First Person Shooter

About Us
Group Name:

FPS FTW

Group Members:

Goodgrove Kyle, Henderson Eric, Hong Alex, Kim Isaac, Llyod Alex

Topic & Issue
Our topic for this term project is a very popular game genre known as the First Person Shooter (FPS). In present day society it is rare for a person who plays video games regularly to not know what a FPS is.

The issue we have chosen that relates to our topic of First Person Shooter is the violence incorporated in this game genre. We will discuss the popularity, history and common definitions related to FPS gaming and the violence that may be part of or a result of it.

Problem Statement: Recent inclination of violence in teenagers raises the awareness of violence in videogames and how it relates to violence in reality. News reports have shown many teenagers have acquired the skills needed to handle a firearm through the realistic uses in a First Person Shooter video game. Incidents such as the Colombine shooting in 1999 and the recent Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 both had some relations to video game violence.

Definitions
Video Game:An electronic or computerized game played by manipulating images on a video display or television screen

First Person Shooter (FPS): A game genre where the player is placed in the first person view, which makes him/her believe they are in the game, this genre of gaming revolves around armed weaponry combat. Some common themes would be war, survival and futuristic combat.

Gamer: A popular term which refers to someone who plays video games regularly.

Noob Tube: A popular term for M203 Grenade launcher which only noobs use because they are unskilled.

Type of Gamers
Cherry Trooper: New to the first person gaming community.

Noob: A popular term which refers to someone who is new to the game, they play on a casual basis.

Pros: A gamer who devotes approximately 5-6 hours a day to gaming.

Hardcore: A gamer who plays more that 6 hours a day, keeps up with recent FPS game releases and events, is at the top of the line when it comes to playing FPS online.

Introduction
First Person Shooters where first introduced to the gaming community in 1992 with the release of Wolfenstein 3D. Throughout the years the gaming community has welcomed new and improved versions of the first person shooter genre, from Doom to the recent Call of Duty: World at War. Game developers work hard at improving the realism behind the first person shooter, from graphics to sounds of weaponry and explosions. The realism in the games play a major role in present day violence since the player is exposed to the use of firearms and explosives. This term project will bring you in depth on the discussion of first person shooters and the relationship it has with violence.

History


1992, the very first first person shooter game was released, Wolfenstein 3D was popular at the time. The game revolved around World War 2 and the fight against the Germans. A year later the release of Doom muffled the name of Wolfenstein, and its popularity deteriorated.

1993, the successor to Wolfenstein 3D came Doom, the story of a marine deployed on a unknown planet in hopes to discover new life. Although both Wolfenstein 3D and Doom were developed by the same company, Doom recieved greater acknowledgement.

1996, Quake was the first ever 3D FPS which moved from 2D pop up style gameplay to a full 3D game environment. The theme for quake was similar to Doom, futuristic combat against unknown enemies.

1996, Duke Nukem had the dominant theme of alien battle and futuristic combat, released at around the same time as Quake. Duke Nukem was popular for the violence, humor and coarse language.

1997, Goldeneye 007 which was based on the popular James Bond Movies. Goldeneye places the player in the shoes of James Bond, with the gadgets, guns and cars.

1998, Unreal was popular for the improvements in the graphics and realism compared to the previous FPS games, with similar themes to Doom and Duke Nukem.

1998, Half-Life was released by Valve, a gaming company who soon developed Counter Strike - one of the most popular FPS to this day. Half-Life was similarily themed as Unreal, Duke Nukem and Quake.

1999, Counter-Strike was released by Valve, a game based on counter-terrorism. This game was a great success since even to this day, all gamers know what CS (Counter-Strike) is.

2001, the release of Halo by Bungie caused an uproar in the FPS gaming community due to the unbelievable graphics and realistic environment. Playing as Master Chief, the player is a marine in a future based environment called Halo, battling aliens.

2004, Doom3 a successor to Doom (mentioned before) was released. Graphics slowly improve throughout the years but for the Doom series the release of Doom3 showed a major improvement in all fields, from sounds, realistic environment to graphics.

2004, Half-Life 2 was released with similar themes to Half-Life, its predecessor. With the new and improved engine and graphics, the game was more popular than its predecessor.

2005, Farcry: Instincts was the first popular war-based FPS since Wolfenstein 3D. The realism in weaponry and use of firearms slowly increase starting now.

2005, F.E.A.R a realistic game that was released in 2005. This game had everything to do with the supernatural, while players where scared out of their wits, they had the enjoyment of shooting aliens, mutants and monsters.

2006, Tom Clancy Rainbow Six Vegas was based off of Tom Clancy novels, the game was a realistic simulation of present day tactical operations performed by special weapon forces in the United States of America.

2007, Crysis was deemed the most realistic FPS of its time, where the environment was destructable down to a branch on a tree, the weapons use was too realistic.

2008, Call of Duty: World at War the most recent FPS up to this date that was released, COD5 is based on warfare between different countries in the world. The most recently realistic game, from weapon handling, reloading and realistic environment.

http://www.freeinfosociety.com/article.php?id=128 http://www.yougamers.com/articles/3624_a_brief_history_of_the_fps/

Our Issue


The brief history of First Person Shooter Games listed above all have their own unique distinction from the rest. In the early days of FPS games, such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom we were only exposed to small amounts of gore and violence, yet as the years pass the violence and gore increased at massive amounts, while ESRB readings try to categorize what is suitable for kids and teenagers, there is still a lot of games that are exposed to children which are filled with violence.

As a team we believe that most of the violence seen in video games are censored to a specific age group, the ESRB rating system tries their best to categorize the specific games a certain age group is allowed or not allowed to play. We also believe that it is the responsibility of the parents who let their children play these games and the responsibility of the retail distributers.

The single most targeted FPS game that governments and officials love to hold responsible for past and recent violence against is “Counter-Strike”. Counter-Strike has been criticised for its close to reality weapons arsenal and depiction of violence and weapons management, which allows players to virtually learn how to manage weapons such as common pistol to a automatic rifle like the M16.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/op-ed/1300-Inappropriate-Content-A-Brief-History-of-Videogame-Ratings-and-the-ESRB.2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board

Case Studies
http://www.mawared.org/english/?q=node/154

In 1999, 2 teenagers went on a massacre at the Colombine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado. This was the 4th deadliest school shooting in US history, the teens we said to have enjoyed playing Doom and Counter-Strike for numerous hours before the incident occured. Counter-strike is a famous First Person Shooter that revolves around counter-terrorism with realistic use of firearms ranging from pistols to automatic rifles.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virginiatech.shootings/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13296/Jack-Thompson-Blames-Bill-Gates-for-VT-Shooting/

2007 April 16th, a Korean teenager who was a senior Engineering student at Viginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, killed 32 people and wounded many others. This incident was claimed to be the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in US history. A lawyer, Jack Thompson, blames this incident to have some relations to the video game Counter-Strike, mentioned above.

Conclusion
In conclusion, studies have shown direct correlation between violence depicted in video games and violence displayed by players. Players with longer exposure to violent video games have shown much more aggressive behaviour toward opponents, and the level of violence increased with excitement or loss.