Week 11 Response

My questions for the week were:

How do games effect people?

Do games allow the player express individual morality?

What sociological impact do games make on groups of people?

The creation of interactive entertainment has redefined, but not reshaped how human being compete with one another. Like other entertainment formats, video games have both positive and negative effects on how human beings act. It is arguable that games allow the individual to express their own morality. Today in class I thought that it was a very striking thing to talk about a small child’s reaction to playing one of the controversial Grand Theft Auto games. The boy committed several acts of murder and extortion, yet obeyed traffic laws and wept over hitting pedestrians. Could it be that games like so many other forms of expression allow people to act out their beliefs? The effect of games is even more dramatic in regards to group interaction.

In terms of sociology, gaming in this medium has allowed a wide variety of individuals to interact and form bonds over objective based gaming. Whether it is storming the beaches of Normandy for the umpteenth time, helping Mario defeat Bowser, or gunning down the Nuremberg speedway in sports cars a community is creating by this shared experience. Whether it is an individuals satisfaction via entertainment or meeting of like minded individuals, the interactive gamer remains a fixture in the interactive consumer landscape.

Tags: online gaming, video game