The Racing Game Called Need For Speed - Essay Example

Need For Speed, (NFS) The game on which this term paper is based is a car racing game called Need For Speed, (NFS) it hasbeen developed by various firms over the years but consistently published by Electronic arts from the time of its founding to date. Initially, it was released in 1994 under the title Need for Speed, in its formative years, it was exclusive to fifth generation consoles but with time it has come to future all the seven generation consoles. The Game allows players to race different types of cars on different tracks of fictional cities and towns, after the 2003 need for speed underground (Sewart, 2006), they game introduced car body customization in which the players could change the appearance of their cars based on their preferences. There have been several versions of the game each with its own unique upgrades; the most recent version is need for speed hot pursuit. This paper is going to focus on the more popular “most wanted” version which preceded latest one. The game is set in a fictitious city by the name Rosewood and its environs comprising the shorelines sprawling conurbation, and industrial complexes (Need for Speed, 2002). It commences with a pre-arranged story line in which the player enters the game at the bottom of a blacklist and has to make his way up to the top to earn respect rank and money. Other significant future include the fact that one makes money by earning a bounty which is the money rewarded for causing destruction and traffic offences wrecking police cars as well as winning races. In the game, one gets to pick the car of choice from a list of top of the range cars, nevertheless they have to earn their car by making enough virtual money to buy them or qualify to unlock them by winning specific races. The main skills tested in the game are the player’s ability to drive at high speeds and keep ahead of other drivers to win races, on uneven and confusing tracks often under a lot of pressure. This requires a great deal of practice since there are myriad challenges including police officers who arrest and reverse gains made by players by fining or impounding their cars. The game can be played on various platforms e.g. Mac ,windows or desktop or laptop, the player has to first install the game from a DVD (Cannot use CD as it is almost 4 gigabytes), they need a machine that has at least 1 Gb Ram and sufficient memory so as to launch and run the game smoothly (Ltucker, 2009). On the computer keyboard, the players have the option of customizing the customizing the keyboard but the default setting includes; the up button and down bottom for forward and backwards respectively. The right CNTL is used to allow navigation around tight curves without losing speed by setting slow motion mode, the left ALT button is for activating the nitro boost, which is a feature that allows the drivers to increase their speed and acceleration. There are several other options that one can use such as the space bar for braking although most players just use the DOWN button which also doubles up as reverse. One can however opt to play the game on the many other options such as play station in which they can customize their controls based on the particular pad they are using. The game is also playable on Nintendo cubes and game boy Android and IOS (Jackson, 2012). Ideally, need for speed requires one to race without following rules, in fact the objective is to win at any cost, in this context, cost can be viewed literally since one gets rewarded for breaking the rules of the road. However, the lack of rules can only be envisioned if it is examined form the point of view of conventional driving, in as much as it has been touted as a game with no rules, the racer must follow certain codes otherwise they will be repeatedly disqualified and they will end up not making progress. The major rules in the game, in no particular order are as follows, the driver should try to finish the race by any means and their disregard of traffic rules is essential for them to earn points so basically try to finish races and break as many rules as possible while at it. The driver while encouraged to toy with the police cars by engaging them in pursuits and trying to wreck as many of them as possible should ensure to avoid being cornered. Should they find themselves in such a situation they should act as expediently as possible to escape otherwise they will be apprehended and subject to various penalties ranging from minor fines to having their cars impounded. However, there are specific rules that apply when one is playing the game on an online or LAN platform, in circuit or drag races the winner is the driver who tops the final lap and in knockouts the one who remains in the race longest. In additions, player are not allowed to upgrade their cars or use upgrades since this would give them unfair advantage, disconnections in power or network may qualify as grounds for restarting a race only if the referee deems them purely accidental. Otherwise, the player who has disconnected will be deemed to have forfeited the game an instantly disqualified. The primary objectives of the game are largely determined by the plot on which the game commences, one enters the game as a novice races driving a BMW sports cars which the unwittingly pit against the top racer by the name of Razor. The car however breaks down in the middle of the race and they are forced loose the race and the car, to get the car and win back their respect, they need to race all the 14 blacklist racers until they can challenge the main rival and win back their car if they so wish. This is the main objective but there are several objectives which one has to fulfill before they can accomplish this, with every black list racer they have to accumulate a certain amount of bounty. This is achieved by winning varies milestone events or racing against police cars and causing as much damage to public property as possible. As one moves up the blacklist, they gain street credit and respect and they are able to unlock more cars and racetracks, for example it is only after racer beats the 13th blacklisted that they can unlock Rosewood beachfront. In a way, the game is ultimately driven by the player’s desire to seek retribution for the humiliation that razor visits upon them on the onset of the game. To this end they too must beat and humiliate all the other players not to mention the police so they can qualify to get a second chance at their nemesis. Admittedly, playing is a critical part of a child’s growth and the game has several advantages for the players both young and old, for one it improves the pyscho-motor skills in young children who develop hand and body coordination as well as overall dexterity (Job, 2012). Adults also stimulate their senses and although it has not been scientifically proven it could have a positive effect on their driving skills since the game is like a simulation of actual driving especially because many of the vehicles have been modelled very closely with actual vehicles. In addition, the game is very exciting and provides an avenue through which adults especially can play out their fantasies of fast driving without posing any risk to other road users or risking actual arrest (Cacho, 2012). However there are several negative effects that have been attributed to this and similar games, a study by the National Center for Health Marketing at the Centers for Disease Control showed a strong connection between high gaming and a propensity for depression, internet addiction, and unhealthy weight gain especially among adults (Sifferlin, 2013; OCallaghan, 2009). Women that regularly played video games were found to be prone to depression while men who played them for long hours were likely to develop elevated BMIs (Doheny, 2011). The negative effects on children are also significant, for one, the game basically encourages the players to disregard rules and even rewards them based on how much they deviate from convectional rules. In addition, although the game cannot be considered a violent game per se, some of the language used in issuing challenges is raced with threats and innuendos of violence. In addition, every time one is arrested by a police office for speeding they automatically try to resist arrest and they are beaten up and violently thrown on the ground. When children spend many hours playing the game they are likely to suffer psychological issues such as a higher propensity for violence and disregard for authority, which could negatively affect their social and interactive skills. Need for speed most wanted is fundamentally a racing game that has been developed in a sand box design such that the player has a variety of options from which to choose from however the sand box in this game is as flexible as other games. In Grand theft Auto, the player can actually pick the mission and their friend and even enemies while in NFS much of the plot has been predetermined. However all these games have several common attributes, for one they not only glorify but openly reward actions that include or lead to breaking social rules (Williamson, 2002). By insulating their players in the virtual world where they are immune from the consequences of their actions; they let them express themselves through violence and deviance (Guarino, 2012; Williamson, 2002). In NFS, players drive at speed that would get them arrested or killed in real life and take pleasure at toying with police since in some of the games they drive damage-proof cars. In GTA on the other hand, players are encouraged to engage in all manner of immoralities, in some versions they can use drugs, kill people for no apparent reason beat up civilians and steal cars (Bartel, 2012). Another attribute of most of these games is the underlying gender stereotyping, in GTA most of the women are prostitutes while the drug lords are archetypically well dressed and brave men. This reflects the negative perception of women that children are likely to sublimely develop form such games, NFS women have been represent fairly well on the blacklist although the top rival is a man. However like most video games the main character is male, in fact since the inception of both NFS and GTA there has never been an option of a female player and therefore all those playing the game have to assume a male identity. This has been frequently criticized by both feminists and video game critics who view the exclusion of women as discriminative and lily to create a negative perception on the young players overemphasizing the role so men and underplaying women’s’. References Bartel, C. (2012). Resolving the gamers dilemma. Ethics and Information Technology,Vol 14(1), 11-16. Cacho, G. (2012, Nov 07). Review: Addictive need for speed most wanted will drive you crazy. Heritage Retrieved from http://www.heritage.com/articles/2012/11/09/opinion/doc509d1942d9ba8955011139.txt Doheny, K. (2011) Is Sitting Too Long a Major Cancer Risk "Study Shows Inactivity and Excess Sitting Linked to an Estimated 100,000 Cancer Cases a Year." webmd.com. 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Retrieved from http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2011/11/research-violent-video-games-may-alter-brain-function/1 Need for speed hot pursuit 2 (PS2) ; ...all the best bits from every driving game of the past five years.. (2002, Nov 01).GameNow, Vol. 2, 64. OCallaghan, T.(2009). Playing too many video games may be bad for you too, grown-ups. Heathland times. Retrieved from http://healthland.time.com/2009/08/18/playing-too-many-video-games-is-bad-for-you-too-grown-ups/ Rob, P (2009). Revamped NFS series launches this year. Eurogamer. Retrieved 20 December 2013 http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/revamped-nfs-series-launches-this-year Robinson, M. (2012). Cloud compete ties together Need for Speed: Most Wanteds different platforms. Eurogamer.net http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-14-cloudcompete-ties-together-need-for-speed-most-wanteds-different-platforms Sewart, G. (2006). Need for speed: Most wanted; aka underground 2: Directors cut. Official U.S.Playstation Magazine, , 1-78. Sifferlin, A. (2013) Not Just Child’s Play: Video Games Could Slow Mental Decline. Healthland times. http://healthland.time.com/tag/video-games/ Williamson, D. (2002, Feb 24). Fun? not by a long shot ; many video games are shockingly violent. Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/268829192?accountid=1331 Read More