Video Games: The Cause Or The Cure?

Kale Montgomery

Over the decades, many forms of entertainment have been maligned as gratuitous, dehumanising and harmful to society’s youth. The most recent form to come under fire is video games. Governments, parents, media and law enforcement agencies alike have all taken turns in blaming video games for any number of societal problems since they came to prominence in the 70’s and 80’s. This vilification continues today with the scapegoating of games such as the Grand Theft Auto series being the alleged ‘cause’ of essentially every crime a young person can commit from graffiti to mass murder[1].

There are, however, copious positive aspects of video games that go largely overlooked by the masses of overprotective parents and deranged media personalities. Recent generations have been turning to video games more and more from a very young age, and it is at this age that human beings are developing crucial life skills. No true gamer could possibly deny that there has been, at one stage, a challenge that has caused them to doubt their own sanity. This point often comes very early in a gamer’s career, with children going so far as to throw tantrums at the level of frustration encountered. While this may sound like a perfect example of why not to play games, it is quite the opposite, because although kids may cry and scream their outrage, they persist[2]. This sheer focus and determination, some of the most crucially important and sought after skills in today’s society, is imbued in children while they strive for the next level. They learn that by being utterly committed to a goal and persevering to overcome each and every obstacle, that they can accomplish that which they desire most – and after all, is this self-discipline not something that every parent wishes their child to learn? [3]

As children grow older, they will almost intuitively seek out that genre so frequently denigrated: war games. War games are decried by the conservative masses as being destructive and desensitising to youth, teaching them to kill with a remorseless fury. They couldn’t be further from the truth[4]. Many such games are teaching things to kids that most adults find difficult to comprehend – strategy, common sense, logical thinking, and basic and advanced problem solving. The ability to take a tactical approach to a situation holds no limit to useful application throughout an individual’s life. Not only are games able to teach these rudimentary skills, but also more ‘tangible’ knowledge is passed on as well. History and geography – to name only a couple – are recognisable as parts of a basic school syllabus, however, these and many other subjects are often supplanted into a gamers mind during game play[5]. The most common game genre to possess historically and geographically accurate features is none other than war.

War is not the only thing to be decried; another deeply admonished aspect of games in recent years is violence. As previously mentioned, one of the most publicly vilified game series is Grand Theft Auto; where in each game bearing the title one assumes the role of a maniacal, gun-toting carjacker and proceeds on a murderous, mayhem-filled, insanity-fuelled series of missions. It sounds quite ludicrous really, and to be honest, it is. It is not a training ground for young thugs and high school-gunmen, it is a game[6]. Video games such as this which are filled with gratuitous violence are often attacked by censorship bodies and media organisations as driving youth to crime. The main reason for this is that targeting games is simply an easy-out. It is just such a simple option for everyone – including kids themselves who have committed felonies – to cast blame upon games and the developers, rather than the children themselves.

While it is true that an insignificant number of individuals are negatively affected by playing violent games[7], it is no more influential than other entertainment facets such as movies and television. Furthermore, violent video games can in fact provide a safe, positive outlet for teenage aggression[8]. By playing these games, it is possible to vent anger, aggression and stress in a fun, safe environment without causing any actual harm – this can be likened to ‘punching a pillow’. This is explored in a psychological act known as ‘exercising one’s shadow’, wherein culturally or socially inappropriate aspects of one’s personality are explored and unleashed in a suitable environment, rather than in the community.

Community is yet another positive aspect of gaming. Countless online communities have developed on the internet, especially since the early 1990’s with the launch of the World Wide Web[9]. While it is argued that gamers become detached from society and these ‘nerds’ become isolated loners in comparison to bygone generations, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Younger generations are far more socially connected than their predecessors ever were thanks to online games. Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games allow people to play with literally hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously, all over the world. This results in gamers having friends and connections in all societies and cultures, inevitably leading to a greater understanding and acceptance of these different cultures[10].

It is unlikely for the scapegoating of video games to end any time soon – if ever – because they are simply such a good target. Kids are spending more and more time immersed in their consoles and computers, and more are being developed as the years progress. However, despite this ongoing vilification, the positive facets of video games are unmistakable, and will continue to be a powerful and positive influence in many lives.

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1 “Game influence debated.” January 2 2005. Richard Robins. Tribune-Review. 18 May 2008.

[2] “Learning by design: Games as learning machines.” April 2004. James Paul Gee. Interactive Educational Multimedia, number 8, pp 15-23. 19 May 2008.

[3] “Video Games and the Future of Learning.” October 2005. David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt R. Squire, Richard Halverson, and James P. Gee. Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 87, No. 02: pp. 104-106. 28 May 2008.

[4] “Video Games Influence Children (Skill Transfer: How Ridiculous Is That?)” Sat Oct 30 2004. Matthew Scouten. 18 May 2008.

[5] “Pleasure, Learning, Video Games, and Life: the projective stance” 2005. E–Learning, Volume 2, Number 3. James Paul Gee. 19 May 2008.

[6] “Video Games Influence Children (Where Is The Violence?)” Sat Oct 30 2004. Matthew Scouten. 18 May 2008.

[7] “Video Games’ Influence Is Insignificant” 25th April 2007. Filip Truta. 18 May 2008.

[8] “Video Games Influence Children (Psychological Studies)” Sat Oct 30 2004. Matthew Scouten. 18 May 2008.

[9] “The History Of The Internet, Chapter Two: From ARPANET to World Wide Web” 11 October 2002. Richard T. Griffiths. 28 May 2008.

[10] “Video Games and the Future of Learning.” October 2005. David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt R. Squire, Richard Halverson, and James P. Gee. Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 87, No. 02: pp. 105-107. 28 May 2008.

Basic Outline

· http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_288969.html

· http://everything2.com/e2node/Video%2520games%2520influence%2520children

· http://news.softpedia.com/news/Video-Games-039-Influence-is-Insignificant-53014.shtml

· More needed (5 websites, 5 articles)

• Perseverance
• Focus & concentration
• Applying skills from games to the rest of life
• Problem solving
• Interactivity
• Social
• “exercise your shadow” – parts of personality that you don’t recognise / accept / suppressed / socially inappropriate
• Venting anger through games rather than in a destructive situation
• Blaming games for violence – same as blaming other stuff.
• Adolescent aberrations – 13-22% of teens do all sorts of stupid stuff
• Teaching tool – historically accurate games – Age of Empires

Paragraphs:

Introduction (100 words):

• Statement of hypothesis: That video games are not worthless or gratuitous, and in fact, serve a great many purposes that go largely unnoticed.
• Interactivity of games preferable to being a ‘viewer’.

Body ½ (200-400:

• Teaches young gamers the ability to focus and concentrate on a task
• Teaches them to persevere at the task at hand and be committed to the completion of a level/game/whatever
• Basic and advanced problem solving and logical reasoning learnt via gaming at various levels. – Puzzle games, strategy games, warfare, etc

Body 3 (100-200):

• Can be helpful in teaching more ‘tangible’ things such as history, geography, etc – especially historically accurate strategy / war type games.

Body 4:

• Multiplayer aspects can improve social ability and the capacity to communicate not only with peer group, but other generations through the ‘protection’ offered by anonymity.

Body 5:

• Rebuking argument that games incite violence
• Saying that violent games increase violent behaviour is of the same level as that of other media forms
• Video games are not the cause of adolescent violence and attitude, nor are any other types of media – puberty is.
• It’s better to be venting anger in the safe environment of a video game than it is to beat someone up in the street (along these lines anyway)
• Part about ‘exercising shadow’ – unleashing inappropriate aspects of your personality in a safe environment.

Conclusion:

· Repeat theses, sum main points, say “games good, games fun, get over it” in sophisticated way.

Word & Excel

Today we were required to do a number of menial tasks using Microsoft Office - generally used for secretarial purposes.
Task one: Use Microsoft Word to "Track Changes" and "Mail Merge".

Tracking changes - a basic tool that allows one to see any edits to a document since turning it on. Essentially foolproof, there's not really anything (that I can conceive at least) that can go wrong with this. Got through it in a minute or two.

Mail Merge - more complex, more time consuming, one of the most boring uses of Word that exists. Took a few minutes to get through the task - writing a basic application letter and inserting a couple of people to send it to, no real difficulties.

Task Two: Creating a basic spreadsheet in Excel and making a couple of formulas, graphs and macros to go with it. Excel looks complex but it's a pretty basic system - glorified calculator. Macros took a bit longer than the rest, but it's all relatively easy once you know what you're doing.

Each task had a section at the bottom about people complaining about losing hours of work in office from not saving regularly; these people should play more computer games. Every gamer has experienced a crash after hours of monster killing. A few years of this will drill into anyones head the bonuses of saving every five minutes. Constantly hitting CTRL+S is automatic after every sentence these days.

Part Two: Compare MSN/IM to a 3D chat environment.

The basic differences I've noticed between communication on instant messengers in comparison to 3D chats is the level on which people communicate. Instant messaging tends to be more intimate and involved, with deeper and more personal conversations, whereas in the 3D environment, people are distracted by things they can see and do, and the conversation suffers as a result. 3D can be interesting for a while, but it generally gets boring and somewhat morose. It's also harder to find someone to talk to, as everyone else is also walking around looking for people. In 2D chat, you just click the name and off you go.

Accuracy of Wiki.

Today's task revolves around choosing two Wiki articles about topics that we have some prior knowledge of. We are to ask the following questions of each article;
* Is this an accurate article?
* Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand this topic?
* Does this article follow the wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?
* Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?

Finally - What changes would you make to this article to improve it and make it useful for the wider wikipedia community?

The first article chosen is Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein:_Enemy_Territory (yes, it's a game. Yes, it's nerdy). The accuracy of the article is adequate, in that I couldn't identify any specific elements within the article that are incorrect. I'm not too sure about what 'basic facts' would refer to, but it does appear to have enough to give an unexperienced observer enough to know what the game was about. From what I can tell, the guidelines aren't too strayed from. The only bias in an article about a computer game could be about whether the author approves or disproves of it. My interpretation is that it's reasonably balanced. It does however, lack an in-depth observation of the intricacies of the game. One such is Trick Jumping; the utilisation of the jumping on or over areas that are generally not able or supposed to be accessed. This is achieved by either first jumping on top of a team mate, or utilising the landscape in strategic ways. Trick jumping has been considered a major, though controversial, aspect of Enemy Territory.

The second article is one on the cocktail Black Russian; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_russian. The accuracy of this article is questionable. Although preliminary research (checking google) shows a number of sites that concur with the 1949 invention by Gustave Tops, The 1939 movie Ninontchka shows a scene in which it appears Black Russians are being consumed. I can't confirm this either way, so I will assume it is accurate in its statement and that in the movie is in fact not a Black Russian. The basic facts are not covered. The article states 'vodka' and 'coffee liqueur' are the main ingredients. While technically true, a Black Russian is traditionally created through the mixing of Russian vodka and Kahlua. The use of inferior products severely and detrimentally affects the taste and enjoyability of the drink - this should be noted in the article. Article is balanced. One useful addition would be suggested quantities of each vodka and Kahlua. For example; one variation includes 40ml vodka, 20ml Kahlua with a maraschino cherry as a garnish.

Benjamin in a digital era

In his 1936 essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", Walter Benjamin analyzes the impacts of reproducing artwork by 'contemporary' means, focusing on the 'aura' of authentic works. He theorises that original artworks possess an 'aura', not due to the inherent 'beauty' of the art, but rather a number of extrinsic factors such as "its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value." (Wikipedia article: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction)

By this definition of 'aura', it is a reasonable deduction to assume that Benjamin would not have considered the vast majority of, if any, digital productions to possess one. Digital medias have a basic implementation of interesting, amusing, or otherwise appropriating a reaction from the viewer; none of which fall under Benjamin's definition.

A photoshopped image cannot be considered to be 'authentic' in an artistic sense, as the basic principle of photoshop is to alter a preexisting artistic interpretation. 'Authenticity' is generally defined as something that is new or original, not an alteration of another's work.

With digital art media (e.g photoshop, CGI editing tools, video and sound multimedia editing) now readily available to the general populace, every day citizens have the capacity to alter and interpret preexisting art in their own way. This leads to an ever-evolving digital creation which will forever change art in its original form; a far stretch from the cultural stereotype of 'high' or 'sophisticated' art, which was generally only considered to be produced and enjoyed by upper echelons of society; the art which Benjamin initially considered as developing the concept of 'aura'.

Scavenger Hunt

The task for this week includes finding the answers to various questions without using Google or Wikipedia. The questions and answers follow:

1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?

Onel de Guzman, Spyder, null_spyder@hotmail.com

http://www.computerbytesman.com/lovebug/index.htm, http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html http://www.Yahoo.com

2. Who invented the paper clip?

The modern paper clip was patented on November 9, 1899 to William D. Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/paperclip.htm

http://www.Ask.com

3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?

Ebola was first recognized in 1976, and since then it has appeared sporadically. The virus gets its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized.

http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/from-what-place-did-the-ebola-virus-get-its-name.html

http://www.ask.com

4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?

Chile, 1960

http://www.extremescience.com/GreatestEarthquake.htm

http://www.altavista.com

5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?

1073741824 KB in a TB.

http://www.sonoma.edu/users/c/carusor/web219/hardware_terms.htm

http://www.yahoo.com

6. Who is the creator of email?

Vinton Cerf in 1988 created commercial email, however Ray Tomlinson developed the first email application in late 1971.

http://www.livinginternet.com/e/ei.htm

http://www.Ask.com

7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?

Internet Virus/Trojan – Unknown how many are infected, was estimated at 1.7 million in 2007.

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Storm-worm-botnet-with-over-1-7-million-drones--/news/94040

http://www.altavista.com

8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly,
what is the most efficient way?

Address:

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600

Also a web form at: http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

http://www.yahoo.com.au

9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School
of Arts) a member of?

Stephen played keyboard for Brisbane punk band, the Black Assassins

http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm

http://www.yahoo.com.au

10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?

After reading a couple of different websites, “Web 2.0” means, in my understanding, the more recent trend of internet applications to be more user-oriented, that is, able to be changed, altered, and influenced not only by the host, but also by the people that utilise them. For example, Wikipedia, P2P transfer programmes (Napster, Limewire, etc).

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/web2report/chapter/web20_report_excerpt.pdf

http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

http://www.yahoo.com

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?

• “One of the main rules in a ranking algorithm involves the location and frequency of keywords on a web page.
• Pages with the search terms appearing in the HTML title tag are often assumed to be more relevant than others to the topic.
• Search engines will also check to see if the search keywords appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline or in the first few paragraphs of text. They assume that any page relevant to the topic will mention those words right from the beginning.
• Frequency is the other major factor in how search engines determine relevancy. A search engine will analyze how often keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page. Those with a higher frequency are often deemed more relevant than other web pages.”

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167961

Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?

• The general reason that the higher page will usually be more relevant is to do with the way websites like Google will find them, as listed above. Frequency of the search term, and where it appears in the page, will often be a key factor in how relevant the website is to your interests.

What are some of your favourite search engines? Why do you like one more than others?

• I generally prefer to use Google, because it tends to have the most accurate and in-depth answers to what I am looking for. I also use Yahoo at times for a similar reason. www.Ask.com is a good source of answers to specific questions.

Following the completion of these tasks, optional google-ish things were suggested; Googling one's own name, and playing 'Guess the Google'.

When googling my name, I found very few matches (3) but one was rather interesting. Apparently someone has written a short story using my name, in which I am a "gun-happy, no-nonsense guy who just happens to be extremely hot." I can live with that.

So far I have played "Guess the Google" twice, with the following stats:

First time:

Total time: 1.28

Average time: 0.08

Total guesses: 37

Average guesses: 3.7

Final Score: 252

Second:

Total time: 0.57

Average time: 0.05

Total Guesses: 26

Average guesses: 2.6

Final Score: 323

How I use New Communication Technologies

Firstly, one must differentiate between those friends who are known in person, also known as RL (real life), and those who are only known through the depths of the internet. I have been using the internet for over a decade, and as such have made a vast number of friends that I have never met. The key difference I have noticed between RL friends and those online is that you learn not to form too vested an interest in the online variety; ofttimes they will simply vanish without a trace; whether they forgot to pay the telephone bill, got bored, or simply blocked you because you're a prat. Real life friends are harder to escape for the simple fact that you know them in person - people notice if you just disappear (I'm not saying that I want to escape anyone, just an observation).

Initially I began using the internet simply for entertainment purposes, but now find it equally as useful for both research and staying in touch with friends. Staying in touch is also the sole reason for my acquiring a mobile phone. I first got a mobile at the age of about 10 so my mother could keep track of me, but since high school I have used it almost solely to contact and keep in touch with my mates. Text messaging has been key in this aspect as it is fast, cheap and quiet.

I generally don't have any worries about privacy online - spam is deletable and spyware is controllable with software. Anyone contacting you that you find to be irritating can always be blocked with a single click, and I really can't see anyone desperate enough to stalk me with so many better candidates available, so there really aren't any issues. With the mobile it's another story however, with far less control over it allowed to you by the networks. If one stray text-message finds its way to a conglomerate it's quite possibly time to find a new number, as the amount of text-spam is overwhelming. As such, only the trusted few have access to my mobile.