Video Game Culture

Rose 1

Renee Rose

Williams-Páez

Sociology 101

Nov. 1, 2013

Video Game Culture: Giving Subculture a 1UP

Adachi, Paul J., C., and Teena Willoughby. "More than just Fun and Games: The Longitudinal Relationships between Strategic Video Games, Self-Reported Problem Solving Skills, and Academic Grades." Journal of Youth and Adolescence42.7 (2013): 1041-52. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.

In this article, Paul Adachi and Teena Willoughby talk about how usually strategy video games are marketed to be beneficial to a player’s ability to solve problems. This article talks about how playing strategy games actually does help adolescence develop problem solving skills. They got this information from 1,492 students out of four high schools. They found that playing strategic video games leads to betting problem solving skills which leads to getting higher academic grades.

Bavelier, Daphne, et al. "Brains on Video Games." Nature Reviews.Neuroscience 12.12 (2011): 763-8. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.

“Brains on Video Games” has six experts on the brain talk about the negative and positive effects video games have on the brain. One aspect they discuss is that playing video games that have are pro-social led the players to be more helpful in every day life. They also consider that video games can cause negative things such as the inability to stay focused. They also point out that there is no black or white answer to the question of “are video games bad for brain function?” Different people can play the same game and react completely differently.

Burgess, Melinda C. R., Steven Paul Stermer, and Stephen R. Burgess. "Sex, Lies, and Video Games: The Portrayal of Male and Female Characters on Video Game Covers." Sex Roles 57.5-6 (2007): 419-33. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Melinda explores the topic of how video game box covers barely have any female characters on them; but when they do, they are almost always hyper-sexualized. She discusses how Dietz did a study looking at how female gender roles are portrayed in games that are marketed for children. Dietz found that only about 21% of the games tested had women and those women were always in the need of male help. She also goes on to discuss how games are rated and sometimes those ratings are not as high as they should be. Rose 2

Dunlop, Janet C. "The U.S. Video Game Industry: Analyzing Representation of Gender and Race." International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction 3.2 (2007): 96-109. ProQuest. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

Janet Dunlop explores how video games are extremely influential in regards to race, gender roles, and capitalism. She talks about how in most games, the main character was Caucasian. It is very rare that there is a playable character that is Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, or East Indian. She also talks about how games like Star Wars promote the thought of capitalism. In this game you earn points to buy more powerful weapons and cars to advance in the game. Players have to earn more and more to play the game. Janet discusses gender and points out that the girl characters are always portrayed as hyper-sexualized and victims that need a man’s help. When a female character is available to be a playable character, they are always not as fast as the male characters.

Hoechsmann, Michael. "What Video Games have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy." McGill Journal of Education 38.2 (2003): 351-4. ProQuest. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

Michael hoechsmann starts off by talking about how harmful video games can be. He mentions all the gender stereotyping, racial stereotyping, and violence that is found in video games. He also talks about how video games are extremely addicting and some children who play seem to never stop. A 15 year old will sit around until 11:45pm and wait for a specific thing to happen in a game. Once that thing happens, he will play the game for hours on end. Michael is responding to Paul Gee, who wrote “What Vieo Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. One of Gee’s principles is “for a little input, learners get a lot of output.” Michael says that video games are like the hola hoop. You spend a very long time learning how to do it and spend a long time doing it, but he really does not help you in any way for your future. Michael then talks about how video games are being used by the marines as training devices. Video games are becoming more and more educational.

Jansz, Jeroen. "The Emotional Appeal of Violent Video Games for Adolescent Males. "Communication Theory 15.3 (2005): 219-41. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.

This article describes why violent video games are so appealing to young males. The author, Jeroen Jansz, talks about how young males play these games to experience the emotion the characters that have to go through these extreme situations. In these video games, the players are in control and can choose which emotional confrontation they wish to experience. Young males argue that video games are a safe place for them to confront and experience these emotions. They can choose to be a masculine character or a less masculine character and not have to worry about being made fun of.

Leonard, David. "“Live in Your World, Play in Ours”: Race, Video Games, and Consuming the Other." SMILE: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education 3.4 (2007): 1-9. University of Toronto Press. University of Toronto Press, 18 Sept. 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. Rose 3

In his article, David Leonard examines how stereotypes are created and portrayed in video games. He points out that video games are seen by children of all ages every day and often contain stereotypes that children shouldn’t see. He also examines how stereotypes are portrayed in games that have no human characters. David talks about how video games hold great power in teaching our children about how stereotypes exist. Video games give players the option to experience someone else’s life through their eyes.

Parks, Nancy S. "Video Games as Reconstructionist Sites of Learning in Art Education." Studies in Art Education 49.3 (2008): 235-50. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.

Nancy noticed that almost all conversations about video games have to do with violence or sexist and racist content. She points out that video games can engage players in multi-sensory, complex learning processes. She also talks about how video games have been used in training simulations, social realism, and education. More specifically Nancy evaluates two other articles that talk about how video games promote art education.

Terlecki, Melissa, et al. "Sex Differences and Similarities in Video Game Experience, Preferences, and Self-Efficacy: Implications for the Gaming Industry." Current Psychology 30.1 (2011): 22-33. ProQuest. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

Melissa Terlechi explores the sex differences and similarities of video games. She talks about how video games are often seen as a boy’s toy and not a girl’s. Melissa talks about how in reality there are actually a very large amount of girls who play games, but since video games are socially thought of as masculine; video games are mostly marketed too boys rather than girls. She also discusses that as technology grows, society is becoming more and more aware of video games and how they are not just for boys. She talks about how more and more young girls are exposed to video games and thus playing more often.

Thompson, Kimberly M., Karen Tepichin, and Kevin Haninger. "Content and Ratings of Mature-Rated Video Games." Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 160.4 (2006): 402-10. ProQuest. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

Kimberly Thompson examined how the Entertainment Software Rating Board decides which video games deserve the M (for “mature”) rating and which games don’t. She selected one M rated game from a list and recorded 1 hour of game play. In that hour, there were large percentages of violence, blood, sexual themes, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and many other adult content. She then looked at other games that were not rated M, but still contained some of this adult content. She wants to point out to parents that they should be careful what games they give their children. The rating may not be correct.