Games and Socialization of the New Generation, Research Proposal Example

Research Subject

The authors would like to research the impact of online gaming and collaborative interactive consoles on children’s and adolescents’ socialization pattern. According to Kowert and Oldmeadow (2013, p. 103), online gaming environments are social places, therefore, socialization patterns are influenced by their use. The authors state that online gaming negatively impacts interpersonal relations. A contradicting statement, based on the research of young “New Media” users created by Ito et al. (2008) states that social gaming educates and socializes adolescents and young adults. The proposed study would like to measure the impact of social gaming on people’s interactions, communication and collaboration patterns.

Research Question

The authors would like to examine whether social gaming increases individual collaboration skills. Are young people able to learn from play through games? Or is it an environment that – despite social and collaborative features – creates lonely players who sit next to the computer or TV console all day? In brief: does social gaming improve or affect people’s socialization outside of the virtual media environment?

Research Design

A research literature review would be completed to assess and summarize the findings related to the impact of social gaming on socialization, work life, friendships, connections and family relationships. Several researchers’ studies and findings will be analyzed in order to find an answer to the initial research question and determine whether social gaming improves or negatively affects general social skills.