Thursday, October 25, 2018
Video Game time for adults
For my posting this week I wanted to bring up video gaming for adults. As I've gone through my teens years into my adult years, I've realized that more and more adult are "hip" to the video game realm. The more often I speak with my friends and to those who are older than me, I see people playing video games after work or when they have nothing else to do. I believe that because of the big rise of video games it is effecting everyone. I can remember growing up and my teachers would tell me in class that video games are so bad for me. I remember there being a huge issue surrounding the game GTA (Grand Theft Auto). They said this game led to tons of violence in the real world. They said because of the games use of guns, in which you can kill people, going to strip clubs, committing various crimes, that it was negatively effecting the youth. So for me to see more and more adults actually play video games is interesting. I wonder if the boom or having argument over video games with the current young adults who use to be those teenagers, caused the rise. Although myself I don't play video games anymore. I do remember spending countless hours on my Xbox growing up and I've played all of shooter games such as (Tom Clancy, Call of Duty, Halo) to name a few. As well as playing (GTA, Saints Row and sims). I believe I have turned out to be normal adult. I don't believe that I have been effected. I'm happy that adults nowadays are utilizing the platform as a way to relax and forget about the daily struggled people go through. What's great about video games, is that you can pick up right where you left off. In the Baym book it talks about storage. The idea of storing on hard drives or servers. Even if you sell your device it is stored right on your cloud and when you buy a new device connected to the same company, your profile will be downloaded for you. I think that everyone should play video games. I believe it helps stimulate the mind and relieve stress. Although I do think you shouldn't be stuck in the bat cave all day. I believe that a max of 2 hours is well enough of playing time. I do feel those who play too much, tend to not be a as social as others who don't.
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Yeah, I had similar experiences growing up too in that I played video games quite often. I was around 12 when I started getting really into it. I also remember at that time video games started becoming more mainstream. YouTube, for instance, was full of users who provided gameplay and commentaries who would post videos daily. At the same time, I remember how many older people, like as you mentioned, teachers for example, had a very dystopian view of video games with all the violence being portrayed. I am not an expect, but I know that there is research out there that suggest videos games do not have these negative effects that many people worried about.
ReplyDeleteI still do play videos games, but not as often as I used too. I think it’s not a bad thing that adults get into them so long as they keep a balance. I myself usually only play on the weekends, sometimes with friends, if I have nothing else to do. It is a nice stress reliever and I think if adults can find that balance, it could be very beneficial for managing stress. I think it can be also used for social purposes, such as playing with friends and meeting new people. However, I would agree that doing it too much could make someone less social.
It has been pretty cool to see the evolution of video games, especially recently. As far as video games and violence goes, I don’t think that playing violent video games will make you a violent person and I think I remember in class learning that it was proven that it doesn’t. I think you bring up a good point with storage in that you can leave and pick up on a game whenever you want. I also don’t play video games anymore but as a kid I used to play a lot of play station two and running out of memory was always the worst.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a change in the way that people look at video games now I think. They used to have a bad image and seen as something that lazy people do but now they are seen as something you can have a career in. We have also seen video games influence entire societies like how Fortnite did in recent years. We see people talking about it on Twitter all the time and making memes about it. We also see superstar sports athletes making dances based off what they see in the game. I think in the future they will continue to be normalized.
This is such fascinating point you bring up here, I think it is so relevant to the men of our generation. Not trying to be sexist at all because I have seen girls that enjoy shooting games such as Call of Duty and Overwatch; however the population that those games were marketed too were adolescent men mostly. I remember being in High School when Call of Duty was in its prime and it was hugely popular among most of the young men in the school were engaged in the game. It didn’t really matter what social click you belonged to or who your friends were, when the new Call of Duty was out you were on board. Honestly I just don’t see these sort of dynamics changing any time soon, it is just too engrained into the culture of our generation. I really don’t see anything stopping our generation from playing these games anytime soon, the idea that these games are for children is a baby boomer idea in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteDo I think that these games have increased violent behavior in young men? Maybe some but on a broader scale I don’t think most video gamers are mentally altered to be violent because the play first person shooter games. To blame just video games for the densitization of violence is absolute absurd as well, take a look at the film industry and how they have exploited the densitization of violence for profit. Is it wrong? Maybe it is but the fact of the matter is most people aren’t driven to do violent acts because of a video game they played or a movie they watched. I was exposed to all of these types of media violence as a kid and I feel zero desire to harm anyone physically(unless the circumstances are drastic). It is just important to not become too dissociated into these mediums, if you do that I don’t think you will have a problem.
Big fan of what you have written here.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid video gamer ever since I was a kid, they have eventually brought me into the eSports community I have found myself in since high school. I find video games to be a hobby that can actually strengthen social, life, and professional skills depending on what you do with games. With the emergence of eSports in the past decade, people now make livings off of playing games at a professional level. There are also people who thrive off of organizing, running, and coordinating eSport events and then we have the entire culture of Twitch where content creators make their presence felt through simply playing video games.
They can simply be a way to debrief after a day of work as you get older or can become your career if you become skilled enough and want to take your skills to the next level. On the more casual side, the fact there are school's with student clubs dedicated to games shows that they can benefit those into them. They help you find new friends as you all share a common interest in games. Though you conclude your post by saying playing too much can affect your social skills negatively, I am going to have to disagree with you over the aforementioned ability to enhance social skills and make friends.