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Myth Buster Are Video Games Really That PDF
Myth Buster Are Video Games Really That PDF
By
May 2017
Abstract
Video games are not only the youngest media, but they broke any record regarding user
consumption compared to other media, such as: books and films (Entertainment Sports Association,
2015). Its success and the unique experience it offers has brought many myths around it, such as:
game violence creates violent people, games don’t teach anything, games are socially isolating the
player, and a few more.
This article surveys some common myths, and brings proof of a different truth, quoting academic
game research. Games can be a very effective tool, if we use it right.
Tags: video games, digital games, game violence, games and psychology, games based learning, 21
century skills
Cite:
Levi L. & Oz S. (2017). Myth Buster: Are Video Games Really That Bad?. Retrieved [date], from
http://www.flux-experiences.com/videogame-myths.html
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Table of Contents
Myths ................................................................................................................................................... 3
1. Video games mainly target young boys ....................................................................................... 3
1.1 Average gamer’s age ........................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Average gamer’s gender ...................................................................................................................... 3
2. Video games socially isolate the gamer ....................................................................................... 4
2.1 Social pressure and the rise of multiplayer .......................................................................................... 5
2.2 Game is situated in a social discussion ................................................................................................ 5
3. Video games make gamers a couch potatoes ............................................................................... 6
3.1 Motion tracking games ........................................................................................................................ 6
3.2 Location based games .......................................................................................................................... 7
4. Violent video games create violent people................................................................................... 7
4.1 Crime rate is negatively correlated to rise in number of gamers ......................................................... 8
4.2 Violence and aggression are very different ......................................................................................... 8
4.3 Aggression arise from failure rather than from violent content........................................................... 9
5. Video gameplay doesn’t teach you much ................................................................................... 10
5.1 Losing can motivate........................................................................................................................... 10
5.2 Life skills for the 21st century ............................................................................................................ 11
5.3 Job simulator ..................................................................................................................................... 12
5.4 Learning new subject matter.............................................................................................................. 12
5.5 Game-based learning ......................................................................................................................... 13
Discussion: How should we face games? ........................................................................................ 14
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 15
1. Player characteristics.................................................................................................................. 15
2. Social aspects ............................................................................................................................. 15
3. Games and violence ................................................................................................................... 15
4. Learning with games .................................................................................................................. 16
5. Video games ............................................................................................................................... 17
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Myths
Video games were born in the early 50s. The first publicly known video game is Pong, which was
released by 1972. This probably makes video games as the youngest media. Since then it broke user
consumption records of any other media, such as: books and films (Entertainment Sports
Association, 2015). Its success and the unique experience it offers has brought many myths around
it.
The people who really understand games are the gamers. When they grew up and became academic
scholars, they turn to research the influence of games on various aspects of our life. Game research
is becoming a serious field of study, and this article brings results from not a few sources.
I hope you could learn to see games in a different light after reading these proof. Games can be a
very effective tool, if you only use it right. It is better if we learn how to use it instead of trying to
push it away.
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Gender diversity among gamer population
Games are truly diverse in the content and gameplay they offer, and it addresses all audiences. Take
a look at these examples and you should find a few that you are either playing yourself or you know
someone close that is.
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We see video games as isolating where card games are socially connecting
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Kinect game technology recognizes player’s body gestures
Omaha police organized a huge PokemonGo hunt, to attract people to specific information points to
learn about the police. Source July 2016
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games present violent content, just like any other media: movies, books, etc. The difference is that
video games offer personal interaction with content, whereas in other media the user is only the
viewer of it.
The debate took off in 2005 when the American Psychological Association published a series of
researches that reveal that not a few suicide shooters or mass slaughter terrorists, were also addicted
gamers. Some even played right before they went to perform their criminal activity (American
Psychological Association, 2005).
These publications have been the trigger for many gamers and researchers (myself included) to
prove a contradictory truth. We knew that even though games present violent content, it cannot
create violent people since we are not violent and nor does many other gamers we know.
In 2013, a petition was signed by 300 researchers, psychologists and game designers, to cancel the
2005 resolution by the APA (Yee, 2014b).
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very short while and disappears after a few seconds (Ferguson, 2010; Ferguson, Olson, Kutner &
Warner, 2014). Ferguson claims that violence originates from the human being and not from the
media itself. Game creates short term aggressive response, but violence is on a completely different
level (Ferguson, 2015).
Williams & Skoric investigated if aggression from video games will have influence after a long
term play period. They let a group play a violent video game for several hours every day for a full
month (average of 56 hours that month). Results show no difference in the way they socially
interacted before and after that month. Actually, you can see that the control group showed more
stress than the gamers… (Williams & Skoric, 2005).
In 2015 the APA has released another resolution after a meta-study. They claimed that video game
play is linked to rise in aggression, but it has not proven to increase lethal violence. They stated that
aggression is temporary and certainly cannot be a sole cause of violent acts (American
Psychological Association, 2015).
4.3 Aggression arise from failure rather than from violent content
New research direction proved that aggression doesn’t arise from the violent content inside the
game, but from the failure (Przybylski, Deci, Rigby, & Ryan, 2014; Engerman, 2016). When we fail
a challenge we worked so hard for, we get disappointed. That feeling of failure creates an emotional
response of aggression (Wright, 2006).
Most players don’t see the game as violent. The see it as challenging and they are focused in the
task at hand. It is recommended to mediate the violent content for young players, and make sure
they are not influenced by it.
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Failure brings aggression, not violent content
“Losing one time after another made me realize I need to learn more geography to win this game”
Civilization III
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The game SimCity is another great example to the amount of the responsibility the player has on the
results. They play a mayor building a new town from scratch, deciding on anything. They get
advisers, but they often contradict each other (build more green tech vs save money vs invest in
education programs vs invest in industry). They need to design neighborhoods, roads,
entertainment, industry, education. They even set the tax rate. This was a great intro to the world of
running a city with its various systems.
Player can easily replay the game and try different approaches. All depends on player’s decisions.
This is not a fast game, and it can be paused at any time. Players get time to make decisions. If they
fail, they know exactly what went wrong. They know they failed, and they are ok with it. Most
players see the point in trying again, and do not look at this as a personal failure.
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Americas Army: video game to help hire new recruits
But Diner Dash is a video game that is a lot more fun to play. It is a great tool to teach
memorization, multi-tasking, planning a head, speed and accuracy and more. Player runs a
restaurant, take orders, sit the guests, make their food, serve and do the dishes. They collect money
to purchase enhancements to increase revenue or new ingredients to add new dishes.
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Gee was among the first to discover specific relationship between the way games are built and the
way we want learning to become (Gee, 2003). Coming from game development, I have pinned nine
similar principles between the game design building blocks and the instructional design (Oz, 2012).
Good games have these principles working in perfect balance, whereas instructional design and
nowadays common teaching practices have a lot to improve.
The nine principles of similarity between games design and instructional design (Oz, 2012)
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Discussion: How should we face games?
So video games are not really what we thought they are. Each game has its own audience, and
overall video games address a wide range in the population. Almost any great video game is
multiplayer or have some social elements integrated into the gameplay. Some games even have
physical motion as a core mechanic in the game. Violent content in the game does not create violent
people, even though it might seem a little exaggerated at times. And finally, video games can be a
highly effective learning tool, if used correctly.
They key here is that we need to know how to select an appropriate game for our player (child /
trainee / ourselves). There are tons of bad games out there, and we need to be able to choose. There
are a few ways to do that, but I will not get into that here. The shortest recommendation I can give
is first try for yourself, before you let your child play it. Or sit with them, while they play, and ask
questions about it. Don’t blame them for something, ask why in order to learn. When you feel
knowledgeable enough about the game, you can decide if it’s good enough or not.
After we choose a game, we should learn how to use it. Take Monopoly as an example. After you
see that your kids enjoy the game, you decide to use it to teach basic math. Now you will create
scenarios that will force the players to bang their heads in math problems in order to win the game
(example: change the prices from 100$ to 87$ or 102.4$). Monopoly can teach also English,
Economics and even Real-Estate. It really depends how you steer the boat. Same principles apply to
video games as well.
Converse with the player about their game experiences. Each match is a big opportunity to learn
something and improve. Players would love to share their wins, so let them brag. Then ask about
their weak points as well, and how they plan to get better.
Cheryl Olson offers similar tips to parents regarding video game play, such as: supervised play,
asking kids why they play certain games, playing video games with their children (Olson, 2010).
Let’s wrap up with this: if you watch a movie that had an unexpected scene with violence or sex,
and your child asks about it, you would need to give them an answer. What if they don’t ask about
it? Would you open a conversation yourself if you see their twisted face expression? Same rules
apply to video games. You need to be aware of the player’s experience, in order to know if it hurts
them or it stays just a challenging and fun game.
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Bibliography
1. Player characteristics
Entertainment Sports Association (2015). Sales, Demographic and Usage Data: Facts about the
Computer and Video Game Industry. Retrieved from http://www.theesa.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf
Prensky M. (2000). From digital game-based learning. McGraw-Hill
2. Social aspects
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experiment in the design of scholarship. Pittsburgh PA: ETC Press. Retrieved from
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Olson C. K. (2010). Children’s Motivations for Video Game Play in the Context of Normal
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Games: Playing Counter-Strike. In Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game
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Ferguson, C. J., Olson, C. K., Kutner, L. A., & Warner, D. E. (2014). Violent video games, catharsis
seeking, bullying, and delinquency: A multivariate analysis of effects. In Crime & Delinquency,
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5. Video games
Angry Birds [Computer software] (2009). Espoo: Rovio. https://www.angrybirds.com/
Americas Army [Computer software] (2002). USA: US Army. https://www.americasarmy.com/
Civilization III [Computer software] (2001). Maryland: Firaxis.
https://www.civilization.com/civilization-3
Candy Crush Saga [Computer software] (2012). London: King. https://king.com/game/candycrush
Clash of Clans [Computer software] (2012). Helsinki: Supercell.
http://supercell.com/en/games/clashofclans/
Clash Royale [Computer software] (2016). Helsinki: Supercell.
http://supercell.com/en/games/clashroyale/
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Counter Strike [Computer software] (1999). Washington: Valve. http://blog.counter-strike.net/
Diner Dash [Computer software] (2004). San Francisco: Play First.
http://www.playfirst.com/games/genre/33
Fold-It [Computer software] (2008). Washington: University of Washington. https://fold.it
Geo Caching [Computer software] (2000). Seattle: Groundspeak.
https://www.geocaching.com/play
Heroes of the Storm [Computer software] (2015). Irwin: Blizzard. http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/
League of Legends [Computer software] (2009). Los Angeles: Riot Games.
http://eune.leagueoflegends.com/
Making History II [Computer software] (2007). Amesbury: Muzzy Lane.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/46770/Making_History_II_The_War_of_the_World/
MineCraft [Computer software] (2011). Stockholm: Mojang. https://minecraft.net/en-us/
Pokemon Go [Computer software] (2016). San Francisco: Niantic. http://www.pokemongo.com/
Sim City 2000 [Computer software] (1993). California: Maxis.
Team Fortress II [Computer software] (2007). Washington: Valve. http://www.teamfortress.com/
Temple Run [Computer software] (2011). Raleigh: Imangi. http://temple-run2.com/
WarCraft III [Computer software] (2002). Irwin: Blizzard. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/war3/
World of Warcraft [Computer software] (2004). Irwin: Blizzard. https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/
Virtual Dental Implant Trainer [Computer software] (2013). Hunt Valley: Breakaway.
http://www.breakawaygames.com/games/virtual-dental-implant-trainer-v-dit/
Zombies, Run! [Computer software] (2010). London: Six to Start. https://zombiesrungame.com/
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