Blame Entertainment, Essay Example

Introduction

Considering that the Internet applications have increased on a worldwide basis, there have been arguments with regards to the obsessive use of the social gaming resources. The essay will review the aspect of social gaming obsession from the perspective of facts, emotional appeal and the characteristics of social gaming applications. The social gaming abuse will be explored from the aspect of compulsions which are symptoms of loneliness, sexual dysfunctions and depression. The alternative causal attributes will be reviewed with regards to social gaming abuse being reviewed as a completely new disorder. The obsessive application of social games and their usefulness to a majority of the users (i.e., Warcraft, Diablo, Star Wars, Starcraft and World ofWarcraft) will be explored in this essay from the perspectives of Annetta (2008), Cavelle (2011), Chaplin (2010), Freedman Jr. (2013), Neilson (2007) and Tresca (2010).

The technological progress which include enhanced velocity, voice and extremely vivid graphics have drastically modified the video gaming environment since the video games of Starcraft and World of Warcraft were introduced into the marketplace. The video game user is engaged in a multiplayer social environment which provides complex audio – video qualities by means of a continuous repertoire of engagements and activities. The present video gaming world enables the player to adopt avatars and to socialize with players on a global level. These engaging virtual environments are detailed as being MMOG (massive multiple player online gaming environments), where the MMORPG (massive multiple player online role play games) being among the most applied and the most engaged. The users who engage in the social internet games debate that these environments are positive and social environments which give a sense of connectedness, attainment and community (Tresca 169).

Logos                                                                                                                   

The studies which have been conducted have shown that the diverse factors of leisurely restrictions have an effect on an individual’s desire to participate in the desired leisure occupations. The leisure restrictions have been detailed as any type of activity which deters an individual’s capacity of taking part in leisure activities, to expend a greater amount of temporal resources doing so or to optimize the leisure activities. It has been demonstrated that there are a less substantive number of female Starcraft players due to the reason that the video games have not completely evolved into becoming gender role inclusive. There are several of the video games which demonstrate the female video game players assuming female roles with avatars which have cartoonish and exaggerated bodily feature appearances. The female hesitation to participate in the video game environments to the same extent as the males has caused the video game companies to conduct endeavours in order to attract the members of the feminine gender to the video gaming environment. The U.S. market share of for video games had been assessed at over $7 billion in 2006 (Neilson 594).

The World of Warcraft was introduced to the marketplace in 2004. Presently, there are over 11 million World of Warcraft consumers who actively participate and socialize by means of the World of Warcraft video environment. The games which are directed at fantasy have attained a 94.8% of the market share, whereas games which were directed at science fiction simulations possessed a 3.7% of the market share. The military type simulations possess a 0.2% market share of the video game marketplace (Neilson 594).

Ethos

The brilliant aspects of the video gaming world are the educationalapplications. The players become adept in video gaming. The video games have been proven to have educational capacity with regards to today’s youth. Studies which have been conducted by the Business Roundtable have demonstrated that there is a growing fear with regards to the United States’ capacity to continue to hold a technological and scientific advantage for the remainder of this decade and for future decades. The study demonstrated that there is a need for decisive action in order to provide a future of prosperity for the present citizens and their descendents. The video games have been demonstrated to be the most effective manner of reaching the “Netgeneration”(Annetta 229). The games which have a serious aspect have been able to influence the military, business and fire fighting personnel in organizations (Annetta 230).

Other applications of the video games which are applied to the members of the “Net generation” with regards to education are an educational computer model called Food Force (Annetta 230). This game had been conceived by the United Nations Global Food Program approximately ten years ago. In the Food Force model, the players assume the role of relief agents who disseminate nutritional supplements to countries which has been ravaged by famine. The video game user assumes the role of an empiricist who has been delegated to a unit of experts from the United Nations, whichincludes a director of nutritional procurement, an appeals officer, a pilot and a logistics representative (Annetta 230).

Video games are also being applied by the public school system in New York City in order to instruct future educators with regards to teaching methods. The engagements with the dynamic matrixes which are involved in video game playing give the children the opportunity to learn (Chaplin 1). In the United States Army, the RDECOM which is an acronym for the Army’s research and development division has initiated an experiment in order to inject state of the art video game technology intro the Army’s most substantial combat simulator. One of the foremost video game designers, Epic Games, Inc. has introduced its acclaimed Unreal Engine for applications in the military training units in educational games which range from the recruiting implement to the medical simulation devices. The latest version of Epic Games, Inc. software which is detailed as the Unreal Engine 3 is currently being applied in order to provide enhancements to the Dismounted Soldier Training System.  This system is the U.S. Army’s initial attempt to curtail the substantial casualties which are incurred by infantrymen as a result of military incursions (Freedberg Jr. 1).

Pathos

It has been debated that the obsessive application of social video games can substantially alter the health of the user, deter involvement in community affairs and cause the destruction of social lives which are not associated to the video gaming environment. There have been players who have become so obsessed with the virtual gaming environment that it had been attributed to number of mortalities. The violent video games have been discovered to increase aggressive behaviour, particularly in youthful males. The aspects of video game addiction which have been manifested as recidivism, compulsions, tolerance and conflict have been documented as an outcome of video gaming. The video gamers demographic profile is becoming older (Lerner 52).

The present Starcraftvideo game consumer is over twenty five years of age and in developing industrial nations 65% of the adults have been discovered to have been consistent video game players. Youthful males continue to compose over eight out of every ten video game consumers. The endurance characteristic of the female video game player is the same for the players of the video games (Lerner 52).

A young man who is approximately thirty years old tells a story of his love life and how his love life has changed as a result of World of Warcraft. The young man talks about his previous girlfriend who he had been with for approximately two years. He details his previous girlfriend as a control freak who became intensely possessive of his time and his money. He learned about the World of Warcraft from a roommate and found love at first play. Now he has a girlfriend who he plays with every day on the World of Warcraft. He derives enjoyment from the playing style of the game, the environment and the challenge of winning. The playmate who he has met through the World of Warcraft has gone on several dates with him and they have an open line of communication due to the attribute of sharing a video gaming hobby together (Cavell 1).

Rebuttal and qualifier

The environment of video gaming has been well established. The real psychological, social and physical outcomes of obsessive video gaming have not been established. The Starcraftand World ofWarcraft video environments continue to augment in their numbers of consumers who use the paradigms (Neilson 594). This causes the requisite for evidence based study to become more important. Consequently, the necessary attention can be directed at the treatment, education and prevention of any adverse outcomes which the social video game play exerts on the consuming population (Neilson 199).

Conclusion

The social video gaming environment has the appearance of possessing indentical psychological characteristics which are commonly found in other leisure activities. The social video gaming environment is comparable to the perceptions experienced in a number of sporting occupations. The social video gaming has evolved to become an integral part of the lifestyle for a number of young adults. Consequently, the review of the gaming environment can enhance the comprehension of the dynamics of the modern leisure occupations. The studies which have been conducted have demonstrated that gaming is a social activity which is dominated by the masculine gender.

The growing number of female participants who attend the online environments for a variety of social reasons has been demonstrated to be on the increase. The gender stereotypes which are manifested through the social video gaming environment may be representative of a leisure recreational form where there is a re-evaluation of the gender related stereotypes. There is a lack of definition in the private and the public domains in the social video gaming environments.

The production of the diverse context for social video gaming demonstrates the causal attributes for the social video games developing into addictive and compulsive behaviors. This aspect is enabled by the increasing sophistication of the social video game technology. The variety of the gaming environments and the socially directed qualities of the social video games require further evaluation in the manner that the games are being modified, the relationships between the users are being modified and consequentlythe needs for social expression which are being formed.

Works Cited

Annetta, Leonard A.” Video games in education: Why they should be used and how they a are being used.” Theory into Practice, 47(2008): 229- 239.    http://people.viginia.edu/~bb2uz/public/7040%20Research/cognitive/video%20game

Cavelle, Christopher R. “World of Warcraft and the single girl.”High Latency Life.com, 27 January 2011. Web. 16 June 2014. http://www.highlatencylife.com/2011/01/27/world-of-warcraft-and-the-single-girl

Chaplin, Heather.” School uses video games to teach thinking skills.”NPR.org, 28 June 2010. Web. 16 June 2014. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128081896>

Freedberg Jr., Sydney J. “The Army gets unreal: The pros and cons of video games for combat training.” Breaking Defense .com, 9 August 2013. Web. 16 June 2014.  http://www.breakingdefense.com/2013/08/the-army-grets-unreal-the-pros-cons-opf-video-games-for

Lerner, Josh. Making democracy fun: How game design can empower citizens and transform politics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2014. Print.

Neilson, Mickey, Tracy Hickman & Gabriel Mesta. The Starcraft archive: An anthology. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.

Tresca, Michael, J. The evolution of fantasy role playing games. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2010. Print.