Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Eight Myths About Videogames Debunked
It looks like PBS has decided to play "Mythbuster" with eight assumptions people make about video games. They address misconceptions in two categories - the "video games are just for nerdy little boys" area, and the "video games turn kids into raving psychotic monsters"
* The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.
Flying in the face of the dramatic decrease in violent crime since the release of Doom.
* Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.
Also linked: the alignment of the stars and planets with your likelihood of getting a traffic ticket today.
* Children are the primary market for video games.
Because the industry doesn't want all that filthy disposable income from the twenty-somethings.
* Almost no girls play computer games.
That's right - Bejeweled, The Sims, and Peggle are exclusively played by testosterone-laden boys in-between sessions of clubbing each other with tree branches in the back yard. Oh, and no girl could possibly have the mental capacity and skills necessary to pwn your newbie ass in Counterstrike.
* Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.
AKA the "David Grossman has convinced enough people to repeat him that it must be true" fallacy"
* Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.
But toilet seat art is.
* Video game play is socially isolating.
Because we gamers hate playing with each other, and we would never talk to each other about what games we play.
* Video game play is desensitizing.
This one may be true. It's desensitized me to television.
Anyway, the article is much better-written than my commentary. Check it out here:
Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked
Labels: Politics
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:53 AM (Permalink)
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If PBS is tearing down the negative myths of gaming (okay, PBS posting an article by Henry Jenkins doing the previously stated), I figure this can only be a good thing.
I want to see the series that this article's tied to, but SDPB isn't turning up anything. Can anyone else find "The Video Game Revoltion" in their station's listings, or is this just an early promotion?
I want to see the series that this article's tied to, but SDPB isn't turning up anything. Can anyone else find "The Video Game Revoltion" in their station's listings, or is this just an early promotion?
# posted by 
: August 26, 2008 1:43 PM
: August 26, 2008 1:43 PM
I agree with all of it except for one thing: The fact that a lot of games have a social element to them does in no way whatsoever mean that games aren't socially isolating.
Sure, if you play a social game you're "socializing"... with other gamers... through the internet/Xbox live/etc. This counts as socializing now?
Or say play pen and paper RPGs then, in real life. What are the proportions of "gamers" to "non gamers" in a person's real life? It varies. For me personally, I know a total of 4 people who I can sit down and "game" with. So if I limit my social circle to those 4 people, I'm not socially isolated then?
Also, the examples in the article only go to show that playing video games CAN be social. It does in no way swhow that playing video games by itself IS social. (It isn't). Theory dies in the face of results, and a few isolated cases of one researcher noting how a couple spouses or friends play a game together does not eclipse the scads and scads of non-gamer wives and girlfriends who get frustrated and angry and resign themselves everyday at the ridiculous amount of time their husband or boyfriend spends alone in front of the screen.
However the rest of the article was very good.
Sure, if you play a social game you're "socializing"... with other gamers... through the internet/Xbox live/etc. This counts as socializing now?
Or say play pen and paper RPGs then, in real life. What are the proportions of "gamers" to "non gamers" in a person's real life? It varies. For me personally, I know a total of 4 people who I can sit down and "game" with. So if I limit my social circle to those 4 people, I'm not socially isolated then?
Also, the examples in the article only go to show that playing video games CAN be social. It does in no way swhow that playing video games by itself IS social. (It isn't). Theory dies in the face of results, and a few isolated cases of one researcher noting how a couple spouses or friends play a game together does not eclipse the scads and scads of non-gamer wives and girlfriends who get frustrated and angry and resign themselves everyday at the ridiculous amount of time their husband or boyfriend spends alone in front of the screen.
However the rest of the article was very good.
# posted by : August 26, 2008 2:18 PM
: August 26, 2008 2:18 PM
Harry - I think it depends on the game.
Rock Band is an INCREDIBLY social game. Sure, you can play it by yourself, but the game is really geared for playing in a group.
Fighting games experienced their heyday in the early-to-mid 90's because of the social aspect, even in the blatantly competitive form. Or maybe because of that. They gave the arcades an extra half-decade of life, I think, because of the public arena format.
I listen to people talking about their World of Warcraft raid the night before, and compare it to our "debriefing" sessions we used to go through after out lunch-time battles in Falcon 4.0, ATF Gold, Rainbow Six, or Operation: Flashpoint, and how people use those shared experiences to relate to each other.
So while I'd agree with you that gaming as a whole is not inherently social (though some games are), I agree with the article that it's not inherently socially isolating, either.
Rock Band is an INCREDIBLY social game. Sure, you can play it by yourself, but the game is really geared for playing in a group.
Fighting games experienced their heyday in the early-to-mid 90's because of the social aspect, even in the blatantly competitive form. Or maybe because of that. They gave the arcades an extra half-decade of life, I think, because of the public arena format.
I listen to people talking about their World of Warcraft raid the night before, and compare it to our "debriefing" sessions we used to go through after out lunch-time battles in Falcon 4.0, ATF Gold, Rainbow Six, or Operation: Flashpoint, and how people use those shared experiences to relate to each other.
So while I'd agree with you that gaming as a whole is not inherently social (though some games are), I agree with the article that it's not inherently socially isolating, either.
Calli - It's supposed to air September 8, but I'm not seeing it in my local listings, either. However, the time horizon is supposed to be 2 weeks, and the show is just barely over 2 weeks away (two weeks from TOMORROW).
I'll try again in a couple of days.
Unless it actually aired a year ago and I missed it... :)
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I'll try again in a couple of days.
Unless it actually aired a year ago and I missed it... :)
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