Why is it important to study Video Games?

The reading by Parron and Wolf reminded me a few years ago why I thought it would be interesting or important to study video games.

A few years ago I did a research paper on case that occurred in America, the Columbine school shooting where two male students killed 12 other students and a teacher along with severely injuring more and following through with suicide. Media was quick to make assumptions that the boys were influence by musician Marilyn Mason and ‘violent video games’.

Without sufficient research I feel like media is always quick to create and feed moral panics to society. It seems so simple to say that if an adolescent played video games, he is then capable of putting himself behind a gun and pulling the trigger. Perhaps I'm getting to psychological here but Parron and Wolf make valid points. The field of video game study as a disciple is quite limited and if university funding is subsided then needless to say doesn’t have a very bright future? Academic research would enable understanding of the element of performance. I think this is one of the most key points that it’s important to understand what you’re talking about. I played the game Tekken when I was a kid but I certainly didn’t grow up wanting to act it out. For me it was about the thrill and excitement of the game; the experience. I feel as though the element of performance have so many ways you could study it and that there is certainly more to what meets the eye. Social science indicates the many gamers use games to explore identity- the interactive element of video games requite its own close analysis. I think video games in the academic field could really break through if it is studied correctly without applying film theories etc to it.