One of the topics that we touched on this semester that I found shocking and sometimes amazing was the world of Internet gaming; something that I had never tried or participated in. My participation is still limited by only creating a Second Life account of which I still have yet to explore all of the possibilities.
The most intriguing thing, from a researcher perspective is how integrated most of these online world have become in some people's lives as their main form of income, entertainment and a social outlet. The scope that I would like to examine is the social outlet. Why gaming? isn't it more valuable to have face to face communication?
Well it turns out that while I was completing some research for an independent marketing firm in the area that was examining the World of War craft environment to gain some market perspective on this relatively new phenomenon, it was pointed out to me that the demographic not only consists of "highly intelligent males in their late teens-mid twenties". This is of course the tip of the ice burg and pretty much everyone from all walks of life participate in these games, but for the most part this demographic will be the one I explore in an attempt to understand the motives and reasoning for the vast growth and real world implications that have occurred in lue of face to face communication.
From this research perspective it is important not only to evaluate the good and the bad. Some of the positive implications from gaming are:
Broadening a social network that can potentially span the globe.
The potential to have monetary gain (Second Life).
WOW there is potential for monetary gain from competitions as well.
Having the availability to not only play online, but communicate to each other verbally and live.
The games can bring others into a social circle that otherwise wouldn't have ever met.
The gamers have a common interest and therefore a common bond; belonging to a community.
On the other hand some of the negative implications are as follows:
All computer mediated communication; lack of face to face communication which could lead to misrepresentation or less depth in the relationships (pseudo-friends).
This can potentially become addictive, with common reports of gamers playing for extended periods of time.
Due to the time spent, people lack real world communication skills by dedicating their efforts to the online communities.
The lack of communication skills in the real world could lead to introversion and limiting the potential for developing real world relationships.
Also it is possible that people carry over their game life to real life. (examples of this were displayed in class by a gamer killing themselves "to be with his characters in the game" or when a gamer sold a highly revered item in WOW on eBay that was loaned to him. The person who loaned out the item retaliated with murder.
These are some Pros and Cons associated with the new way to communicate and have become some hot button issues in the news today. As a newly developed community there are many avenues yet to be explored and nobody is really sure what will happen either it be good or bad. Social researchers are paying close attention as these gamers grow in numbers and incidents of success and social support find their way to the medias as well as the stories of murder and addiction also surface. Where the trend is going is still unclear, all that we know for sure is that more people are signing on to play now more than ever.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment