Growing Culture of Video Games

The Transformation of Video Games and their Impact on the Society
by Neal R. Karski

Video games… ever since the 1990s when the early phenomenons appeared on the markets across the world this phenomenon has gained increasing popularity as the producers improved their quality and realistic nature. Twenty years later, video game platforms and consoles are present in hundreds of thousands of domestic and commercial locations across the globe where users can interact with each other, compete and enhance their skills with online experience. This form of entertainment, initially most utilized by younger generations, has now grown into a field of all ages… we can say that as the world has become more liberalized, so has the interest in playing hits such as Call of Duty or FIFA.

One may say… “Video games have given me a chance to escape reality without leaving my household,” another may reason “There are so many things I want to do in my life, but I don’t have the finances or opportunities to – video games are those opportunities”. Whether you agree or not, that happens to be your own opinion. That is exactly the purpose of video games: to satisfy one’s own personal needs of entertainment, excitement, leisure, past times, social gathering with friends, etc. It is meant to give one, as the individual owner and user of the video game platform, the options, the choices, the personal freedom to venture into different worlds and different occupations.

Now let’s briefly discuss the impact of video games on the society… The controversies in the 90s revolved around the censorship of brutality, language, sexual content and such related material displayed via the means of digital graphics. And it is possible that many of these concerns were quite legitimate, as studies have shown that video games did effect the youth in many negative ways. Some countered these arguments stating that video games were an actual and significant source of learning and knowledge of the world [regardless whether it was the “real” world or not]. Opinions on this issue vary to this day. More importantly, I believe that video games have really transformed the perception we have of our surroundings, i.e. the world around us. Through the median of visual and practical utilization of controllers and online characters / players, we’ve somehow become part of the world of video games, and vice versa. It is safe to assume that there are people who have even detached themselves from the psychological reality, and began to lose the comprehension or rather the separation of the two entities.

There is lot more to say on this topic, but for now, this thought has come to an end… George and I certainly would not mind to receive your thoughts…

God Bless

Video Gaming – Pastime or Obsession?
by George A. Miu

Every other week, it seems, we are bombarded with news of a new “revolutionary” console that will forever change the way we enjoy gaming. Of course, most of these are little hand-held gadgets that no person over the age of ten, or below the limits of 20/20 vision, can possibly enjoy. Nevertheless, the hoopla surrounding the PS3, Xbox and Wii appears to have been justified when considering the return that investing in one has yielded in terms of sheer enjoyment. The PC, arguably the world’s forgotten console, has evolved magnificently, too, now being able to run increasingly complex and realistic games.

However, in a seldom anticipated move, gaming has teamed up with the Internet and created a phenomenon that, some argue, can lead to considerable deterioration in our social patterns – online gaming. MMORPGs (Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) such as World of Warcraft or Guild Wars appear to have substantial addictive powers that affect millions of gamers worldwide. Every-so-often, reports come out of Asia, Europe and the US pertaining to “gamer deaths” due to exhaustion and a general neglect of hygiene caused by deep obsessions that people develop with their online characters.

It may seem laughable to many of us that people sacrifice their real lives in favor of what, in its most basic, is the ephemeral, illusory representation of chunks of codes designed by programmers. I was privy to the sobering facts my freshman year of college, when a good friend and neighbor told me of having had to “quit” Runescape (an online game) due to a bona fide addiction. Another neighbor developed a similar infatuation with World of Warcraft; his grades suffered, as did his social life.

I remember my dad and I playing Lemmings and Tetris in the mid-to-late 1990s. We never became fixated with it to such a great degree, but then again, games were so much less immersive back then, that it comes as no real surprise. As we advanced in age, we kept up with these habits, never spending more time than was healthy in front of the PC screen. We both know people that fell into the trap of personal neglect, and we deem it to be an easy mistake to make, especially in this day and age when necessities are often satisfied axiomatically.

But let’s remember something here, people. Games are good so long as they provide a temporary escape; the more realistic, the better. But when they constitute a mistaken elimination of the responsibilities that human beings have towards society, video games become a force of evil, rather than one of good.

So when Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft come up with another miracle that will change reality forever, one ought to pause for a moment and think on what kind of change these new inventions precipitate.