Because these interactions happen online most people will just curse each other out because there are no consequences, since those people won't meet in real life there's no chance of physical conflict. This alternate persona leads to people becoming more aggressive and arrogant to protect their identity as a great player. In this respect, online gaming can be bad for people. However online gaming encourages people to "cheat" the game, and find new ways to get past real challenges. When gamers breeze through the single player game they start to play online to challenge themselves, playing with real people forces them to think tactically (or copy the techniques of someone who does) and find creative solutions around problems. In this way online gaming can be both hazardous to one's ego but beneficial to one's mind.
While this may be comparable to sports in terms of the attitude and mind set involved, there are two key differences. The first difference is that online activity is much more competitive. Scores and records are posted online, players also don't have to see or physically interact with their opponents so there aren't any consequences, this increases the effect that video games have on a player's ego because they're competitive on a wider scale. The second difference is that games aren't as realistic as sports, a video game can be manipulated in different ways, the system can be challenged in more ways than a sport can. Video games also rely on codes that can be manipulated and "cheated" which can push players to think more tactically to manipulate these "glitches" in codes or just hack the game entirely.
Marco,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your post was really well formed. I felt as if I were reading a magazine article due to how you kept focus on the one very key aspect of this new electronic world we live in.
The way you approached talking about the spirit (or lack their of) of online competition had a very authoritative feel to it, written in such a way that it clearly showed you knew very well how online gaming worked and the mentality of those who play it. However, I didn't quite understand what you meant by people assuming a persona. Having myself played online shooters and fighting games such as the Halo series, I felt like people are more about being as obnoxious as possible, and rarely make comments referring to their characters.
I think that an interesting alternate point to this cheating in video games is the real life cheating which goes on in sports. Arguably, the taunting and hacking we see on Xbox live is purely virtual and mostly without effect. The cheating in real world sports, come with physical damage from use of performance enhancers, and the taunting comes with cash fines and suspension.
An interesting part of your post that I think has a lot of potential to be expanded on is the idea of the mental effect of playing video- games. I think that you could go in a bunch of different directions with this point and if you need to add on to this post at a later date, this would definitely be one to go with.
What I would recommend is that you give examples of what you are discussing. Mostly you tend to state your point and than move on. I think that it would work to your advantage and support your points, if you gave the names of popular video games, and named incidents where cheating had real world effects, like cash prizes in tournaments or something of the sort.
Basically, this was a really good first post, and you definitely executed this assignment well. All you need to do is add a few examples and you will have an excellent post.
Marco,
ReplyDeleteWord to what Jakob said about your post, you're post flowed very nicely. I liked how you compared cheating in video games to cheating in life.
I agree with your argument that "the online community is purely based on what you want to be seen as and how well you fit that persona."
I think you should expand more on your ideas, they're really good.
I enjoyed reading this, see you mañana.