Hey all, I'm writing a research paper for my Youth and Pop Culture (anthropology) class on video games. More specifically, how video games are an expressive form of youth and pop culture, focusing on the performance aspect of this form. I was thinking about concentrating on multiplayer and online gaming and interactions (XBOX live, MMORPG's, etc.) and was just curious as to what you guys thought I should include or any other feedback. Thanks.
Video games as an expressive form and performance.
- Thread starter WildMeff
- Start date
creepindeth04
Moderator
Welcome WildMeff. Before we answer would you be kind enough to let us read your paper? The reason for this is because we've had people come and write papers and articles and put this groups opinions in a wrong context.
Legendaryking6
Git R' Done!
Wait, that's happened more than once to this site? Anyway, I'd suggest writing it on MMORPGs, as they afford the most social interaction.
creepindeth04
Moderator
Legendaryking6 said:
Yes it has. We've had a few. Most dont come back and let us read what they wrote. Either they forgot about us or just dont want to. Who knows? But there was there one instance where someone on this board found an online article and it didn't exactly put us in a good light.
stealth toilet
Moderator
Ya, they thought we were actually game addicts. :lol
Whatever gave them that idea I'll never know... :
I don't think online games accurately reflect youth and pop culture, as most people who play them are social outcasts (well, maybe not so much in online console games, but even then, geeks are geeks). Don't get me wrong, not everyone who plays is a social outcast, and I have several friends who play these games and do have somewhat active social lives outside of the game, but there's a good chance the people who play MMORPG's are the most out of touch with pop culture.
If it's on pop culture wouldn't your essay be better suited to talking about games like GTA, Madden and 50 Cent's Bulletproof? Those are more "expressive" of "pop culture" than something like WOW or SOCOM. However, I am unclear as to what you mean by "performance," so perhaps I am wrong.
(Edited because I was initially responded to something else that was edited)
Whatever gave them that idea I'll never know... :
I don't think online games accurately reflect youth and pop culture, as most people who play them are social outcasts (well, maybe not so much in online console games, but even then, geeks are geeks). Don't get me wrong, not everyone who plays is a social outcast, and I have several friends who play these games and do have somewhat active social lives outside of the game, but there's a good chance the people who play MMORPG's are the most out of touch with pop culture.
If it's on pop culture wouldn't your essay be better suited to talking about games like GTA, Madden and 50 Cent's Bulletproof? Those are more "expressive" of "pop culture" than something like WOW or SOCOM. However, I am unclear as to what you mean by "performance," so perhaps I am wrong.
(Edited because I was initially responded to something else that was edited)
I haven't written the paper yet -- and trust me, I won't be manipulating any said opinions negatively. I myself am a gamer and would definitely be representing said information positively. This is strictly for a presentation/paper for a college class.
I agree that it's a good idea to focus on games like Madden, GTA, and maybe Halo2 as those are the most popular. However I'd still like to talk about MMO's.
As far as what I mean by performance, to clarify I guess I mean what are they actually doing, for example the performance aspect of 'hip-hop' would be performing concerts, or spray painting graffiti, etc. For video games it is simply playing video games (how, where, why, who). So any ideas, now that we've clarified that? Thanks.
I agree that it's a good idea to focus on games like Madden, GTA, and maybe Halo2 as those are the most popular. However I'd still like to talk about MMO's.
As far as what I mean by performance, to clarify I guess I mean what are they actually doing, for example the performance aspect of 'hip-hop' would be performing concerts, or spray painting graffiti, etc. For video games it is simply playing video games (how, where, why, who). So any ideas, now that we've clarified that? Thanks.
MegaDrive20XX
Segatron Genesis... call me the wizard.
I'm sorry to be a downer, but I never considered Video Games to be an expression of pop culture..it's been with us too long. Yet that's just my opinion.
It's still a great topic to choose. I just feel that youth and pop culture are in their own field compared to video games....and I know the media has been trying to combine the two ever since Playstation became trendy.
It's still a great topic to choose. I just feel that youth and pop culture are in their own field compared to video games....and I know the media has been trying to combine the two ever since Playstation became trendy.
creepindeth04
Moderator
Video games are defintily main stream now. Im not sure how expressive they really are though. It's a good way to interact with others to the point where it can almost become a sport. Well you can say that it's a way to express things that you know you can't do in real life. Like for instance talk to mythological creatures or play in your favorite sports team.
MegaDrive20XX
Segatron Genesis... call me the wizard.
creepindeth said:
you talked to the King of the Ocean, Neptune??? I thought he was my best friend :-[ I'll never forgive you!!
Hey, who you callin' a geek??
I too am at the opinion that gaming does not fall in the pop culture theme, although maybe there are games that can.
And I'd like to read the finished product also. Like Creepin' said, there has been times where someone came into the forums and aksed for opinions and then turned around and made us all look like social nutcases.
creepindeth04
Moderator
Ghouls N Ghosts said:
Fine then be selfish. :-[
But now that I think about it, it's not video games themselves that are mainstream but rather the consoles are. Playstation and Xbox have replaced Nintendo in order to describe video games by non-gamers. Sure there are popular games that have been mentioned already, and those are the exception, but it's mostly the consoles and the companies who make them that are mainstream.
MegaDrive20XX
Segatron Genesis... call me the wizard.
creepindeth said:
I'm selfish!?!? you stole my friend :-[
stealth toilet
Moderator
Although I guess some trends in videogames are in direct relation to trends in pop culture (Britney's Dance Beat for example) but then a game like the Warriors comes out, something that is a good 20 years too old for today's pop culture, and flies off store shelves it really nullifies any possible link.
I dunno, what's your thesis about video games as an expressive form? That they are, that they aren't, that they have been, will be, what exactly are you writing about?
I dunno, what's your thesis about video games as an expressive form? That they are, that they aren't, that they have been, will be, what exactly are you writing about?
video games are pop culture for most gamers. A lot of people have favorite characters or games that they like to play as.
stealth toilet
Moderator
Ok, out of sheer curiosity (and the desire to not put my foot in my mouth) I just googled "pop culture definition" to find out exactly what it refers to. All the definitions are pretty vague, and some definitions even argue against defining it, because it can mean so many different things. So for Wildmeff, I highly suggest you define what "pop culture" means in the context of your essay, and relay that on to us.
Wikipedia defines it as: "Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (people's) culture that prevails in any given society. The content of popular culture is determined by the daily interactions, needs and desires, and cultural 'moments' that make up the everyday lives of the mainstream. It can include any number of practices, including those pertaining to cooking, clothing, mass media and the many facets of entertainment such as sports and literature."
With which videogames could easily fit into. If we were talking about the popular culture of Japan than there would be no doubt at all that videogames would be part of it, but are they popular enough in North America to count as a "facet of entertainment?" Or, I guess, specifically in the US, as I'm guessing that's where you're from Wildmeff.
However another definition that popped up immediately was: "Pop culture finds its expression in the mass circulation of items from areas such as fashion, music, sport and film. The world of pop culture entered art in the early 1960s, through Pop Art." While wikipedia refers to "entertainment" as an indicator of pop culture which pertains to a number of different things, www.ffotogallery.org/th-edu/glossary.htm is more specific and does not include vague terms through which videogames could be applied to. Again the same question, are videogames popular enough to be part of America's pop culture?
And then bigmac raises the question of whether or not we are talking about the pop culture that has developed around videogames, or whether videogames are affecting the overall pop culture of America. So really, I've got nothing but questions for you Wildmeff, which I hope are at least helpful in finding the direction of your essay. Once you can clarify things a bit for me I might be able to help out a little more.
Hi all, sorry I never really got back to you earlier, my bad. I did my presentation a couple weeks ago, and here's the final paper, almost done, except I'm going to outstretch this last paragraph on collateral learning, perhaps elaborate a bit more on the gender paragraph, and then finally end with a paragraph on race (say how video games are kind of a double-edged sword; while they perpetuate some racist stereotypes in games, they bring diverse communities together online, etc.) Hope you enjoy, criticism welcome.
edit 1:00 pm, : ok i just finished so this is a rough draft but pretty much everything i wanted to say thusfar. might add more specifics from some sources.
edit 3:00 pm, : just added a few more quotes. pretty final as of right now, barring comments from you guys in the next hour.
Video Games in Pop Culture
The video game industry is one of the biggest and fastest growing in America. Raking in over ten billion dollars in retail sales in 2004 makes it one of our largest current retail industries. Gaming is nationally preferred two to one over television and movies, and it also ranks above surfing the Internet and reading books for the number one spot among the top five forms of entertainment. Clearly, this phenomenon that is gaming has usurped American entertainment. Who is playing these video games? What exactly makes them so popular? Finally, what implicit cultural significance does this popularity contain? These are some of the questions I set out to answer. I discovered that the video game user demographic is unique and changing, their popularity is due to various factors related to the user, and that they implicitly signify things about us through their role in pop culture, namely along the bases of age, gender, social networks, learning methods, and race.
For my research, I chose to focus on the two most popular video game consoles and the three most popular video games. Of course, when anyone does a case study on pop culture, one would want to focus on the most popular which is thus the most relevant to our intensive purposes. This will also show what this popularity reveals about us as individuals, or as a whole. I focused on Playstation 2 and XBOX for consoles, and Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Madden, and Halo for games (About.com). Sony’s Playstation 2 debuted in 2000 and Microsoft’s XBOX came out in 2002. Madden is one of the best-selling video game series of all time; it is a football game marked by the distinctive voice of John Madden. Grand Theft Auto is an action/adventure game where you play a single character in an urban city setting carrying out various missions such as stealing cars and selling drugs, the implications of which will be discussed later. Finally, Halo is an FPS, or first person shooter, where you are a space marine fighting either aliens (single-player mode), or other space marines (multi-player mode). These three games represent a broad section of video game genres, from sports to action/adventure to FPS.
It is necessary to determine the video game user demographic before further analysis can be made. Contrary to popular belief, a majority of the gaming market is adult. About 62% of the gaming market is eighteen or older, which debunks a myth that young kids are the largest age group to game (pbs.org). Obviously, the gaming industry knows that this age group is their largest market and thus caters to them, which explains a rise in violent games and games with explicit content. Furthermore, while the video game market is still a male majority, more girls and women are playing games thanks to stronger and more independent female characters, such as Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft. As of right now, about 40% of all gamers are female (pbs.org).
How do all these gamers interact? A main part of current popular gaming is ‘multiplayer’, or play between different people. About 60% of all gamers play with friends whether on the same console or over the Internet (pbs.org). This debunks another myth that video games are socially isolating; no longer are gamers sitting by themselves in a dark room playing alone, they are part of intricate social networks (pbs.org). One third of gamers play with siblings and one fourth play with parents or spouses. Playstation 2 and XBOX each have their own version of online play, but XBOX’s is much more popular. Called XBOX Live, one merely connects their XBOX to the Internet and pays a monthly fee and is connected to thousands of gamers online. Most games sold nowadays are marketed for online play. There is a vibrant and diverse online community of people all over the world and one can join groups, physically talk to others through headsets, play in tournaments, and have a user profile. A big implication of online play is the importance of status; gamers are able to ascend in status and others can witness ones status. For example, winning football games in Madden allows others to see you as a better player; the same goes for killing people in Halo. Microsoft has definitely taken the lead in the online gaming market due to their computer background and will continue to pioneer the field. Online play is the future of gaming and bears social implications with more and more “next-gen,” or next-generation consoles on the market.
These games and consoles are so popular because there is always something new coming out. Gamers feel the need to stay on top of the game technologically and update their current console or buy the latest game. This powerful urge to own the latest console and technology drives up sales every year, making video games a bigger and bigger industry. Also, it is no coincidence that the rise in sales has paralleled a changing video game user demographic. As more and more adults with disposable incomes become attracted to video games and are able to purchase their own games, video game companies have begun increasing mature, violent, and explicit content in video game. While conservatives across the country have cried out that these violent video games are corrupting America’s youth, they should be aware of a few simple facts. First of all, all video games come with a content rating; most of the violent and mature games come with either an M rating for people over seventeen or an Adult rating for people over eighteen. Also, 83% of video games purchased for underage consumers are bought by either the child’s parent or by the parent and child together. Thus, the responsibility for violent video games comes down to the parent monitoring what his or her child is playing. This is just one of the social implications of video games’ role in pop culture. They reveal much more about us as people and individuals.
The role of gender in video games and its resulting implications is quite conflicted. While it is true that more games are coming out with strong, independent female characters that attract more women to video games, the industry is still largely designed by men for men. Thus, the term scopophilia comes into play, with scopo literally meaning ‘looking’ and philia ‘loving’. Men gain subconscious pleasure from this control over a female character, especially one with such an ample bosom as Lara Croft from the popular game Tomb Raider. An anatomically incorrect heroine, Lara has an impossibly skinny waist and legs combined with large, bouncing breasts. Many reviewers of the game cited strong game-play in their reviews, but concluded the main reason why they came back to play was to lead Lara’s shapely chest through mazes and pyramids (Berger, 87). As is the case with other attractions, the untouchable is always the most desired. One author even suggested that with “voluptuous characters like Lara Croft,” gamers “attempt to ‘possess’ in sexually gratifying ways” (Berger, 92). This presents a feminist problem in the gaming industry as most women believe that it is too male-dominated and phallocentric. One author suggest that perhaps girls are afraid to enter the competitive world of video games, because it is mostly all males. He suggests “that girls have always played at home but preferred not do so in the male-dominated arcade environments or for the purpose of competing with others” (Wolf, 172). This author too, cites Lara Croft as a source of gender problems. He says, “She is novel to the male player because of her highly sexualized body, and the angles from which it is viewed during gameplay…For female players, on the other hand, Lara represents a powerful warrior icon that empowers them to express their strength and sensuality” (Wolf, 179). Clearly, gender in video games is an issue as it pertains to feminism. However, at least more women are being drawn to video games which could influence the make-up of the industry.
One interesting externality that is a result of gaming is the concept of collateral learning. Collateral learning, which emphasizes a different type of knowledge, deals with the ability to uniquely solve problems. Far different from explicit learning, which is being taught in our schools today, collateral learning can help one in today’s increasingly difficult job market. In Henry Jenkins’ essay titled Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked, the MIT professor cites a growing body of research that suggests games can enhance learning. He goes on to describe gamers as
“active problem solvers who do not see mistakes as errors, but as opportunities for improvement. Players search for newer, better solutions to problems and challenges. And they are encouraged to constantly form and test hypotheses. This research points to a fundamentally different model of how and what players learn from games” (pbs.org). This suggests that gamers are actually learning useful skills from their time spent playing games. Games today are no longer the ‘click-as-fast-as-you-can’ style of the past, they are intricate and require knowledge of previous levels to advance (newyorker.com). In another essay titled Brain Candy: Is pop culture dumbing us down or smartening us up?, Malcolm Gladwell of the New York Times argues for the latter – that game are smartening us up. He says that these games influence the user to think quicker which results in greater cognitive demand. He describes playing video games and reading books as two very different types of learning, albeit each equally important. The book he is reviewing even goes so far as to say that books control a “dangerous property,” in that they follow “a fixed linear path. You can’t control their narratives in any fashion – you simply sit back and have the story dictated to you. This risks instilling a general passivity in our children, making them feel as though they’re powerless to change their circumstances” (newyorker.com). Clearly, video games are an example of a different type of learning, but a type that is important for today’s children, especially with a job market demanding unique skills.
Finally, video games pertain to an issue of race. I argue that video games are somewhat of a double-edged sword when it comes to race. While they perpetuate racist stereotypes in some games, they do bring together diverse online communities. In games such as Grand Theft Auto, inner-city blacks are stereotypically represented as pimps and drug dealers. Other games contain images of the ‘savage’ American Indian. However, the online communities that play these games are very diverse with people from all over the country and all types of socio-economic status.
The video game industry is rapidly changing the face of American entertainment. This change also has profound implications on us as people and individuals. The gaming demographic is changing, with more adults and women playing. This in turn influences companies to produce a different type of game. Popular consoles and games are being devoured more and more and will continue to be as long as the technology keeps evolving. Video games’ cultural significance manifests itself in various ways, from revealing truths about us through the lenses of gender and violence, to learning, race, and social communities. As one author said, “Games do not exist in a vacuum. They often draw upon or produce material that has social, cultural or ideological resonances, whether these are explicit or implicit and whether they can be understood as reinforcing, negotiating, or challenging meanings or assumptions generated elsewhere in society” (King/Krzywinska, 168). Thus is the significance of the pop culture phenomenon that is gaming.
Bibliography
1. The Npd Group, comp. "Video Game Sales | Annual US Video Game Statistics." About.com. Jan. 2005. 28 Feb. 2006 <http://retailindustry.about.com/od/seg_toys/a/bl_npd012703.htm>.
2. Wolf, Mark, ed. The Medium of the Video Game. 1st ed. Austin, TX: University of Texas P, 2001.
3. King, Geoff, and Tanya Krzywinska. Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders: Videogame Forms and Contexts. 1st ed. New York, NY: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2006.
4. Berger, Arthur. Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon. 1st ed. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction, 2002.
5. "The Video Game Revolution: Impact of Gaming | PBS." PBS.org. KCTS Television. 27 Feb. 2006 <http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/>.
6. “The New Yorker: Critics: Books.” Newyorker.com. New York Times. 27 Feb 2006 < http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/050516crbo_books>
edit 1:00 pm, : ok i just finished so this is a rough draft but pretty much everything i wanted to say thusfar. might add more specifics from some sources.
edit 3:00 pm, : just added a few more quotes. pretty final as of right now, barring comments from you guys in the next hour.
Video Games in Pop Culture
The video game industry is one of the biggest and fastest growing in America. Raking in over ten billion dollars in retail sales in 2004 makes it one of our largest current retail industries. Gaming is nationally preferred two to one over television and movies, and it also ranks above surfing the Internet and reading books for the number one spot among the top five forms of entertainment. Clearly, this phenomenon that is gaming has usurped American entertainment. Who is playing these video games? What exactly makes them so popular? Finally, what implicit cultural significance does this popularity contain? These are some of the questions I set out to answer. I discovered that the video game user demographic is unique and changing, their popularity is due to various factors related to the user, and that they implicitly signify things about us through their role in pop culture, namely along the bases of age, gender, social networks, learning methods, and race.
For my research, I chose to focus on the two most popular video game consoles and the three most popular video games. Of course, when anyone does a case study on pop culture, one would want to focus on the most popular which is thus the most relevant to our intensive purposes. This will also show what this popularity reveals about us as individuals, or as a whole. I focused on Playstation 2 and XBOX for consoles, and Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Madden, and Halo for games (About.com). Sony’s Playstation 2 debuted in 2000 and Microsoft’s XBOX came out in 2002. Madden is one of the best-selling video game series of all time; it is a football game marked by the distinctive voice of John Madden. Grand Theft Auto is an action/adventure game where you play a single character in an urban city setting carrying out various missions such as stealing cars and selling drugs, the implications of which will be discussed later. Finally, Halo is an FPS, or first person shooter, where you are a space marine fighting either aliens (single-player mode), or other space marines (multi-player mode). These three games represent a broad section of video game genres, from sports to action/adventure to FPS.
It is necessary to determine the video game user demographic before further analysis can be made. Contrary to popular belief, a majority of the gaming market is adult. About 62% of the gaming market is eighteen or older, which debunks a myth that young kids are the largest age group to game (pbs.org). Obviously, the gaming industry knows that this age group is their largest market and thus caters to them, which explains a rise in violent games and games with explicit content. Furthermore, while the video game market is still a male majority, more girls and women are playing games thanks to stronger and more independent female characters, such as Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft. As of right now, about 40% of all gamers are female (pbs.org).
How do all these gamers interact? A main part of current popular gaming is ‘multiplayer’, or play between different people. About 60% of all gamers play with friends whether on the same console or over the Internet (pbs.org). This debunks another myth that video games are socially isolating; no longer are gamers sitting by themselves in a dark room playing alone, they are part of intricate social networks (pbs.org). One third of gamers play with siblings and one fourth play with parents or spouses. Playstation 2 and XBOX each have their own version of online play, but XBOX’s is much more popular. Called XBOX Live, one merely connects their XBOX to the Internet and pays a monthly fee and is connected to thousands of gamers online. Most games sold nowadays are marketed for online play. There is a vibrant and diverse online community of people all over the world and one can join groups, physically talk to others through headsets, play in tournaments, and have a user profile. A big implication of online play is the importance of status; gamers are able to ascend in status and others can witness ones status. For example, winning football games in Madden allows others to see you as a better player; the same goes for killing people in Halo. Microsoft has definitely taken the lead in the online gaming market due to their computer background and will continue to pioneer the field. Online play is the future of gaming and bears social implications with more and more “next-gen,” or next-generation consoles on the market.
These games and consoles are so popular because there is always something new coming out. Gamers feel the need to stay on top of the game technologically and update their current console or buy the latest game. This powerful urge to own the latest console and technology drives up sales every year, making video games a bigger and bigger industry. Also, it is no coincidence that the rise in sales has paralleled a changing video game user demographic. As more and more adults with disposable incomes become attracted to video games and are able to purchase their own games, video game companies have begun increasing mature, violent, and explicit content in video game. While conservatives across the country have cried out that these violent video games are corrupting America’s youth, they should be aware of a few simple facts. First of all, all video games come with a content rating; most of the violent and mature games come with either an M rating for people over seventeen or an Adult rating for people over eighteen. Also, 83% of video games purchased for underage consumers are bought by either the child’s parent or by the parent and child together. Thus, the responsibility for violent video games comes down to the parent monitoring what his or her child is playing. This is just one of the social implications of video games’ role in pop culture. They reveal much more about us as people and individuals.
The role of gender in video games and its resulting implications is quite conflicted. While it is true that more games are coming out with strong, independent female characters that attract more women to video games, the industry is still largely designed by men for men. Thus, the term scopophilia comes into play, with scopo literally meaning ‘looking’ and philia ‘loving’. Men gain subconscious pleasure from this control over a female character, especially one with such an ample bosom as Lara Croft from the popular game Tomb Raider. An anatomically incorrect heroine, Lara has an impossibly skinny waist and legs combined with large, bouncing breasts. Many reviewers of the game cited strong game-play in their reviews, but concluded the main reason why they came back to play was to lead Lara’s shapely chest through mazes and pyramids (Berger, 87). As is the case with other attractions, the untouchable is always the most desired. One author even suggested that with “voluptuous characters like Lara Croft,” gamers “attempt to ‘possess’ in sexually gratifying ways” (Berger, 92). This presents a feminist problem in the gaming industry as most women believe that it is too male-dominated and phallocentric. One author suggest that perhaps girls are afraid to enter the competitive world of video games, because it is mostly all males. He suggests “that girls have always played at home but preferred not do so in the male-dominated arcade environments or for the purpose of competing with others” (Wolf, 172). This author too, cites Lara Croft as a source of gender problems. He says, “She is novel to the male player because of her highly sexualized body, and the angles from which it is viewed during gameplay…For female players, on the other hand, Lara represents a powerful warrior icon that empowers them to express their strength and sensuality” (Wolf, 179). Clearly, gender in video games is an issue as it pertains to feminism. However, at least more women are being drawn to video games which could influence the make-up of the industry.
One interesting externality that is a result of gaming is the concept of collateral learning. Collateral learning, which emphasizes a different type of knowledge, deals with the ability to uniquely solve problems. Far different from explicit learning, which is being taught in our schools today, collateral learning can help one in today’s increasingly difficult job market. In Henry Jenkins’ essay titled Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked, the MIT professor cites a growing body of research that suggests games can enhance learning. He goes on to describe gamers as
“active problem solvers who do not see mistakes as errors, but as opportunities for improvement. Players search for newer, better solutions to problems and challenges. And they are encouraged to constantly form and test hypotheses. This research points to a fundamentally different model of how and what players learn from games” (pbs.org). This suggests that gamers are actually learning useful skills from their time spent playing games. Games today are no longer the ‘click-as-fast-as-you-can’ style of the past, they are intricate and require knowledge of previous levels to advance (newyorker.com). In another essay titled Brain Candy: Is pop culture dumbing us down or smartening us up?, Malcolm Gladwell of the New York Times argues for the latter – that game are smartening us up. He says that these games influence the user to think quicker which results in greater cognitive demand. He describes playing video games and reading books as two very different types of learning, albeit each equally important. The book he is reviewing even goes so far as to say that books control a “dangerous property,” in that they follow “a fixed linear path. You can’t control their narratives in any fashion – you simply sit back and have the story dictated to you. This risks instilling a general passivity in our children, making them feel as though they’re powerless to change their circumstances” (newyorker.com). Clearly, video games are an example of a different type of learning, but a type that is important for today’s children, especially with a job market demanding unique skills.
Finally, video games pertain to an issue of race. I argue that video games are somewhat of a double-edged sword when it comes to race. While they perpetuate racist stereotypes in some games, they do bring together diverse online communities. In games such as Grand Theft Auto, inner-city blacks are stereotypically represented as pimps and drug dealers. Other games contain images of the ‘savage’ American Indian. However, the online communities that play these games are very diverse with people from all over the country and all types of socio-economic status.
The video game industry is rapidly changing the face of American entertainment. This change also has profound implications on us as people and individuals. The gaming demographic is changing, with more adults and women playing. This in turn influences companies to produce a different type of game. Popular consoles and games are being devoured more and more and will continue to be as long as the technology keeps evolving. Video games’ cultural significance manifests itself in various ways, from revealing truths about us through the lenses of gender and violence, to learning, race, and social communities. As one author said, “Games do not exist in a vacuum. They often draw upon or produce material that has social, cultural or ideological resonances, whether these are explicit or implicit and whether they can be understood as reinforcing, negotiating, or challenging meanings or assumptions generated elsewhere in society” (King/Krzywinska, 168). Thus is the significance of the pop culture phenomenon that is gaming.
Bibliography
1. The Npd Group, comp. "Video Game Sales | Annual US Video Game Statistics." About.com. Jan. 2005. 28 Feb. 2006 <http://retailindustry.about.com/od/seg_toys/a/bl_npd012703.htm>.
2. Wolf, Mark, ed. The Medium of the Video Game. 1st ed. Austin, TX: University of Texas P, 2001.
3. King, Geoff, and Tanya Krzywinska. Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders: Videogame Forms and Contexts. 1st ed. New York, NY: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2006.
4. Berger, Arthur. Video Games: A Popular Culture Phenomenon. 1st ed. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction, 2002.
5. "The Video Game Revolution: Impact of Gaming | PBS." PBS.org. KCTS Television. 27 Feb. 2006 <http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/>.
6. “The New Yorker: Critics: Books.” Newyorker.com. New York Times. 27 Feb 2006 < http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/050516crbo_books>
Bluevoodu
Site Founder
Glad to see you posted things up
I was going to ask for you to post the results..etc..
Normally we ask that people *who are doing research papers* to post up the results before the submit them or present them. This is due to a person who came along before and didn't report what one of our members really said.. and used his name without permission I believe. then they also grossly misrepresented our site as a place that helps Game Addicts..... or something to that manner. It was weird.
I'll take a look through this shortly, so far... it looks nice Pretty cool you included your refs as well.
Interesting subject too btw.
Bv :hat
I was going to ask for you to post the results..etc..
Normally we ask that people *who are doing research papers* to post up the results before the submit them or present them. This is due to a person who came along before and didn't report what one of our members really said.. and used his name without permission I believe. then they also grossly misrepresented our site as a place that helps Game Addicts..... or something to that manner. It was weird.
I'll take a look through this shortly, so far... it looks nice
Pretty cool you included your refs as well.Interesting subject too btw.
Bv :hat
maiden fan
All Hail Eddie
i like it and it was veary well written.
and like bv said thanks for coming back and letting us see it
and like bv said thanks for coming back and letting us see it
stealth toilet
Moderator
I'm gonna be honest, I didn't read the whole thing. :lol
However, part of writing an essay is making it extremely structured and leaving no room for surprises, so the fact that I got bored and skimmed through it is a credit to you. I think you've gathered a good source base and I very much liked the language you used and the points you made (the ones I read anyway). It seem very professional and analytical, and I think you're grade will reflect that.
Good stuff man, and good luck.
However, part of writing an essay is making it extremely structured and leaving no room for surprises, so the fact that I got bored and skimmed through it is a credit to you. I think you've gathered a good source base and I very much liked the language you used and the points you made (the ones I read anyway). It seem very professional and analytical, and I think you're grade will reflect that.
Good stuff man, and good luck.