Although I almost never play video games myself, I see my brothers and their friends frequently head down to our basement and turn on the Xbox. Yesterday, my mom and I were in the kitchen and she started complaining that all the boys ever do is play "Halo", and I began to wonder if video games really were a positive technological advancement, or if they are having a negative effect on people. This article describes some of the negative effects of gaming: the "central physiological systems in the body can be affected when you play violent games without your being aware of it." Video games can be almost anti-social and involve just sitting inactively in front of the television for hours on end. Wouldn't it be better just to play an "old-fashioned"board game or go out side and toss a ball around? Or perhaps have a family-bonding game night or touch football with the neighbors?
The average video-gamer would argue no, that these are things of the past. However, new advances in video game technology has allowed for video games that focus on personal fitness. "Exercise gaming" was introduced to the market through Wii Fit, a popular game that leads you in exercises while you stand on a weight sensitive mat, and then gives you feed back on your level of fitness. This is taking video-gaming in a new direction along with our health-conscious society. Recently EA Games announced that they will be introducing a rival game to Wii Fit in 2009. The EA sports president said of the game, "we have a real opportunity to redefine the home fitness experience with a more Western cardiovascular approach and exercises that will appeal to a diverse audience, getting people off the couch and into shape while interacting with our products in a way never before possible."
Exercise gaming is a very interesting advancement in the world of video games in an effort to incorporate more physical activity into people's lives. Is this progress??? How will the typical "gamer" receive this? Will this movement be successful?
5 comments:
I think that this is a really important point to bring up, because many people are thinking the same thing. When video games become important in kids lives, does it harm their development? Maybe or maybe not, but it definitely cuts off some personal connection to people. Video games have been disputed time and time again, and we still wonder if it alters anything in the development of kids.
I would say that this is progress. We all know people that do nothing but play video games, and an effect of that can be poor fitness. I'm not sure how well these types of fitness video games will be accepted by the community, but I like the idea. Also, perhaps it could add an extra element of competitiveness with your friends, causing people to strive to get in even better shape. I think it will make some of the people against video games rethink their arguments. Good connection.
In my opinion, video games don't really show any signs of "progress" in that although they may be fun, when weighing out all the pro's and con's, the pro's are heavily outweighed. As you mentioned, video games cause people to be less fit, less social, and less smart, and in my experience, whenever I receive a new video game, I tend to play it a lot within the first few days, but then I notice that as time passes, the game becomes less entertaining and I find myself doing far more useful things. So in my mind, video games are not seen as a form of progress. For those people, like your brothers, who spend large portions of time playing video games, video games are also probably not seen as progress because of all those con's listed above. The idea of video games is interesting, but they probably have a negative on almost everyone but the companies. The new physical video games you mentioned are also an interesting concept, however, in my opinion if you are going to play a sport, it might as well be played in real life.
I think that the questions you ask are great questions. I believe that the advancements that the video game world has made to make ‘gaming’ more active and less sitting on the coach is great. But I do think there are mixed emotions of how the ‘gaming world’ takes it. I have heard many people discuss their negative thoughts on the Wii because it makes you move so much. Many people will say something along the lines of “I don’t play video games to get exercise; I play them to relax on the couch”. I think this is very true for many people. But I believe this raises the question, do people always want advancements?
rachel-
this is a great issue to bring up! keep this in mind for the end-of-unit assessment!
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