Violence and the distinction between fantasy and reality

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/21/fantasy-and-reality-can-gamers-tell/

I was searching through rockpapershotgun and found this article that found a research article that stated “Nottingham Trent university researchers have revealed that gamers get so immersed in fantasy that they are unable to distinguish the real world.” The authors at rockpapershotgun quickly tear apart the researchers argument, which is fair enough as only 42 people were interviewed and they were the ages between 15 and 21. The researchers are clearly using the fact that society like to blame video games for the “bad things” that are being taught to their kids, even though they do not have enough evidence to back up their far fetched claims.

After reading this I began to look at articles about violence and video games, and obviously there are millions of articles blaming teenage violence on video games. Video games are the scapegoat for the media to blame violence on and it seems like their taking the easy way out by blaming games, instead of addressing the real problems that their kids are having.

http://www.gamestudies.org/0102/newman/

I also found this article which analyzes the relationship between players and the system/gameworld. This relationship is described as “a continuous feedback loop where the player must be seen as both implied by, and implicated in, the construction and composition of the experience.” I think this connects to what has been said in the lectures about immersion and how the gamers experience is influenced. This article does not actually mention violence, but I think it connects to the myth of “video games cause violence” because it emphasizes the interaction of video games. People choose to play violent games but that does not mean they are going to go and commit violent acts. The article continues as he states that “the primary-player may not see themselves as any one particular character on the screen, but rather as the sum of every force and influence that comprises the game.” There is a clear difference between the gameworld and the real world, and even if the gamer is completely immersed while playing the video game, it does not mean they are going to continue to think they are in the game once it has finished. 

I’m sure I will have more to write about on this topic after the lectures this week.