VIDEO GAMES

Are Video Games Dangerous?

Reading Quote : "Perhaps the purest, most elemental videogame pleasure is the heathen joy of destruction......Your task is simple: fire at will and wipe them out" (Poole 21)

In this statement it would appear that people enjoy video games for the simple satisfaction of violence. This may be true in some cases, however I do not believe that that is the primary objective for all people who partake in video games who may be considered violent. The online blog that I read addressed the notion that violent video games are leading to violent actions among people in society. The blog attempts to solve myths about violent video games by stating, “According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population.” (pbs.org). Another issue that is brought up about the violence of video games is that it desensitizes the players to violence in the real world. Classic studies may have determined that video game players may be more inclined to think that violence is a typical day-to-day life. This is bad because it is more likely to make them act out in a violent way as They have a misconstrued conception of what should constitute violent activity.

Jenkins, Henry. "Impact of Gaming." PBS. 2 Mar. 2008 .

Simulation Games

Reading Quote: "Oh Yes, the computer can make us devine." Steven Poole

This is his interpretation of why people may enjoy God games. I chose to focus on this type of game analysis because these are the games that I enjoy. I really enjoyed the "SIMS" games. I owned 3 or 4 additions when I was in middle school and my friends and I would spend hours designing and building houses. He profiled the people that enjoy these "God" games as liking to control scenarios. I would say that I fall into this profile. In this article, he truly shows that there is a video game for almost everyone. In the website blog that I found online, the author discussed how he believes that some simulation games may be positive for the future of our society. He stated that games such as “The Sims”, may be positive because these games force the player to look at their actions and how they are effecting the individual character in the video game. This knowledge may make the player more inclined to be more responsive to future issues in their own lives as well. His hope is that video games may inspire a new generation of children to be more aware of the effects of decisions they intend to make.

Wright, Will. "Why I Think Toys Can Change the World." Wonderlandblog. 2 Mar. 2008 .