Computer games free essay sample

From the early ages of life, humans like other animals played games with each other. Humans played games to relax, build social bonds, increase social status, develop skills and dominance and so on. Since humans have higher brain power than other animals, man kind developed these playing habits into organized games. After the development of the computer, some developers saw the potential of developing games as a means of entertainment. Soon computer games evolved and software companies started to develop games. At first critics used to say that computer games did not do any good to humans. They went as far as saying that computer games promote violence and made children neglect more important work. This was not a totally false accusation, but like many stories there are two sides to this story as well. The first computer games came out as pure sources of entertainment. Needless to say the early computer game did not have the class, elegance or technology of todays computer games. Early personal computer games often needed a keyboard for gameplay, or more commonly, required the user to buy a separate joystick with at least one buttons. Many modern computer games allow or require the player to use a keyboard and a mouse simultaneously. A few of the most common game controllers are gamepads, mouses, keyboards, and joysticks. Video games typically use additional means of providing interactivity and information to the player. Audio is almost universal, using sound reproduction devices, such as speakers and headphones. Other feedback may come via haptic peripherals, such as vibration or force feedback, with vibration sometimes used to simulate force feedback. In the early days of cartridge consoles, they were sometimes called TV games. (http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Computer_game). CAUSES OF COMPUTER GAMES: Like related forms of media, computer and video games have been the subject of frequent controversy and censorship, due to the depiction of graphic violence, sexual themes, Advergaming (a form of advertising in games), consumption of illegal drugs, consumption of alcohol or tobacco, propaganda, or profanity in some g ames. Among others, critics of video games sometimes include parents groups, politicians, organized religion groups, and other special interest groups, even though all of these can be found in all forms of entertainment and media. Various games have been accused of causing addiction to such and even violent behavior. Moreover, it appears to be a question of age. Since these art forms have been around longer, the backlash against them occurred farther in the past, beyond the remembrance of todays youth. We have lots of violence in multiple media, including TV, movies, video games and music, and that violence does affect kids. There’s a tendency to discount that as significant. For example, there’s some evidence that some of these video games actually teach kids weapon-related skills. Dr. Anderson and colleagues have shown that playing a lot of violent video games is related to having more aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Anderson Bushman, 2001). Furthermore, playing violent games is also related to children being less willing to be caring and helpful towards their peers. Importantly, research has shown that these effects happen just as much for non-aggressive children as they do for children who already have aggressive tendencies. One study found that kids who spend more time playing violent video games are more hostile and more likely to argue than other teens. Children who play more violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping, according to a scientific study (Anderson Bushman, 2001). The effect of video game violence in kids is worsened by the games’ interactive nature. In many games, kids are rewarded for being more violent. The act of violence is done repeatedly. The child is in control of the violence and experiences the violence in his own eyes (killings, kicking, stabbing and shooting). This active participation, repetition and reward are effective tools for learning behavior. Indeed, many studies seem to indicate that violent video games may be related to aggressive behavior (such as Anderson Dill, 2000; Gentile, Lynch Walsh, 2004). However, the evidence is not consistent and this issue is far from settled. Many experts including Henry Jenkins of Massachusetts Institute of Technology have noted that there is a decreased rate of juvenile crime whch coincides with the popularity of games such as Death Race, Mortal Kombat, Doom and Grand Theft auto. He concludes that teenage players are able to leave the emotional effects of the game behind when the game is over. Indeed there are cases of teenagers who commit violent crimes who also spend great amount of time playing video games such as those involved in the Columbine and Newport cases. It appears that there will always be violent people, and it just so happen that many of them also enjoy playing violent video games. Academic achievement may be negatively related to over-all time spent playing video games. Studies have shown that the more time a kid spends playing video games, the poorer is his performance in school. (Anderson Dill, 2000; Gentile, Lynch Walsh, 2004). A study by Argosy Universitys Minnesota School on Professional Psychology found that video game addicts argue a lot with their teachers, fight a lot with their friends, and score lower grades than others who play video games less often. (www. raisesmartkid. com)