As I began to write this post I am actually doing research on my topic. The research I am referring to is playing Halo 3 on Xbox360. I am currently playing the game online, but writing this as there are breaks in the game play. For the most part, this research is keeping me from doing the actual writing for this assignment. This is why I chose this topic. Halo 3 and other addicting video games are being consumed by young adults, particularly males, at alarming rates. The affects of overplaying games can become a problem in some young people’s lives.
The video game industry has grown substantially over the past 5 years, and so has the number of people playing them. The Halo franchise is just 3 of millions of video games out on the market today being consumed internationally by all ages of young people. Online gaming is particularly popular, which enables players to play games and interact with anyone, anywhere in the world. (Obviously barring no internet connection) Video games are featured in two ways, hardware and software. Software is purchasing a game and installing it onto your computer. The hardware approach requires you to purchase a console such as Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo, and playing the games off that particular console. Software gaming has become exponentially larger with the cheaper rates for faster internet, which is the major draw in online games like World of Warcraft, Second Life, and the Everquest franchise. The consoles have benefited largely from online gaming, but already had large numbers in profit before the mainstream online gaming. The Halo franchise is a good example of this growth. The first Halo game had no online capabilities, only a story mode. In story mode you try to stop an alien race, played by the artificial intelligence in the game, from annihilating the human race. The Halo 2 video game featured online capabilities. What this means is, after completing the story mode of the game, you are still able to go and compete you skills against others online. As a gamer, the best competition is going to be against other players, not artificial intelligence. The proof is in the numbers. Halo 2 out sold its predecessor’s total sales…in one month! Halo 3 has evolved even more, especially the online game play. It allows you to play the story mode online with other players, as well as against them. The difference again, is in the numbers. Halo 2 held the previous single day sales record with $125 million. The 3rd installment crushed that number with $170 million, and over $300 million in just its first week in sales. (http://www.informationweek.com/news/202102318 ) The Halo franchise is the perfect example of this boom in gaming, predominantly online gaming.
The number of players has increased as online capabilities have become ever greater. Console gaming has noticed the largest spike in sales, a 43% growth from 2006 to 2007. The advent of being able to compete your Guitar Hero skills with those across the land online has made Guitar Hero one of the top selling games of the year. Games that do no feature online game play usually see the hit in their sales. The draw for young people in video games today, is online community. This is what allows gamers to play for hours and hours against others with formidable skills, not just playing various stages in a game against the artificial intelligence. Certain software games like World of Warcraft (or WOW as it is routinely called) are solely based on internet game play. The whole game is played online, which leaves you with a whole entire community of gamers to interact with. With all this time put away to gaming, who can find time for anything else right? This has become concern for many. Kids with failing grades, children with no interaction with outside environments, even failed marriages have been reported due to video games. “While such cases are rare, mental-health professionals say the fantasy worlds offered by computer and video games can become the stuff of very real addictions that destroy marriages and careers,” reports Dr. Timothy Miller. (http://www.news.com/2100-1040-881673.html) The advent of this new community, which can be reached from your home, is the cause for concern on many levels.
This new community of gamers could mean a lower quality of life for many who indulge too much into this realm of games. These people socialize less with face to face contact, and more over a microphone or a keyboard. Overindulgence can cause less time for school work, a career, or a family. I personally have had one friend who started playing WOW, and still has not come back. I was real close with him, and we hung out all the time. Once he started playing WOW, he stopped calling, stopped coming to social situations, and even stopped working. Now when I am around him, all he has to reference is that stupid game. This would be a common example of someone who has taken gaming too far, and does not know when to stop. This case can be pointed at as a problem among young game players today; they don’t know when to stop. One way to help prevent over playing games, is to start at a young age. Parents need to moderate time that their children play games, so the find time and interest in other activities. Games don’t present problems to many; well that is, those with some discipline in their lives.
As a whole, the video game boom has made it a competitor in the entertainment industry competing with music and movies. It has also led to new and exciting video games, types, and options in those games. I believe that the new wave of technology in gaming can be a very good thing, leading us to new levels of entertainment. But as with all things in life, everything needs to be in moderation. Too much drinking can lead to alcoholism, eating too much can lead to obesity, and smoking too much pot can lead to burning out. Playing too many games can lead to a lot of negative things too. Such are bad grades, loss of friends, loss of a job/career, or even a failed marriage. Overindulgence usually can have negative effects. My final assessment on the negative effects of gaming has less to do with games and more with the people who play them. Many people play these games and lead normal lives, and others do not. Some games are more addictive than others, but what it boils down to is the discipline people have to turn the game off.
1 comment:
I agree with you that gaming has become such a large part of people's lives. I have taken a couple of other communication classes at Century and even had a professor that was really into Halo. Does anyone know who I am referencing?
At any rate, during one of his lectures he pointed out that it has in fact become a new medium for interpersonal communication, instead of emailing, talking over the phone, of being face to face, people choose to stick to those within their gaming community which for many reasons changes their dynamics with relationships with others. I myself do not own an xbox or anything, but I know my brother does. He lives out of state so we often talk on the phone, and I can always tell when he starts playing either Halo or Call of Duty... I usually think it is kind of funny how zoned out he becomes and we wrap up the conversation to finish some other time when he is done "playing".
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