The history of video games is not a very long one but it is a topic that is constantly discussed whether it be about video game violence, are video games making people less intelligent, it is a waste of time, etc. People never think about the good things that video games bring us. It sometimes make people happy to be able to play a new video game but i think it especially can bring people together because it is able to let your friend or family member play with you and/or watch to have a good time. This new technology lets us have fun with each other more often and creates new experiences for us in different ways. Sometimes the game tells us a story, or it could be a very competitive game to play with each other, or even be just a generally fun game to play and goof off with your playmate.
People dislike video games because they think it will be just a complete waste of time which isn’t true. Video game has the potential to teach you a variety of things. Some people learn how to be more social because it can be a topic that is being discussed a lot at school or with your group of friends. It also can teach you small but different little things like history, geometry, or even help with your social interaction with other people whether they be online or right next to you. “Most weeks there are also some initially scared elementary kids whose harried parents push them toward the games so they can finish their work on the library computers. Peppered in are kids on the autism spectrum, a young man with Downs Syndrome, and occasionally a boy with ADHD. And the best part is, special need or not, everyone is on a level playing field when you’re playing Rockband or Just Dance.” These people were brought together because of video games while their parents did some serious work on the computers. While those parents were doing work, the kids were having fun interacting with other people learning how to play with guitar made for the game.
Some games can teach us small stuff about subjects we would have never known that we could learn from them. For example, in a game called Eve Online, many people have to understand not only understand how to play the game, they have to understand how the economics in the game works. “Within this world, players build their own spaceships and traverse a galaxy of 7,500 star systems. They buy and sell raw materials, creating their own fluctuating markets. They speculate on commodities. They form trade coalitions and banks.” Sometimes in that game you have to learn how to control the market or gamble on something to sell and hope it sells for a good amount of money in the game. The economy in the game can relate to the economy in real life which makes playing the game a good lesson in learning economics. We may not realize it at first cause we think its just a game. Later on we start to form groups of people you know to have fun and start playing together to dominate the game and market.
You meet millions of people online everyday when you play multiplayer games. In the beginning people try to go the solo player route but it doesn’t work. In the end, those games help build relationships with people online because the game is more or less forcing you to interact with the environment around you. That is when you begin to notice the diverse culture in video games because you could be playing with a person across the world. He may even become your best friend online which is a common thing today. Once you start to gain more friends you like online, you begin to make a community or guild where others can join in as well who have the same mentality and attitude that you do. “Guilds generally have structures that are similar to companies in the real world, with leaders, executive boards, and even recruitment personnel. Such games are, in many ways, like the imaginative sociodramatic games of preschool children, but played in a virtual world”. Those guilds can either be a job to some people or they could be a fun relaxing community just to have fun in. It will be the gamers options of what they want out of the game and it would eventually bring people together.
Many people dislike games because they don’t fully understand what a game can do for you. There are many views out there that dislike games, but the same can be said the other way around. “While one widely held view maintains playing video games is intellectually lazy, such play actually may strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception”. Those skills are actually gained while playing games so when people tell others that they are wasting time, it really isn’t true because you are gaining skills while having fun with friends to play with. There may be some negatives to video games but they do not out way the positives that they bring. Its beneficial to us when you are obtaining skills while having fun because it is something you enjoy doing.
Another good thing about video games is that it sometimes creates places for them to go to where others with the same passion as them can hang out with each other. One place that does this is a gaming convention called PAX(Penny Arcade Expo). Its a gaming convention that many people go to to have a good time and see all the new games that will be released relatively soon. “The four-day, fan-centric convention offers rooms dedicated to the various gaming hobbies including tabletop, board games, retro consoles, and even old-school arcade games. A library stocked with board games instead of books allowed attendees to check out the latest games”. Not only do they have video games but they have other fun stuff to do because all the people there have similar hobbies. These conventions may seem hectic at first but the people you meet there is fantastic and its a good place to find out about stuff you never even knew about. So not only are you able to have a good time, but you are able to play with your friends that you brought or even strangers.
Video games can be seen as a negative thing towards society and people will believe that video game violence can make people violent in real life too but that is something the individual himself decides. Video games are made to have fun and relieve stress, possibly even teach you a thing or two about something you never even knew about. When people go and point fingers at something, they just follow with the crowd and do the same. That is a sole reason why video games are viewed at negatively most of the time even though you can learn so many things from it. The picture above shows how many people are interested in these games and play with random people to have fun. They may not know who is on the other side of of that screen, but they sure can have fun playing with him.
I definitely think people are starting to come together and accept video games because the amount of people playing is constantly increasing. People may not realize it at first but they will soon accept it. Like i said before, video games is still a relatively new thing and it still will continue to improve. The more people that play, the more friends you are able to make online. In the end, games teach you about different things and it creates new opportunities with other people which is a fantastic thing.
American Studies Media Culture Program (ASMCP) 