MediaMagazine Articles

Why should we study digital games?


http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/Digit_Games1.html


"The massive popularity of digital gaming does not, however, mean that the medium has become ‘respectable’. Despite (or perhaps because of) its popularity, gaming has something of a bad reputation, while games are branded a ‘bad influence’. Politicians and talk-show hosts have claimed that games make children anti-social, that digital games reduce the scope of players’ imaginations, or that they promote real life violence. These claims are often sensational, rather than accurate. Meanwhile, the creative, innovative or progressive aspects of digital games are overlooked."

"There are also those who are more concerned by the notion that games negatively affect their users. Games have been vilified in the popular press for their supposed violence. Much of the apparent evidence for the link is founded on poorly conceived or simplistic research methods, generally combined with a very narrow understanding of what constitutes play, or a game, or violence. Digital games are accountable for their content, just as any other form of media must be. But, as yet, there is no compelling reason to single games out as having a greater ‘influence’ than television, for example."


Why study digital games? Part 2


http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/Digit_Games2.html


"Games and conflict
Any game has always been an enactment and representation of conflict. Even playing noughts and crosses is a competition between two people. Chess is one of the most ancient games, known to many civilisations, and it is a highly stylised representation of two armies at war. Here are some key ideas to follow up and research further.
• Make a list of games which involve conflict or competition (and work out what the difference is between these two closely-related ideas).
• Try to describe what kinds of conflict happen in different computer game genres, such as First-Person Shooters, Action/Adventure Games, and Role-Playing Games.
• How is human conflict represented in the game? What kinds of conflict in the real world are being referred to? Who are the protagonists and antagonists? (Dramatic terms for goodies and baddies!) How is the cause, purpose and resolution of conflict shown?
• How far can the representations of conflict be taken at face value? Might they be metaphors for different kinds of danger in real life? If your avatar kills a group of zombies, what does this mean? What do zombies, monsters and creatures represent?
• Think about the question of realism – how realistic is the conflict and the violence it involves, in a visual sense? But also think how this ‘realism’ is modified by other aspects of the game – the scoring system, the structure of the combat sequences, the point-of-view offered to the player, the world in which the game is set; and finally, the status of the text as a game. Also, think about humour – many games use humorous or ironic devices which, again, affect how the violence is experienced by the player.
• Think about the kind of emotional experience players get from combat sequences in games. Basically, there are two arguments here: violence in games promotes more violent behaviour in real life; or violence in games allows you to get it out of your system so that you’re less likely to be violent in real life. A third argument says it’s nothing to do with violence really – it’s fantasy, and we know it’s fantasy. What arguments can be developed along these lines? Who makes the arguments? What reasons might they have? Are they similar to arguments about violence which have been made before in relation to other media?"


Categories of violence


http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/Cat%20of%20violence.html

"Here are the four key assumptions that underpin the tradition of concern about the effects of media violence:

1. ‘Violence’ is a unit of meaning that can be abstracted from occasions and modes of occurrence, and measured – with the correspondent assumption that the more violence there is, the greater its potential for influence.

2. There is a mechanism, usually called ‘identification’, which makes viewers of ‘violence’ vulnerable to it – such that it thereby becomes a ‘message’ by which they are invaded and persuaded.

3. The task of media researchers is to identify those who are especially ‘vulnerable’ to the influence of these ‘messages’.

4. All these can be done on the presumption that such messages are ‘harmful’, because ‘violence’ is intrinsically anti-social."


Pleasure and pain: Why we need violence in the movies


http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/Violenceonfilm.html

" It’s true that the rapid development of the cinema and other media technologies in the last hundred years has given rise to a previously unimaginable array of ways to view violence; but let’s not forget that any violence witnessed before our cinematic age was, excluding the theatre, very real and undoubtedly very violent. However, despite how horrific these gladiator tournaments, public executions and bare-knuckle boxing matches may have been, it may still be harmful in today’s climate to be surrounded by cinematic death and destruction. In fact, some may argue that the flippancy and quantity with which this ‘fake’ violence is manufactured may be creating a dangerously casual and deluded attitude towards suffering."

Google Scholar Articles

Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life
Craig A. Anderson
Department of Psychology
University of Missouri–Columbia

Karen E. Dill
Department of Psychology
Lenoir-Rhyne College

http://web.clark.edu/mjackson/anderson.and.dill.html


"The positive association between violent video games and aggressive personality is consistent with a developmental model in which extensive exposure to violent video games (and other violent media) contributes to the creation of an aggressive personality. The cross-sectional nature of this study does not allow a strong test of this causal hypothesis, but a zero or negative correlation would have disconfirmed the hypothesis, so the test is a legitimate one. "


Cultural Framing of Computer/Video Games
Kurt Squire
Instructional Systems Technology
Indiana University

http://gamestudies.org/0102/squire/?ref=HadiZayifla.Com

"Few, if any researchers have studied how and why people play games, and what gaming environments are like. The few times researchers have asked these questions, they have found surprising results. In 1985, Mitchell gave Atari 2600 consoles to twenty families and found that most families used the game systems as a shared play activity. Instead of leading to poor school performance, increased family violence, or strained family interactions, video games were a positive force on family interactions, "reminiscent of days of Monopoly, checkers, card games, and jigsaw puzzles" (Mitchell, 1985, p.134). This study suggests that investigators might benefit by acknowledging the cultural contexts of gaming, and studying game-playing as a cultural practice. If nothing else, it highlights the importance of putting aside preconceptions and examining gamers on their own terms."


Content and Ratings of Teen-Rated Video Games
Kevin Haninger; Kimberly M. Thompson, ScD

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/291/7/856

"Children's exposure to violence, blood, sexual themes, profanity, substances, and gambling in the media remains a source of public health concern. However, content in video games played by older children and adolescents has not been quantified or compared with the rating information provided to consumers by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)."


Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children's Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood
Michele J. Fleming,
Debra J. Rick Wood

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb00163.x/abstract

"This study investigated the relationship between violent video games and children's mood. A total of 71 children aged 8 to 12 years played a paper-and-pencil game, a nonviolent video game, and a violent video game. Results indicate that arousal, as measured by heart rate and self-reported arousal, increased significantly after playing the violent video game, as compared with the other two game conditions, with girls reporting more arousal than did boys. There was no significant increase in aggressive mood scores for either boys or girls after playing the violent game. Positive mood, as measured by positive affect, showed no significant increases or decreases after playing either video game. However, positive mood, as measured by general mood, showed a significant increase after playing the violent game for both boys and girls, but only as compared with the paper-and-pencil game. Results are interpreted in terms of social learning and cognitive information processing theories of aggression."


The Emotional Appeal of Violent Video Games for Adolescent Males
Jeroen Jansz

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2005.tb00334.x/abstract

"It is argued that violent video games provide a gratifying context for the experience of emotions. The fact that gamers are largely in control of the game implies that they can voluntarily select the emotional situations they confront. This freedom is attractive for adolescents who are in the midst of constructing an identity. For them, the violent game is a safe, private laboratory where they can experience different emotions, including those that are controversial in ordinary life. Gamers may deliberately select emotions that sustain dominant masculine identity (e.g., anger), as well as emotions that are at odds with dominant masculinity (e.g., fear)."


Violent Virtual Video Games and Hostile Thoughts
Tamborini, Ron; Eastin, Matthew S.; Skalski, Paul; Lachlan, Kenneth

http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/jbem48&div=28&id=&page=

"The enormous controversy surrounding violent video games has been fueled by conflicting claims about the nature of their content and the relationship between game use and hostility."


Affect of the Game Player: Short-Term Effects of Highly and Mildly Aggressive Video Games
Craig A. Anderson
Catherine M. Ford
Rice University

http://psp.sagepub.com/content/12/4/390.short

"The high-aggression game led to higher hostility than the mild-aggression game, but the difference was not significant. However, those who had played the high-aggression game were significantly more anxious than either those who played the mild-aggression game or those who played no game (control). As expected, the experimental manipulation of game playing did not yield a main effect on depressive affect. Finally, there was a marginally significant sex by game interaction effect on the depression scores."


Video and Computer Games: Effect on Children and Implications for Health Education
Steve M. Dorman

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1746-1561.1997.tb03432.x/abstract

"Video and computer-based games have assumed a prominent role in the culture of American children and adolescents. Given the pervasiveness of their influence, it is likely that these games may affect the health and well-being of children."


Media Violence Research and Youth Violence Data: Why Do They Conflict?
Cheryl K. Olson, M.P.H., S.D.

http://www.ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/144

"Contrary to media headlines and public perceptions, there is little evidence of a substantial link between exposure to violent interactive games and serious real-life violence or crime. Conclusion: Further research is needed on whether violent games may affect less dramatic but real concerns such as bullying, fighting, or attitudes and beliefs that support aggression, as well as how effects may vary by child characteristics and types of games. There is also a need for research on the potential benefits of violent games for some children and adults."


Psychological Processes Promoting the Relation Between Exposure to Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior by the Viewer
L. Rowell Huesmann

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1986.tb00246.x/abstract

"A developmental theory is presented to account for the relation between increased exposure to media violence and increased aggressive behavior. It is argued that the effect of media violence on individual differences in aggression is primarily the result of a cumulative learning process during childhood. Aggressive scripts for behavior are acquired from observation of media violence and aggressive behavior itself stimulates the observation of media violence. In both childhood and adulthood, certain cues in the media may trigger the activation of aggressive scripts acquired in any manner and thus stimulate aggressive behavior. A number of intervening variables may either mitigate or exacerbate these reciprocal effects. If undampened, this cumulative learning process can build enduring schemas for aggressive behavior that persist into adulthood. Thus, early childhood television habits are correlated with adult criminality independently of other likely causal factors. It is concluded that interventions directed at mitigating the effects of media violence on delinquency and criminality should focus on the preadolescent years."

Critical Investigation Title

"How is violence portrayed in modern videogames, such as the 'Call of Duty' series, and does this negatively affect players/audiences and why?"


Title Keywords & Synonyms:

Violence -> Blood and Gore/Snuff -> Murder of NPCs -> Photorealistic violence

Videogames -> Medium of play (Consoles vs PC and related demographic) -> Modern Technology -> Digital Media and Distribution

Demgraphic -> Audience and Players/Playerbase -> Age Restrictions and sutibility vs 'Obscene' content -> ESRB ratings

Gameplay -> Enemies/evil faction (linked to diversity, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia) -> In-game mechanics and rewards -> Multiplayer incentives and experience

Call of Duty -> Medal of Honor -> Prototype -> Mass Effect

Research and Articles for Critical Investigation

Separating fact from fiction in video game debate
Source: Tampa Bay Online
Key Quotes:

"Our overriding concern is that the science has been poorly communicated to the general public, exaggerating the notion of harmful effects and giving rise to urban legends such as that the "interactive" nature of video games makes them more harmful (not one iota of evidence to support such a belief) or that media violence effects are similar to smoking and lung cancer research (an obviously absurd claim)."

"As video games have soared in popularity, youth violence has plummeted to 40-year lows. Of course, video games are probably not the cause of this decline, but we now know video games have not sparked a youth violence crisis."

"A voluntary Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating system (much like the voluntary movie rating system, which is not government regulated, contrary to misunderstanding) already exists and is working well."


Relevance: Argues against the negative effects of Video-game violence and questions popular arguments and studies.

Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression
Source: Serendip
Key Quotes:

"Other games such as Unreal Tournament and Half-Life are gorier. In these games when characters get shot a large spray of blood covers the walls and floor near the character, and on the occasions when explosives are used, the characters burst into small but recognizable body parts."

"Results indicated that college students who had played a violent virtual reality game had a higher heart rate, reported more dizziness and nausea, and exhibited more aggressive thoughts in a posttest than those who had played a nonviolent game do."

"In order to totally assess the effects of game violence on its users, the limiting conditions under which there are effects must be taken into account, which include age, gender, and class/level of education."

Relevance: Shows various studies and arguments that support the notion of videogame violence leading to real violence.

Could Violent Video Games Reduce Rather Than Increase Violence?

Source: Science Daily
Key Quotes:

"Award-winning video games, such as the Grand Theft Auto series, thrive on murder, theft, and destruction on every imaginable level explains Kierkegaard, and gamers boost their chances of winning the game by a virtual visit to a prostitute with subsequent violent mugging and recovery of monies exchanged."

"Kierkegaard points out that these violent games are growing more realistic with each passing year and most relish their plots of violence, aggression and gender bias. But, he asks, "Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behaviour?"

"However, Kierkegaard explains, there is no obvious link between real-world violence statistics and the advent of video games. If anything, the effect seems to be the exact opposite and one might argue that video game usage has reduced real violence."

Do violent video games lead to real violence?
Source: HowStuffWorks
Key Quotes:

"Many people wonder how this type of exposure to violence as an adolescent effects social behavior. The rise in dramatically violent shootings by teenagers, many of whom apparently play violent video games, is helping the argument that video game violence translates into real-world situations. "

"Other people aren't convinced and insist that video games are a scapegoat for a shocking social trend that has people scared and looking to place blame. Entertainment media has always made a great scapegoat: In the 1950s, lots of people blamed comic books for kids' bad behavior"

"Researchers scanned the brains of 44 kids immediately after they played video games. Half of the kids played "Need for Speed: Underground," an action racing game that doesn't have a violent component. The other half played "Medal of Honor: Frontline," an action game that includes violent first-person shooter activity (the game revolves around the player's point of view). The brain scans of the kids who played the violent game showed increased activity in the amygdala, which stimulates emotions, and decreased activity in the prefrontal lobe, which regulates inhibition, self-control and concentration. These activity changes didn't show up on the brain scans of the kids playing "Need for Speed.""

Do violent computer games turn us into killers?
Source: TheGuardian.co.uk
Key Quotes:


Will photorealism make murderers of us all?
Source: TheGuardian.co.uk
Key Quotes:

Video games are good for children - EU report
Source: TheGuardian.co.uk
Key Quotes:

Study finds link between long-term aggression and video game violence
Source: TheGuardian.co.uk
Key Quotes:

The player: games do not kill empathy
Source: TheGuardian.co.uk
Key Quotes:

MIGRAIN & SHEP Analysis

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

M

• Entire game is shown through Point-of-view shots
• Music is a mixture of rock and grand classical scores
• While lighting is dynamic and can therefore vary, most of the lighting in the game is low key and is used to sillouette characters and enemies
• Colours tend to desaturate during dramtic scenes, often involving death or defeat
• In terms of 'editing,' the level structure switches between different parties and certain sequences are broken up (such as a death scene that we go back to after a brief intermission)

I

• Published by Activison (formally know as Activision-Blizzard) who own not only the Call Of Duty series but also other franchises such as the Guitar Hero series.
• Produced by Infinity Ward
• Is the 4th game in a series which had previously focused on fictional conflicts during World War 2

G

• Genre in terms of media is action, military, drama and suspense
• Genre in terms of games is a first-person military shooter

R

• The four main groups being represented are the SAS, the US Military Corps, the Taliban (indirectly) and the Russian Military
• Although the Taliban are typically 'evil,' the SAS and USMC are represented in a grey-manner; the SAS are shown to be disloyal, dishonest and bloodthirsty whilst the USMC are shown to be hot-headed, proud and occasionally foolish

A

• Target audience is males aged 16-25, typically middle-class
• Text provided gratification through escapism, and outlet of anger via ingame violence

I

• Ideologies present include the neccessity of war, but also the horrors and loss that occure due to it
• Also highlights the naivety of patrioism
• The moral grey soldiers find themselves in during conflict
• The text also includes a strong anti-nuke bias, almost to the point of outright suggesting that all countries should disarm themselves of nuclear weapons.

N

• Multi-stranded narritive
• Follows two characters until 3/4 of the way into the game, at which point the American soldier that we play as dies in a nuclear blast.
• Switches back and forth constantly and follow a chronological narrative except for one level, at which point we play as a Captain 15 years prior in order to learn of his history in the SAS.

S

• Some argue that it has made teenage boys 'shut-ins' and more antisocial as they stay insides and game rather than go out.
• Others would argue that it has made the current male teenage generation more prone to violent outburts and causes them to be more willing to partake in violence.
• However, others would counter that in that the game allows teenage males to have a healthy outlet for their anger and therefore makes them calmer and less aggressive out of game.

H

• The game touches on certain historical events (such as the Cherynobl nuclear reactor explosion) and politcal tension (such as Russia vs the US)

E

• The game was a huge hit and was the highest grossing military shooter ever made (and best-selling game of that year), making IW and Activision millions of dollers.

P

Critical Investigation and Linked Production idea

Critical Investigation

"How is violence portrayed in modern videogames, such as the 'Call of Duty' series, and does this negatively affect players/audiences and why?"

With this critical investigation there is a plethoria of possible linked texts that I can examine and relate back to my issue.

Some of them are:

Team Fortress 2

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

God of War

Prototype

Bioshock

Left 4 Dead

Mass Effect

Grand Theft Auto

Devil May Cry

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Fallout

inFamous

Assassin's Creed

Medal of Honor

*Note: I may not examine Team Fortress 2 if I decide to do my linked production, which would be directly related to the game.

Linked Production

"A fan-made trailer for Team Fortress 2 which would highlight the wanton violence that is central to the gameplay (the trailer would be done with in-game graphics in a 3D animator like 'Maya' or 'Source Film Maker')"