The Effects of Video Games on Society : Part Two

            Here follows the second half of the paper on violent video games. The works cited are available in the links on the side of the page. 

            Some other studies have shown that, while not all children and young adults exhibit violent tendencies, the instances do rise immediately following the consumption of violent media (Anderson). While some aggressive children do play more aggressively themed games, they actually do not commit significantly more aggressive or violent crimes. However, they do exhibit other behaviors, such as lower grades and lower attendance scores. These children also tend to be more anti-social in environments other than co-operative gaming. Some aggressive children are, in more extreme cases, more likely perform a direct imitation of the depicted violent acts. Even college-aged subjects have shown increased aggression, proving that it is not the age of the subject but the media content providing the impetus. A major gap in the studies, according to Dr. Craig Anderson, is the fact that no studies have been done on the longer-term effects of violent games. He questions how to select the correlating amounts of aggression in order to compare video games to other media, for example television and horror movies. A study along these lines could shed some light on increasing aggression and violent crime by gamers as they progress into adulthood (Anderson). While there have been some positive uses for some violent games (i.e. military training and a game named “Re-Mission” used to teach cancer patients about after-care (Simnacher)), these games are primarily about senseless violence and general mayhem.   

            Although addiction issues and violence are serious problems, even more disturbing are the experiments conducted by researchers at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, which have shown that violent video games and movies desensitized the subjects to the perception of actual violence (Bushman). In a number of subjects, even the perception of the severity of violence or an emergency presented in the study was lowered or negated. The desire to help a person perceived to be in danger was reduced (or in extreme cases, eliminated) during and immediately following consumption of violent media. Subjects in the experiment were given a bogus questionnaire after a gaming experience. During the questionnaire, a simulated fight was played out just outside the door to the room. The verbal questionnaire given following the staged fight dealt with the subject’s perception of the violence outside the door. A similar study was performed with violent movie content, with much the same result. Subjects presented with content that is more violent were markedly less likely to show a desire to aid the victim and most claimed the violence was not as severe, even though there were simulated injuries involved. In other studies of violence in games, this is a common trend among consumers of violent media.

            In conclusion, we should be aware that, while there are some beneficial effects from video games in general, the more violent games only bring about negative effects on society. Addiction in younger children, anti-social behavior, and a general desensitization to violence are occurring in our society. Parents and older teens can aid in the reduction of negative effects by reducing the amount of time spent playing these games and helping to insure that younger children cannot purchase adult or mature rated games. Spending more time with our children instead of parking them in front of the electronic babysitter is also a way to reduce these effects. Less violence and more educational content could also be explored as an alternative in co-operative gaming, as these types of games seem to promote teamwork and lowered aggression in most gamers, even though the content itself is violent.    

The Effects of Video Games on Society

           As a second in the series of papers written for Composition Class, I have a debate 

paper written as the negative (or 'con') view on the effects that violent video games have on 

society. Hopefully, it proves as interesting as my Science Fiction paper from last year.

            

            Comments (good or bad) are welcomed but keep it clean please!

Ray Bardin

GE217, Composition II

D. McWhorter and V. Sweetser

24 Nov 2011

The Effects of Video Games on Society

            As video games and other media have become more and more violent, the age of the consumer has become younger and younger. More of our young people are playing violent games that were originally intended for adults or older teens. As our children and young teens consume this media, they are bombarded by a constant stream of violence and gory mayhem. The effects of this have been an increase in instances of violence by younger and younger persons, and desensitization to violence in general. As purchasing rules have been relaxed, as in California where the Supreme Court struck down a law banning the sale of violent games to minors (Olsen), younger children have had easier access to these games. Video games, as a whole, have had a negative effect on society in general through addiction issues, violence by minors, and desensitization to violence.

            Studies have shown that some children are more likely to be addicted to video games, violent and otherwise. These addictions increase in children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders, possibly due to a connection with the activities in the game causing an autistic-like concentration on the action. These “pathological gamers” (McCoy) spend an in-ordinate amount of time playing games and are as addicted to the games in the same ways as some adults who are addicted to gambling. Addicted gamers show some of the same traits as gambling addicts, such as lying about the amount of time played, skipping school or schoolwork in favor of game time, and restlessness or irritability when not engaged in gaming (McCoy).  While most researchers admit that this problem is limited to a small percentage of subjects, they do agree that parents are the first line of defense in reducing the effects of addiction by reducing the time allotted to gaming and presenting more positive sources of entertainment. On a more positive note, a Pew Internet American Life Project Survey in September of 2008 found that a number of frequent players were as socially engaged as less frequent players and gained a positive social benefit from co-operative gaming in a few select games.   

By Request, Serial Post Part 3

This is the final installment of the Impact of Science Fiction paper. Work Cited can be accessed on Page 2, if necessary. Hope you enjoyed it.

          Robotics and medical advances are not the only impacts Science Fiction has had on technology. The design and function of many of our modern telecommunication and computing devices have come from authors and set designers from Science Fiction television and movies. Even our modern concept of what the Internet and Cyberspace should be has evolved form Science Fiction. Books like ‘Neuromancer’ by William Gibson describe Cyberspace as a physical reality and users have jumped right in. Modern communications has benefited from Science Fiction writers like Arthur C. Clarke, who envisioned broadcasts via orbiting satellites and wireless communication devices. Even some of our most common physical designs have come from Science Fiction. Hand-held flip-phones, similar to the communicators carried by the crew of The Enterprise on television’s “Star Trek”, have become so commonplace that we barely notice the similarity anymore. Perhaps Tom Chivers said it best, “Arthur C Clarke claimed that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic – but it turns out that we have started taking magic for granted pretty quickly” (Chivers). Other designs have found their way into modern society as well. The flat panel controls, haptic and auditory response systems, and the ideas behind motion-controlled computers came from the designers and technical support for shows like “Star Trek; Next Generation” and “The Minority Report.” The set designers for “Next Generation” even told an actor “Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s software- defined. The person sitting in that console last week pushed this button to fire the phaser, but when you sit there, you customize it to your profile, and that button fires the phaser” (Flatow). This incident brought about a discussion and conceptual design similar to our common smart phone design. John Underkoffler, a technical advisor on the set of “Minority Report” and co-owner of Oblong Industries, has taken conceptual designs into the real world. With others, his company is designing and building motion-controlled computer screens. While he admits the idea and some of the technology was around before the movie, he allows that the movie version is spurring the design of control gloves for use instead of a wand or clickable mouse. In an NPR interview with Ira Flatow, Mr. Underkoffler says “For us, that same technique, that same sort of body-centered interaction technique [as shown in the movie] is the key to the future of human-machine interface, the key to being able to interact with and manipulate vast amounts of data, whatever the task may be” (Flatow).

            As society progresses and Science Fiction draws closer to Science Fact, the future may see more and more benefits from Science Fiction writers. There is always room for improvement in medical science, telecommunications, and robotics. The writers of the past dreamed our world first, technology just tries to catch up to their dreams. Thirty years ago, some of our modern technology was thought to be just that: dreams. Only a writer could have seen bionics in use as prosthetic devices. Only a dreamer could have seen humanoid robots walking and talking, even caring for the elderly. Certainly, no one at the time saw what our idea of Cyberspace and the Internet has become. We can say, without a doubt, that Science Fiction writers have had a major, positive impact on modern technology and our society.

By Request Serial Post Part 2

For the second part of 'By Request', we approach the ideas behind medical advances and Dr. Asimov's humanoid robots and Artificial Intelligence. Hope you enjoy ...

"             Due, in part, to our exposure to Science Fiction in television and movies, new advances in robotics have been made in recent years. No longer content to just dream of humanoid robots, scientists in Japan are constructing bipedal, thinking androids to assist in a variety of tasks including advertising and even some base tests in elderly care. While there is not yet true Artificial Intelligence, like the positronic brains favored by Sci-Fi writers, it cannot be far away. All it takes is one writer (or reader) to say ‘What if…’ Isaac Asimov brought up a few of these ‘What ifs’, along with various legal, philosophical, and human rights issues in his book ‘I, Robot’. He presented a world with robots as sentient beings programmed with a set of three laws designed to protect humankind from robotic revolution. The ‘Three Laws’ were thought for a long time to be a guideline for robots but as the growth of Artificial Intelligence is progressing so slowly, they will be outdated and useless by the time full AI is achieved. Non-humanoid robots are performing a large number of tasks that are hazardous to human life. They function as bomb disposal units in the military, as assembly workers (in simplified forms) on fast moving assembly lines, and even go to space as explorers to discover if humans should follow. All from a writer, and a reader, saying ‘What if…’

                Advances in medical science have come from Science Fiction writings. Lasers and cautery devices were first dreamed of in Science Fiction. It was decided that, if lasers could be used for mass destruction, then why not for the good of man? Television shows like “Star Trek” showed doctors using fine tuned lasers and full-body scanning to help patients and eliminate diseases. Similar devices used today are MRI (Magnetic Resonant Imaging) machines and the 3-D body-scan machines at our airports.  Doctors now routinely use lasers to repair minor eye defects and in targeting systems for invasive procedures like brain surgery. Robotics is being used in rehabilitation machines like the Loco-Mat machine used at Bethesda Naval Hospital for locomotor gait training (Goldberg 22). Prosthetic devices have benefited from robotics in the past few years. Prosthetic legs are being designed with gait assisting motors and hardened bone structures. Prosthetic arms have been modified with joints maneuvered by small servomotors and load sensors to assist in lifting and gripping objects. New experiments in the area of neural transmitters are making headway with limbs and fine-motor control to improve recovery from catastrophic injury. Can the ‘Bionic Man’ be far behind?"

By Request

Going to try something for my second post. I was asked to post a couple of Comp papers I wrote. Seems a couple of Professors think I have writing talent. I'll post in portions so it doesn't become too difficult (or too long) to read. Kind of appropriate for the subject seeing as much of my favorite Sci-Fi was published in 'serial' form.

Ray Bardin

A. Davis and D. McWhorter

GE117, Composition 1

7 Aug 2011

 

The Impact of Science Fiction on Modern Technology

"            For many years, Science Fiction writers have been considered to be dreamers and ‘hacks.’ However, many of our modern concepts and modern tools of technology came from these dreams. Many of our ideas behind robotics and robots, in general, came from writers like Isaac Asimov, who presented legal, philosophical, and human rights (well, robot rights) questions in his book of short stories, ‘I, Robot’. Medical science has also benefited from Science Fiction; lasers, robotic prosthesis, and other useful instruments have come from the dreams of these writers. Advances in design and deployment of telecommunication and computing devices, and even our modern concepts of Cyberspace and the Internet, owe much to Science Fiction. Many, if not all, self-proclaimed geeks (and nerds) have been exposed for years to Science Fiction in books, movies, and on television. The fantasies presented in these works have been a catalyst for conceptual designs that have become realities in the last decade. Science Fiction writers have had a major, positive impact in various fields including robotics, medicine and telecommunication devices.

            In the 1920’s, a Czech playwright named Karel Kapek coined the word ‘robot’ from the Czech word for ‘slave’. While Kapek’s robots were genetically engineered humans, the term became more closely associated with automatons, or mechanical men. Since then, people have used a variety of words to describe robots: Android for human-like robots, Cyborg for a combination of human and robotic parts, and Robot for the worker-bees of mechanical society. Writers like Isaac Asimov and his book, ‘I Robot’, and various movies and television shows like “Terminator” and “Star Trek” affect our perception of robots. Very few people born before 1980 in the Americas have not heard of Commander Data from televisions “Star Trek: Next Generation”. Data, as an android construction with a ‘positronic brain’, symbolizes what most people think of as a ‘robot’, essentially a humanoid with gears and metal inside a plastic skin. In their basic form, robots are no more complex than some simple machines. Most take their instruction, not from a special ‘brain’, but from a computer program connected from outside the body. "   

  So that's enough for a teaser. Tune in next time for more. As always, comments and insights are welcome.  

Greetings From The Peanut Gallery

     Okay, for those that know me well, you know this is a stretch for me. For those that don't know me, hopefully that will change.
     I call this 'Comments From the Peanut Gallery' for the most part because I like the old saying "No comments from the peanut gallery", which means that most people don't want or like to have unsolicited, or uneducated comments on things they believe are "Important." Oh yes, I went there. :-)
     There are some of us in the 'Peanut Gallery', who truly are educated but just prefer to remain where we are most comfortable. The old peanut gallery, or balcony seats for the poorer patrons, from the Legislative buildings (where peanut shells were thrown down in silent protest to unpopular speeches), the vaudeville shows, and eventually the movie theaters is gone, but our spirit lives on. We have a voice. We have an opinion.