Unit 22 A1

Write a blog which discusses the impact computer games have had on society, and individuals. You should consider the following:

Societal impact

• Social isolation – Some people when playing games that much get so inclined by it and so addicted that they only want to game and that is it. They may be too scared and anxious to then go and socialise because they haven’t done it in such a long time and this is social; isolation, they have cut themselves from the social side of life.
• Time spent playing games – When people play a game and get addicted they can spend too much time on that game and it can become very unhealthy.  This can also have an effect on this person’s future as they can get repetitive strain injury which could be painful for their hands in their future. This could also have strain on the eyes and decrease eyesight for the future.
• Expense – Gaming can also cost a lot of money because if someone gets too addicted to a game that have in-game purchases, they can get so addicted to wanting to be the best and have all of the best items that they will spend lots of money on the game and put them into a bad financial situation.
• Separating reality and the world of game-play – Some players may pay a game so much that they may start visualising and relating sounds of the real world to a game. This is a sign where they need to stop and withdraw themselves form so many hours of gaming because this could end up in them going a bit crazy and they could even lash out on friends or family members.
• Educational benefits/drawbacks – Some games can be useful to play as they can teach you many things such as learning how to drive, how to fly a plane and much more. However the drawbacks may be that you spend so much time playing non-educational related games that you forget to actually do work and this will make this person trail behind on any classes they have to attend. 
• The future – As games in general are developing and becoming more popular than ever before this could have a huge impact on the future. Nearly everybody has a console or pc nowadays to play on their favourite games. This could mean that in the future most people will not know the old times of socialising like going out to meet your friends or playing football at the park, everyone will talk and communicate across games.

Impact on ‘mainstream’ development:

The game industry Is growing more rapid than ever and technology is becoming more and more advanced every day. As the technology advances players are expecting new and better games and features to make their experience better.

Individual impact

• Use of sound – Most players nowadays use advanced headsets that enable them to hear a full surround sound in game. This gives them an edge in first person shooters as they will be able to hear where an enemy is coming from before they even see them.
• High score league tables – If a game has a high score table, a player may want to try their hardest repeatedly to try to achieve and exceed that high score just so they can say that they are on the high score sheet.
• Competitiveness – As games have individual competitions, players will be practicing day and night to be the best they possibly can be to try to be the best and win ay competitions they can. These competitions could be solo or team play and players will be so competitive that they will only focus on the game and nothing else.
• Peer pressure – Players may only play games as much as they do because they may have friends who constantly made them play the games. The players before they got into gaming may have wanted to go out a lot more than they do now but they could have been pressured into gaming a lot that now they don’t really want to go out anymore because they forgot how to.
• Fun – Some players may just play because it’s fun. Not because they are competitive or they have played since they got pressured into it or they feel as they need to play because they’re addicted. They just may enjoy spending free time having fun on games.
• Educational value – Some people, may play games to improve their education whilst having a little fun at the same time. Games like brain training have an educational value because it shows how well you are at using your brain and what is a person’s strong and weak point. They add a competitive
• Expectations - An individual’s expectations for a game or expectations for them to improve on a game has an impact on them. Someone could spend a 24 hour period to try to complete a game in as quick a time as they can.
• Levelling – Wanting to level up in a game has a large effect on an individual because experience points are needed to be the best and to earn such amounts of experience requires a lot of game time. So for a player to put in so much time into a game will not be good for their health.

Psychological effects:

An example of he psychological effects of video games could be when a murder is committed by a person that can then appeal that they only did so because they played too much Grand Theft Auto and they thought at the time that it was only a game and didn't mean or think there would be any implications. Another example could be when an individual could have been excessively playing a car racing game such as Need for Speed. The user could be so used to driving fast on the game that it seems the normal thing to do so when they eventually come to going out in their car in real life they could be speeding and end up causing serious injury to themselves or others. However the persons excuse could all be blamed on becoming psychologically effected by the games they spent so long playing. This shows how people can be effected by the overuse of video games.