Final Words

Since the due date is on the morrow, I decided to have a round up of my thoughts on gaming and gaming culture.

By now, we should all recognise the level of impact of games and gamers in society and how games are pretty much the next excuse in a history where the parents never accept the full responsibility for the inability to control the devices children chose to become familiar with, and lets not forget that children are not the only ones easily swayed by media to believe what is good and bad. Propoganda has always been a tool to convince adults to believe in what (especially during war time periods) and depending on how you view religion, has swayed millions to follow its words. But the fact that we are "thinking of the children" but to much causes the problem.

I agree that games can cause problematic use rather than addiction. Though the videos we see are the rare cases of people going over the top, especially on the recent WoW series (though I find them more on a entertainment level than serious) - The Dorklyst: The 10 Greatest World of Warcraft Videos on the Internet. For me, it's just a way to entertain myself, I chose to play games over watching tv or spending countless hours on facebook or internet. I think that in some cases, the achievements give a false sense of accomplishment, yes it is in a way impressive (defend myself a little since I do in some games play to achieve all accomplishments to attain platinum trophy on ps3) but I don't let it become top priority. Also have seen it first hand with a friend who turned to WoW because his character "lives a life more successful than his own." Thankfully he recognized that he was losing everything in his real life and quit playing.

Female representation in gaming is also a big issue, but I think its because its more to western culture than a sexist factor. Lets put it this way, there are still a shit tonne more male action heroes in film than women. That's just how western culture is, and if you think about it, in most cultures around the world, men have taken the physical lead, in war, battle, hunting etc. Gaming wise, I think follow suit. I think there is a growth in female protagonists that arn't just for eye candy. I think that some characters are "sexed up" for the fact that the old term of sex sells applies just as much to gaming as it does in other media. Just like most ads with models are in lingerie and bikini's. Im not against female heroes, and in the right game I think they are suited, but I can't see females in place of the men in Gears of War.

Overall, I think games are just misunderstood. And there are people who do give bad rep to gamers, but just because they are the ones we see, shouldn't assume the everyone is like that. I thoroughly enjoyed this course, probably my favourite paper lol.

And that, is how the cookie crumbles