Gaming Culture

For the past two weeks I have been learning, and thinking, about gaming and the games culture. I have been thinking and talking not only about playing games but about the effects that game playing has on the players.



Personally, playing video games has a massive impact on my mood and behaviour. I am admittedly a really bad loser! This means when I am playing a game I cannot beat I become moody and frustrated. This frustration is mainly shown by the use of bad language and my computer is consequently verbally abused until I can either win or admit defeat and switch it off.

The effects of video games has made the newspaper in a number of cases including the recent school shooting in America where gunman Adam Lanza was reported to be obsessed with guns and violent video games. This story shows similarity with the Norwegian massacre carried out by Anders Breivik who claimed he prepared for the attack by playing shooting games such as Call of Duty.

Unfortunately the question of whether playing violent computer games have a negative effect on the player is not a simple question with a definitive yes/no answer. There have been many studies and may be many more studies trying to provide evidence to both sides of this argument however, the number of game players is just too large to ever come to an absolute truth.

Playing video games such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto may have been one of the reasons behind Adam Lanza carrying out a mass shooting but it cannot be held wholly responsible. His mental health prior to playing these games must also be questioned.

The ability to separate game life and reality is something many people are able to do without too much thought and from a young age many children are taught the difference between right and wrong so are able to comprehend that how they behave within a video game would be wrong if acted out in reality.

I mentioned before about how playing video games does affect my mood and behaviour, fortunately I am one of the millions of people who are able to separate game and reality, therefore I do get angry when I am losing during a game and may use language I don’t use in everyday conversation but I also know that when I turn that game off I continue with my real life and wouldn’t see it normal behaviour to carry on acting as I was when playing games.

With this in mind I decided to ask a group of children about their game playing habits. I also spoke to an enthusiastic gamer to find out what his thoughts were on gaming habits and if he was just like me.

Stay tuned to read about my findings and my predictions were proved true.

Links for news articles relating to this topic are below:
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249854/Sandy-Hook-school-shooting-Adam-Lanza-spent-hours-playing-Call-Duty.htm
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/19/anders-breivik-call-of-duty