F08 CPSC203 T09 GROUP 3

Team Members

 * Brett Olsen
 * Kyla Johnston
 * Jason Paul
 * Rohit Sood 

Technology

 * Technology: Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG's)

Research Question
Is the growing prominence of Massively Multiple Online Role Playing Games negatively influencing society. What effects do these games have on society; in the physical, social, mental and economic realms.

History
The first commercially sold video game was the coin operated “Video Space”. Since this, video games and the people who play them have become more sophisticated than ever. It is now the 21st century the video game industry has become an extremely valuable commodity, both for its technological aspects and now more than ever its social aspects. The gaming market has grown to such a level that it has now been faced by skepticism as well as praise. Video gaming is now a multi-billion dollar industry and as with any dispute dealing with this amount of money there are groups on either side of the fence trying to reach into the pot and capitalize off of it. As with anything there is as much money to be made from pain as there is from pleasure.  

Major Issues
The issues that have been raised by the media include physical, mental and social parameters. Critics view these from positive as well as negative angles. The focus of this discussion will be the awarness we can gain from the section we will be discussing the physical awareness spectrum of this analysis. The notion that “anything bad is good for you” is essentially the stance that supporters of video games have had to take. It is much more difficult to assess the positive physical aspects of video games when the negatives are so awfully pungent.  

Physical Aspect


Childhood obesity has always been a hot button issue; however it has never been as easy to point the finger as it is today. Video games and the various console makers have been slandered all over the media. It seems that now more than ever, the ‘nay sayers’ of the media are turning on the obese like egg salad in the sun. Although our society is healthier than ever, the one last bastian of the sedentary appears to be within the sanctuary of a dragon filled layer or on the front lines of a virtual battlefield. There is no doubt that people who compulsively play video games will inevitably become the victim of unhealthy eating, and decrease their overall physical output, so how can the video game industry possibly counteract this wave of negative publicity.

One of the approaches that have been taken is to take into account the visual/sensory motor skills which may be developed by long term video game exposure. The argument is that the problems which must be solved and dealt with in a video game are much more demanding and intellectually stimulating than their traditional counterparts. Game manufacturers have conducted testing which test for abilities like visual recognition. This involves placing a number of stimuli in a room, showing them to a participant and then removing some of the objects and showing the same person. Statistics say that people who have a higher exposure to video games are more likely to develop skills which will allow them to better apply the principles of continuity.

Social Aspect
The Growth of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) show no signs of slowing down. One of the most well known games; World of Warcraft (WOW) just reached eleven million subscribers at the end of October. With the high level of societal involvement, there are social ramifications. Within the persistent virtual worlds of MMORPG’s relationships are formed, in fact many claim that this is their main rationale for playing. The creation of relationships within the virtual world can create a sense of companionship and accomplishment as well as leadership. Through the experiences in game play strong emotions are shared furthering relationship, thus causing a deeper level of emotional attachment. However when virtual relationships occur over long periods of time they can often blur the boundary between reality and the virtual world, often leading to taking the game more seriously than reality. One account of this occurred in WOW where a user through the development of her virtual relationship, found herself more attracted to her virtual boyfriend than her actual boyfriend in reality. The relationships coexisted briefly but she found her self in conflict because the relationship online began to overlap into her reality. She ended the relationship with her boyfriend in reality in order to further pursue the relationship she had started online.<BR><BR>http://www-tc.pbs.org/mediashift/files/guild.jpg

Virtual relationships many argue allow for users to be more expressive and engage in more social interactions. Despite this, virtual social interactions are very different from face to face social interactions. Virtual social relationships are far more impersonal and lack verbal cues compared with face to face interaction. It creates an environment where relationships can be developed and maintained, but relationship norms found in reality do not apply. For instance a lot of users lie about most aspects of their real self as they promote their virtual idealized self image to others. Why would you    identify your self, when you don’t have to share the aspects you don’t like about your real-world identity. The ability to lie about possibly every aspect of yourself does not create the basis for a good personal relationship with someone as it is not their true self. The virtual relationships are built disregarding gender, physical appearance and relationships outside the virtual world, when these are brought up it often creates tension in the relationship because these are aspects that relationships are based on within reality creating a sense of uncertainty and lack of trust within virtual relationships. <BR><BR>

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj116/melissa_martin26/gamer.jpg

The basis of MMORPG’s are built on the premise of a realm of continuous play, which is intended to keep large amounts of users. However the persistent virtual world often causes users to neglect their responsibilities within reality. As users become more involved in the game and realize the mechanics behind it their play time increases. As a result of increased play family and friends are often left by the wayside. In certain cases even more responsibilities within reality are neglected. In an article in the Boston Globe last June, one former gamer who was interviewed admitted that he could not hold down a job because he focused majority of his time his character development in WOW. The commitment to game play by many MMORPG users is often compared to Substance Addiction, and is now being treated along side these. <BR><BR>

Mental Aspect
http://blogimages.flashedcoder.com/images/mygamingden.com/450135071105.JPG<BR><BR> Video Games are really helpful in improving the logic and ability to solve problems. This is because most games involve some sort of strategy that you need to find out and improve as the game progresses; this is effectively training your brain's logic and strategic abilities thus making it more efficient and effective. Your hand eye coordination is greatly improved playing video games. Nearly all video games require continual fast, accurate and precise hand, finger and thumb movements. This strengthens the muscles in your hands and greatly improves your hand eye co-ordination. Reaction speeds increase hugely from playing video games. In nearly all video games you often need to react fast. Obviously if you do something a lot then you are going to get better at it and it is for this reason that video games improve reflexes and reaction speeds. Video games improve your concentration span. Because in most of games one needs to concentrate for extended periods of time; the slightest lapse in concentration will be punished in nearly all games. If you concentrate a lot then your concentration span will increase. Children get exposure to computer technology by playing video games. They learn skills of how to follow directions. Video game also acts as a window to information technology. Video game practising provides the imrovement in motor driving skills. Parents and children play together, this increases the interaction and improves the understanding between them. Last but not the least, video games are a good entertainment. When one is upset or mentally tired video games not only refresh the mind but also induce new energy in it.

Video games have a lot of good aspects associated with them, but there are some negative things also linked with them. It has been seen that excessively playing violent video games tends to increase agressive thoughts, feelings and, behaviour of the person. Many young children who are addicted to video games show a very strange behaviour. They keep themselves confined to their rooms, ignore family and friends, are not worried about food or having bath.Their grades also start dropping.This addiction sometimes can prove more dangerous than addiction for drugs or alcohol.

http://tech2.in.com/media/images/uploads/2006/06/rehab.jpg

Bretts sources
http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2001/12/48479 <Br>

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/entertainment/mediawise/parents_guide_to_video_games/detriments_of_video_games.aspx <Br>

http://www.knowledge.hut.fi/projects/games/gamelinks.html <Br>

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/6/e1627 <Br>

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1054139X06000590 <Br>

http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_effect.shtml <Br>

http://www.gameinnovator.com/health.php <Br>

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E5DC143FF935A15753C1A9609C8B63 <Br>

http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/07/the_positive_ef.html <Br>

http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/kooijmans.html

Kyla's Sources
http://csaweb116v.csa.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ids70/view_record.php?id=1&recnum=0&log=from_res&SID=huufu7smurt8nji5jd6jfm3tm0&mark_id=search%3A1%3A0%2C0%2C

http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary/Top?adv.x=1&f00=text&p00=MMOGs+AND+Social&id=10176208>.

http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary/Top?adv.x=1&f00=text&id=10173666&layout=document&p00=MMOGs+AND+reality+AND+interactions

http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/lib/ucalgary/Doc?id=10120431

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ehost/external?vid=2&hid=114&sid=33c82c2e-267d-4f87-ab37-e3748854a5d0%40sessionmgr103

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html;jsessionid=DB84081AC2EF1BCBBC240E4721C9C7B2.app03_02?topicId=1905721688&sid=1

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/06/08/craft_addicts/

http://www-tc.pbs.org/mediashift/files/guild

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj116/melissa_martin26/gamer

Rohit's Sources
http://www.mygamingden.com/Section/Virtual-Life.html

http://www.quazen.com/Games/Video-Games/Five-Amazing-Health-Benefits-of-Video-Games.103167

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/

http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/11/1573

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/good_things_videogames.cfm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/16/eveningnews/eyeontech/main4453801.shtml

http://tech2.in.com/media/images/uploads/2006/06/rehab.