Video Games

Christian Olson

College of Southern Maryland

Sociology 2010: Technology and Society

Oral Presentation

Prof. Lynx

12/2/14

Effects on Society

Gaming effects society in many ways. It can help better some skills or create new ones. It provides jobs, it can be a hobby, and it can help you learn.

Skills:

Hand Eye Coordination

Thinking skills

Strategy skills

Problem solving skills

Memory

And this isn’t really a skill but I feel that it applies: Video games lead to faster decisions that are no less accurate than to people who don’t play video games. And a study by scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster.

Jobs Gaming CreatesThere are many jobs gaming creates. So many things are involved with gaming.

Some jobs are:

Being someone who builds the PC/Console people play on, and making the components inside of them. There are tons of companies who making gaming components. For the PC you have ASUS, Razer, Logitech, Corsair, Roccat, Zowie, EVGA, and there are TONS more. All the PC parts play a role in gaming, same with consoles to.

Professional Gamer: You can play games at a high level and get paid large amounts of money. You can get paid salary from the organization you play for and collect tournament earnings.

Streamer/Youtuber: Someone who broadcasts there games over the internet and people can watch, and you get paid to do this if you're popular enough. People can Subscribe to you and donate to you.

Pro GamingCloud 9

The teams for this organization get paid salary

They have teams for Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Dota 2, Smite, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros, and Heros of the Storm.

StreamerSummit

The picture to the bottom right is a daily streamer on twitch(video game broadcasting site)

He is partnered: That means you make money doing this

He gets money every time someone subscribes to him, and donates to him, and even watches an add run on his channel.

He is a streamer that has probably gotten the most money out of donations alone. He was also once a professional gamer.

Gains & Losses

Gains:

All the skills and opportunities you get while playing these games.

Losses:

Social Skills

Free time

Expensive

Separation from reality

Put off education

Studies have shown that in extreme cases gamers have neglected their studies to the extent that they have dropped out of college and have been left with massive debts of unpaid fees and no chance of catching up on their studies after falling so far behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jom8qEl9WHo

Cost of GamingThe cost of gaming can vary. Its more on the expensive side but if you're buying a PC, putting a good amount of money into it is worth it. It will last you years. Consoles are still expensive but you don’t have to buy separate parts, just games.

Consoles:

Xbox One: Its on sale right now at Bestbuy for $349.99 and its normally $399.99.

Playstation 4: The PS4 is for sale at Bestbuy and its going for $399.99

PC: PC gaming varies a lot. It depends how much money you want to put into it. But if you want the best of the best for every component you will definitely be spending of 3k easily. But you wont need the best of the best, you can spend $600-$1000 on a pc and it will last you a few years. PC gaming costs more than console but is much better. There is a lot more customization.

History of GamingPast: Video games were very rare, not many people had them but as time passed more and more people bought them. The

first ones were on bulky computers with very poor graphics. Tennis for Two - It was a game created in the 1950’s and it displayed a tennis court side view and allowed players to volley

a ball using a box shape controller equipped with a knob for controlling trajectory and a button for hitting the ball. Pong - Its basically electronic ping pong, you would hit a ball back and forth like you do in real ping pong or tennis.

Present: Consoles: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Wii U PC Gaming: There is a lot more customization and is just better overall, people are maxing out their PC’s so they can run

the best settings. You can more FPS (frames per second) on a PC than on console. I can get 300 FPS on my PC which is really good. The variety of games you can get of the PC is huge. There are First Person Shooter games, MMO’s (massive multiplayer Online games, strategy games and more.

Future: The future of gaming is basically here. We are seeing the future of gaming happen now. People are putting tons of money into their computers to max out all there setting on their games and make them run

perfectly. The futures graphics are going to be so good that people will have trouble differentiating a video game from a real life

scene. Virtual reality has started to resurface back into the gaming industry. Like the Oculus rift, it’s a VR head mounted display

and you look into the head mount and play the game by doing so. Another thing we are going to see more of is Secondary screens for gaming, an Ex. is the Wii U, Sony cross play. And smart glass.

Why I Chose This TopicI am a huge gamer. I’ve been gaming since I was five It all started on the Playstation 2 that I got for Christmas. I currently own an Xbox one, Xbox 360, and I’ve recently built a Gaming Computer I play Counter Strike: Global Offensive at a high level I have been to a few LANs, LAN: local area network, basically a place where people meet and play in

gaming tournamentsA few games I play: Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Call of Duty NHL 15 DayZ League of Legends

Theory: Symbolic InteractionismSymbolic Interactionism: focuses on everyday social interaction among individuals rather on large

scale societal structures micro level focuses on patterns of social interaction in specific settings

How does this relate to gaming? If your playing video games you can have a lot, or close to no social interaction. If you're playing

online games you can talk to people and your friends but you won’t have that face to face social interaction.

If you’re not playing online or with other people you wont have any social interaction

Sociologist: George Herbert Mead Founder of Pragmatism: Pragmatism is a reasonable and logical way of doing things or of thinking about problems

that is based on dealing with specific situations instead of on ideas and theories

He attended Oberlin College and graduated in 1883 with a BA degree

Enrolled at Harvard University in 1887 studying philosophy and sociology, and graduated with a Masters degree in 1888.

Taught at the University of Michigan in 1891 where he met Charles Horton Cooley and John Dewey, both of whom would influence his work greatly. In 1894 he moved to the University of Chicago where he taught until his death.

Contributions to Sociology:

Known for his theory of Social Self

Social Self: Is based on the central argument that the self is a social emergent. The social conception of the self entails that individual selves are the products of social interaction and not the logical or biological preconditions of that interaction. It is not initially there at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity

Pioneered the development of the symbolic interaction perspective

Was a founder for social psychology

Empirical Research Study My research study was about if online gaming could help people learn a second language. The study was on

college age Spanish learners and they would participate in the Spanish version of the game World of Warcraft. The article focuses on how online games might be used for language teaching and learning.

Games like World or Warcraft are MMO’s, they encourage experimentation and interaction among players. The players were asked to play the game over a seven week period. And at every two weeks the would be interviewed.

They would be interviewed on:

How their gameplay experience was

The challenges they had

How they interacted with other players

How well they perceived their language proficiency to be developing

Findings:

Playing World of Warcraft helped the players Spanish language develop, and be social and fluent while using the language

Learning a new language can be enhanced by a more structured approach to introducing MMO’s into learning environments like a classroom

Emilio (participant in study) started off in a beginner Spanish guild and worked his was way up to a highly competitive Spanish language guild

Comparing and Contrasting

Comparing:

Its not just MMO’s that can help you learn a second language. I play CS:GO (FPS) and people from all around the world play it, so playing online with people who speak another language can definitely help you learn it.

And it can be like this with any game that is played around the world

Contrasting:

This may help learning parts of the language but you can learn the whole thing just by playing the game.

Textbook Application: The Internet and Social Life

This article is about how the internet is changing our social life. It can make people lonely, depressed, it can have different kinds of effects on people They had a Random Sample Survey by Howard and he concluded that “the Internet allows people to stay in touch

with family and friends and, in many cases, extend their social networks.This goes with gaming because: Gaming definitely can extend social networks When you're playing online games you're introduced to millions of people You can have your own clan, guild, or group of friends that you play with, and you can start to build relationships with

these people you play with

Social Activist Group: Mothers Against Videogame

Addiction and Violence (MAVAV) Founded in December of 2002 This is an organization to educate parents of how addicting video games are getting

and how violent they really are. They even compare video game addiction to drug and alcohol abuse, they think violent

video games are brainwashing kids and turning them into killers. They want parents to be aware of the hidden dangers of playing these games Their last post on their website was May 08, 2007 so im guessing they weren't a

successful group. Their forums don't even work.

My Opinion on Gaming Its more beneficial than people think, it helps with a lot of skills Gaming is only getting bigger, it's getting more and more popular

Three major points: Gaming can help you improve various skills In 2013 video games were a 65 billion dollar industry Gaming can improve social interaction among people who play online

References 1. "Future of Gaming: 5 Exciting Emerging Trends." Hongkiatcom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/future-of-gaming/2. "Impact of Computer Games on Society - Content Writer." Content Writer. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov.

2014.http://www.contentedwriter.com/impact-of-computer-games-on-society/3. "Learn About Pragmatist Sociologist George Herbert Mead." About. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

http://sociology.about.com/od/Profiles/p/George-Herbert-Mead.htm4. "Raise Smart Kid." Raise Smart Kid. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.

http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games5. "Video Games Lead to Faster Decisions That Are No Less Accurate." Video Games Lead to Faster

Decisions That Are No Less Accurate. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.http://rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3679

6. "MAVAV | Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence." MAVAV | Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence. N.p., 2002-2006. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.

http://www.mavav.org/7. BuzzFeedPop. "5 Studies That Prove Video Games Are Good For You." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Oct. 2013. Web. 02

Dec. 2014.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jom8qEl9WHo

8. McKenna, Katelyn Y. A. "The Internet and Social Life." Technology and Society. By John A. Bargh. Dubuque: Kendall, 2010. 249-64. Print.

References Continued9. Rama, Paul S. "Affordances for Second Language Learning in World of Warcraft." ProQuest 5000. ProQuest, 24 Nov.

2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://search.proquest.com/printviewfile?accountid=10274>.