How Video Games are Positively Affecting Americas Youth - Research Paper Example

How video games are positively affecting America’s youth Could you please describe how video games have evolved during the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s and in the last decade? What started as a missile defense system during 1940’s emerged as a major gaming industry from there on. The early seventies saw the development of computer space which was the first commercially successful video game. Later on computer space was introduced on coin operated arcade gaming machines along with games such as Pong Pong. At late seventies came the development of home video game consoles called Odyssey which was developed by company named Magnavox. Cartridge based consoles were introduced by Atari during this period which will pave way to the second generation video gaming. The early eighties were called the golden age of gaming industry as space invaders developed by Taito set new benchmark in gaming industry in terms of revenue. At the same period the home gaming console industry was also blooming with the advent of personal computing. Other major highlight of this decade is the release of Super Mario by Nintendo. During nineties arcade games saw a decline and paved way for home game consoles. Also at this point of time handhelds were becoming popular because of its ease to carry around and play but declined before the end of nineties. From mid nineties saw major transition in several aspects such as the games became three dimensional from two dimensional and also CD ROM’s started to replace the traditional cartridges. Popular and powerful gaming consoles like PlayStation were released by Sony.2010 saw Nintendo emerging as leaders based upon software revenues followed by Activision Blizzard, Electronic arts, Sony and Microsoft respectively. On the other side in gaming consoles arena Sony with its Playstation series and Microsoft with its Xbox series of consoles are competing each other fiercely for leadership. A separate genre of games which were less in complexity flourished during this period after associating it with social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Also with the advancement of mobile phone technology several gaming applications were developed for advanced gaming and multimedia phones. Nokia introduced N-gage series mobiles with an in-house built gaming platform which did not take of as expected. At present days with the introduction of motion sensing mobile phones, more motion sensing games are becoming popular. Will the invention of new motion sensor technology games help against the fight of childhood obesity? The new motion sensor technology detects the entire body movement and provides it as inputs for the game. Using these technology users can engage themselves in virtual games physically as in real life. There lies a potential for users to use virtual gaming as a way to reduce obesity and diabetes. There exists a mass that prefer video games over real games. Motion sensor technology can benefit these people who can enjoy video games at the same time engage in various kinds of physical activities. The real challenge lies in developing games that is interesting for users and also burns enough energy from body to serve the purpose. In future, game developers can develop less complex but more physically engaging games solely for daily exercising purpose, so that users can replace current exercising instruments such as treadmills with motion sensor gaming cum exercises. Therefore scientific research need to be conducted which will lead to better games, better consoles aimed at reducing obesity. Is there a direct link between violent video games and violent behavior in children? Establishing a direct link between violent video games and behavior of children require very comprehensive studies. Looking at simple statistics it’s evident that at the same period of time when video game sale have undergone a boom, there has been decline in juvenile crime in US. Similarly there are critics who suggest that by playing violent video game it acts as substitute to actual world aggression thus children will display less aggression in the real world. Also it has been found through studies that video game scores far less than movies and writings as an influencer for violence since its easier for one to relate themselves more towards movies than to video game. But chances of video games contributing to a slight aggression in children cannot be ruled out which is tolerable by the society as far as children distinguishes between the virtual world and real world. Can playing certain games increase brain function and improve motor skills? There are many games which improves brain function as certain games involve mathematical calculations, logical reasoning and puzzle solving. Apart from that medical practitioners have already started to use video games to recover patients from accidents, as it has proven to enhance motor skills. Also the games helps people with attention deficits and also develop better hand eye coordination. Video games could improve the creative side of our brain as the upcoming games involve lots of imagination. Because of these benefits users can choose particular type of game to enhance a particular skill like vision or hand eye coordination. But in spite of these advantages time consumption is a factor under consideration. Gaming companies should be prepared to face the question whether there is an edge over physical games for the same amount of time played on a video game. What will be the future of video game consoles like? Are we going to be virtual reality world? Consoles which dominate the video game market nowadays will pave way to virtual reality according to some major industry experts. The game will be designed in such a way that the players will be more involved with the gaming events both physically and mentally. The gamers would be able to carry forward their gaming world wherever they travel and the games will be emotionally attached to the gamers. There will also be several innovations on the game front such as the games will be more related to real life, by enabling the gamers to do things which are not practically possible in the real world thus serving gamers’ emotional needs too. Also there is a potential application of videogame graphics on other areas commercially like virtual shopping where the online shopping experience is enhanced with visibility factor so that the user’s feels like he/she is shopping in a real supermarket. Also there are several innovations happening on cloud computing which will further reduce the physical hardware presence but with higher connectivity with other players. In what ways we can prove to the general public that video games are having positive influence on youth? There are several benefits of playing video games apart from the entertainment it provides. The advanced video games these days engage the player into making lots of decisions, team playing , strategy formulation, and other management skills such as planning, organizing and execution .These benefits are often overseen by the parents and society by large . The gaming companies can also market their games based on these positive benefits thus creating a positive sentiments towards video games. Also the gaming companies should invest in research which provides tangible results such as correlation between difficulty level of a game and the degree of hand eye coordination which is required to play the game. Another underexplored benefit of video games is that kids learn much faster through video games than by reading. There exists a potential market for video games developers to engage in academic development in a huge way. This will ensure that students will find their learning experience exciting and non monotonous. Also the parent’s attitude towards video games will turn to be encouraging when it starts acting as an important positive influence of their children life. If these kinds of benefits are highlighted through the games, the society will be more supportive towards their future generation playing video games. Works cited Billows Christopher (2006) The Evolution of Computer Gaming [Online] Available at: http://www.members.shaw.ca/cbillows/Evolution_Gaming_2ed.pdf[Accessed 27 May 2011] Rizzo Skip Albert (2011) Virtual Reality and Interactive Digital Game Technology: New Tools to Address Obesity and Diabetes [Online] Available at: http://www.journalofdst.org/March2011/PDF/VOL-5-2-SYM8-RIZZO.pdf [Accessed 27 May 2011] Prensky Marc (2002) What Kids Learn That’s Positive from Playing Video Games [Online] Available at: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20what%20kids%20learn%20thats%20positive%20from%20playing%20video%20games.pdf [Accessed 27 May 2011] Robyn White (2007) Can Video Games Improve Learning, Motor Skills? [Online] Available at: http://www.cs.umn.edu/news/SoundByte/F07/SoundbyteF07.pdf [Accessed 27 May 2011] Radoff Jon (2010) Brief History of Social Games [Online] Available at: http://radoff.com/blog/2010/05/24/history-social-games [Accessed 27 May 2011] Read More