Cortes1

JuanCortes

Period:1&3

Humanities

3/20/15

Howdovideogamesaffectoursocialbehaviours?

AmonthafterthereleaseofCallofDutyBlackOps,gamerstotaledmorethan
600millionhoursofplaytime,ortheequivalentof68,000years.Thegameitselfisa
firstpersonshooterbasedintheVietnamWarera.Itsstorylineissimple,killorbekilled.
Inthisgameyoushoot,kill,andcompleteanobjectivewhilefacingmanyfoes.Italso
featurestwomoregamemodesincludingmultiplayerandtheiconiczombiesurvival
mode.Thisgamewasrated17andupandmeantformatureaudiences,andyetwe
see12yearoldsandyoungeragegroupsmakingupthemajorityofplayers.Great
blockbusterssuchasCallofDutyseemtobeharmlessatfirst,butdowereally
understandwhatimplicationsitimposespsychologically?Wearefacinganepidemicof
changeinsocialbehaviour.Thisadaptationofhumanbehaviorisaffectingourdaily
liveswhetherwerealiseitornot.Ourtime,socialskills,andourveryownnatureis
challengedbygaming.
Inthepast5years,videogamedevelopershaveseenanexponentialincreasein
sales.In2009alone271millionunitsofgamesbothoncomputerandconsolewere
sold,amountingtoawhopping10.5billiondollars(ESRB).Gaminghasembeddeditself
intoourculture.Ithashadsuchfarreachingeffectsthatover1.2billionpeopletothis


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dayareconsideredgamers.Thatsalmostoneoutofsevenpeople.Herearesome
statisticstomakeyoufeelbetter:99%ofboysunder18and94%ofgirlsunder18
reportplayingvideogamesregularly.Theaverageyoungpersonracksup10,000hours
ofgamingbytheageof21.Thisismoretimethanthatisputintophysicalexerciseor
socializing.Arepeoplespendingmoretimegamingtheirlivesaway,thanconstructinga
foundationfortheirfuture?
Inthepasttwodecadesaloneantisocialbehaviorshaveincreased,oursocial
skillsarediminishingandourbehaviorischanging.InanarticlecalledTheSocial
NatureofteenVideogamePlay,socialscientistsexplorewhatistheunderlyingfocus
behindthesebehaviors.Inthisrecentstudy,pollsshowthat82%ofteensplaygames
alone(Lenhart,2008).Hinthint,itmighthavesomethingtodowithantisocialbehaviors.
ItisbelievedthatVideogamescanserveasachanneltoreleasebuiltupstressor
otheremotionsintoharmlesschannels.
However,outof130studiesconductedthe
resultswereconclusive,
violentvideogamesincreaseaggressivethoughts,angry
feelings,physiologicalarousal,andaggressivebehavior.Whiledecreasinghelping
behaviorandfeelingsofempathyforothers(Bushman2013).Notassistinginanyway
oursocialskillsorsocialconduct.
Explicitmaterial,uncensoredprofanity,andviolenceareallthingswenegateina
professionalsettingandyetwehaveallbeenexposed,fromthemostunlikelysource
too.Videogames!Ontopofthat,thesocialenvironmentcreatedfromthesegames
encouragesharassment,racialslurs,andhomophobicantagonization.Amongteens
whoplaythesessocialgames,63%reportwitnessingpeoplebeingmeanandexerting


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overlyaggressivebehavior.While24%ofgamerssaythishappenstoooften(Lenhart,
2008).Nonethelessweallknowwhichgamesthesesituationstakeplacein.Games
suchasGrandTheftAuto,CallofDuty,andevenFlappyBirdcreateariftinhuman
behavior.Thiscanbeexemplifiedduringroadrage,inwhichdriversadoptanother
personalityandactoutinangertowardsotherdrivers.Invideogames,gamerssharea
similartrait,theywillsayvulgaritiesandcrudeprofanityagainstsomeonewhopossibly
beattheminagameortothegameitself,Inrarecircumstanceseventothedeveloper.
TaketheexampleofFlappybird,agreatgamewithlotsofpotentialthathitthe
Appstoreinlate2013.Asimplisticgameinwhichyouflyabirdthroughendlessrowsof
pipes.Minordownloadsoccurredhereandthere,untilonedayusersbegantweeting
aboutthegame.Itbegantogainpopularityasusersdescribedtheirlove/hate
relationshipwiththegame.Eightmonthslater,somethingcrazyhappened,thegame
wentviral.
Ithadbeendownloadedover50milliontimesandwasmakingaround50ka
day,28yearolddeveloperDongNguyenwasthrilled.Hissocialmediaaccountswere
filledwithquestionsandcommentaryonthegame.Thatwasofcourseuntilthings
turnedsour,Nguyenbecameoverwhelmedbytheoverpopularityandhatredforthe
game.Hewasgarneredafraudforanunoriginalideaandaccusedofcrosspromoting
hisgames.Whenaskedhowmanydeaththreatshereceivedonadailybasishe
tweetedfewhundreds(RollingStone).
TheworldsperversebehavioroverlymisusedNguyensgameandtransformedit
intoanidealofloveandhate.Aforminwhichyoucannotputthedownthegame
becauseyouenjoyittoomuch.Whileatthesametimeyoudespisethegameforbeing


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sosimpleandevil.Thecriticismandpopularityhadreacheditslimit,inwhichNguyen
couldnolongerhandlewhatsocietyhadengulfedhimin.LessthanadaylaterNguyen
tweeted:Iamsorry'FlappyBird'users,22hoursfromnow,Iwilltake'FlappyBird'
down.Icannottakethisanymore(Mashable).Nguyenfulfilledhispromise,bythe
followingdayFlappybirdhaddisappearedfromthetopchartsandworldrankings.The
factthatNguyentrulymadeanoriginalpiece,anditsohappenedtobethathisgame
cametopopularitybychanceandcircumstance,makesthisstoryallthemorebitter
sweet.
VideoGamesarecorruptingourverynature,anditsnotchangingusforthe
better.Thesearejustsomeofthereviewsusersgavetheappflappybirdbeforeitwas
takendown.Somereviewsarebriefbuttheyaretelling.Iamnowanatheistbecause
therecantbeagodthatallowsthisgametogounpunished.Thisgameisruiningmy
life.Itruinedmylifeitssideeffectsareworsethancocaine/meth.Whileotherstell
amoredescriptivestory.
Iusedtobelikeyou.I,ayoungman,onceplayedonlinewith
friends.Ionceattendedaschool,Ioncetalkedtomyfriends.Ineverwantedtogodown
thisroad.ItstartedwhenmybrotherdownloadedtheDevilsgame.Ineverlethimbeat
meinanythingsonaturally,Idownloadedittoo.Itseemedeasyatfirst,tapthescreen
togetthebird/fish/whateveryouwanttocallitthroughthebigMariotubes.ThenIdied.I
tappedbetweenthetubesanddied.Ilaughedatfirst.Imfarfromlaughingnow.Ibeat
mybrothershighscore,butkeptgoing.Iwantedtogetto100,Ivealreadycreatedthis
addiction,Ivealreadymadeitto70,sowhynot?Dontsetagoal.Igot99.99.My
motherhasstoppedfeedingme,Idonttalktoanyone.Isithereandplay.Ivewet


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myselfcountlesstimesnotwantingtogotothebathroomandruinmygame.Ive
threatenedtocutthefingersofmyrelativesoff.Ivethrownmycatoutthewindow.Ive
createdthisaddiction.Ineedhelp.Dontenduplikeme.(Firedog922014).
These
reviewsnotonlyexhibithowhumanbehavioriscompromisedbythesegames,butthey
demonstratehowdestructivetheycanbetoourdailylives.
Inconclusion,
greatblockbusterssuchasCallofDutyandflappybirdseemtobe
harmlessatfirst,butyetthesevideogamesarecreatingariftinhumanbehavior.Video
gamesaretakingtomuchofourtimethatcanbeputtootherfruitfulpurposes.Theyare
alsodiminishingoursocialskillswhileencouragingharassment,racialslurs,and
homophobicantagonization.Theybringouttheworstinus,ourtime,socialskills,and
ourveryownnatureisendangeredbygaming.

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Sources:

http://ithp.org/articles/violentvideogames.html
http://www.pewinternet.org/2008/09/16/part13thesocialnatureofteenvideogamepl
ay/#fn62248

Commentary
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20192553

http://www.ted.com/conversations/44/we_spend_3_billion_hours_a_wee.html

http://journals.lww.com/neurologynow/Fulltext/2014/10030/Game_Theory__How_do_vid
eo_games_affect_the.17.aspx
TedVideo
http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games?language=en#
t75241
esrb
http://www.esrb.org/about/videogameindustrystatistics.jsp
mashable
http://mashable.com/2014/02/10/flappybirdstory/
Flappybird
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/theflightofthebirdmanflappybirdcreatordo
ngnguyenspeaksout20140311#ixzz3SvFxhRtb

Swegg