Survey for gaming
January 15, 2012 by Kyle · 3 Comments
For this blog I went around asking people what there thoughts of video games where and if they played. It wasn’t a true survey, but I asked about 15-20 people about this topic and I found out that many people view video games as bad, or they don’t really care if people play them. The ones that they said that are bad gave reasons that it forms the brain to think differently for little kids if they are playing shooting games and hear swearing on it and it will effect their lives and open there eyes to so much and such a young age. For the ones that said they don’t care, there best answer was that if people enjoy them, then let them have fun in their own way, but if you don’t see anything good in them, then don’t waste your time with them. Gamers seem to be stereotyped because of how lazy they seem and how much time they put into playing video games, but what people don’t see is how much fun they can actually be having and how much stress can be relieved when you actually feel cared and welcomed. They may criticize us, but until they actually try they have no room to speak. The overall view that I got from the people I asked is that video games isn’t a terrible thing, but people also had to say that there are better ways to use your time rather than sit in front of a screen for hours on hours.
What exactly is a game?
In the first chapter of McGonical’s book she talks about four defining traits of a game, first she talks about goals and how they give a sense of purpose to a player. When playing a game having objectives or goals is key to player to keep their attention and make the player feel good about them self when the complete goals in a game. Second she talks about rules, rules give the player limitation and make the players think before they actually make the move in the game. McGonical states this “They unleash creativity and foster strategic thinking,” I like what she says here because rules make the player think strategically and that is what a game should be about. Thirdly feedback system is another key part to the game because this helps the player see how they are doing and what the are achieving. Lastly she talks about voluntary participation and how a gamer needs to accept the goals and rules of the game and be cooperative with the game. I think that between those she covered a lot of the same aspects as us, but puts them in a more open perspective and includes more than we did. In our group discussion we gave a wide variety of things that were all over the place, but if we took all of ours we could put them into the four defining words that McGonical gave us in her book. So I would have to agree that my thoughts and the classes fit in with what the author gave us.
Gamer Profile
January 11, 2012 by Kyle · 7 Comments
Video games have become a huge part of today society in many peoples life, whether if it is starting at a young age or if it is playing adult many people are open to them. I believe that some video games have good in them, but there are some that young kids shouldn’t play but still play and that may harm them or form them into the ways of the video games. I don’t really consider myself as a gamer but if I had the time I would defiantly be one. I find a passion in playing video games because I am very competitive and am up for a challenge at any time. I may suck at the game, but I will still act like I know what I am doing. Another part that I love about gaming is the trash talk that comes with it, I love saying what is on my mind when I am in game mode. The video games that I like to play are NBA Jam, 2k12, NCAA12, COD, Halo, because of my love for sports I tend to find myself playing more of the sports types of games other than the shooting or battle type. I find myself playing video games about 2-3 hours a day with my roommates and having on going battles with each other, the competitiveness is what keeps me playing and then by the time I realize it I have spent 3 hours on video games and then it is time to move on to the next thing. I started playing video games when I was in the 5th grade, my mom and dad never really bought into the whole video game thing until my brother and I talked them into letting us get one and then from there my gaming life started.