One of my favorite Ted Talks is with Jane McGonigal who makes reference to this “Epic Win” feeling in which the player achieves something that they didn’t predict or believe they could achieve. There are many moments in gaming that produce this feeling that go beyond the goal of the game and overachieve.

She also mentions how gamers are being utilized in the interface of video games to solve real problems such as finding alternative solutions to problems and thus the community as a whole has a larger audience that provides feedback that play under the certain constraints and rules.