Computer Gaming

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that educators and parents are concerned mostly about the amount of violence in computer games, which not only assaults kids with sex and violence, but also induces them to imitate what they see on the screen, ultimately causing them to lose their moral compasses. The author points out that researchers also have looked at positive aspect of electronic games, such as virtual reality (VR) and computer simulations, as educational tools for language learning and self-esteem and skill building. The paper relates that some research has found that gaming cannot be considered addictive, that arcade guests were not special in alarming ways, and that there was no correlation between heavy game use and mental disorders or delinquent behavior.

From the Paper:

"The people on the other side of the argument, those who do not agree with the association of violence and media, report that youth crime has dropped sharply in the last decade. From 1992, the year "Mortal Kombat" debuted to year 2000, arrests for serious juvenile crime fell by about two-thirds, while the number of children carrying guns to school dropped by half. Game supporters say that their opponents gloss over the large amount of evidence that does not support a link between watching portrayals of violence and engaging in violent behavior. As scholars such as University of Toronto psychologist Jonathan Freedman and University of Southern California sociologist Karen Sternheimer have shown, experimental studies that alarmists cite may hinge on self-fulfilling prophecies, with researchers pushing subjects into giving the "right" answer. Furthermore, it is not clear how the stimuli and measures of aggression used in the highly artificial setting of a laboratory relate to viewing and violence in the real world."

More papers on Computer Gaming:

• Research Paper # 105743 : "Girls and Computer Gaming"
• Essay # 16496 : "Computer Gaming Technology"
• Descriptive Essay # 133307 : "Computer Games Architecture: The Development of Character Modeling in Adult Computer Games"

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