Skip to main content

Is there more to online games than fun? (Week 7)


The whole purpose of virtual realities is to entertain, from building complex structures in Minecraft to murdering everyone in sight in Grand Theft Auto. These online games deliver enjoyment expertly, but that isn’t all they do.

For one thing, we have seen online gaming become a great way to socialise. Remember your mate Dan you met in under 8’s basketball and played with until last year? I do. Little Dan (he’s not so little anymore actually, the lad’s like 6” 5’) and I became great mates because we played the same game. The same story is being told on online virtual gaming. Millions of people are being connected and coming together because they all enjoy taking someone’s limbs off with a double-barrelled shotgun (in a fake world, don’t worry). Online gaming has the mystifying potential to combine global communication with virtual entertainment, enabling strong relationships to flourish.

On an educational level, I would like to point you to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series. While these games centre around the fictional, seemingly unending battle between the Assassins and the Templars, they all take place during intense historical eras. During my study of the French Revolution, Assassin’s Creed: Unity (which is set in late 18th-century Paris) was a tremendous help in remembering key dates and figures. I was quite successful in this unit, and I definitely recognise a video game as one of the main contributors to that successful mark.

Education and socialising aren’t the only other benefits of gaming. Studies are concluding that playing Super Mario 64 can increase grey matter in the brain (Kühn et al, 2013), gaming can be excellent pain relievers (George, 2010), and so on. The potential is limitless, so don’t just categorise gaming into fun. In a virtual world, anything is possible.


Reference List:

George, R. (2010). Video Games Prove Helpful As Pain Relievers In Children And Adults. Retrieved 6 September 2017, from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/188108.php

Kühn, S. Gleich, T. Lorenz, R.C. Lindenberger, U. Gallinat, J. (2013) Playing Super Mario induces structural brain plasticity: gray matter changes resulting from training with a commercial video game. Retrieved 6 September 2017 from http://www.kurzweilai.net/video-game-playing-found-beneficial-for-the-brain

Comments

  1. Tara Williams21 September 2017 at 22:16

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tara Williams21 September 2017 at 23:44

    Hey Michael,
    I really enjoyed your comedic style of writing in the piece “is there more to online games than fun”, it is very engaging! Providing anecdotes of your personal experience is very useful as it shows that you have some experience in the area of gaming to call upon in discussing the topic.
    However I would like to have seen more reference to your research on this topic so that I know there is a solid basis for your arguments. Also, have you considered ethics in your post? Making reference to ‘murdering’ in games may seem funny, but is it appropriate with regards to the link to education in gaming?
    A useful link to help you may be this article by Diana Oblinger found at:
    https://www-jime.open.ac.uk/articles/10.5334/2004-8-oblinger/

    Kind regards,
    Tara W

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Declaration of Originality

This blog is a completely original set of writings. All opinions are of my own, except where appropriately referenced.

Popular posts from this blog

Is there more to online games than fun: Rewrite (week 9)

Video games are a fantastic source of entertainment. I would wager part of that being the enormous scope of virtual realities available, from playing soccer ( FIFA ), to building a house ( Minecraft ), to combat simulators ( Call of Duty ), to cooking ( Overcooked ). The range is extraordinary, yet entertainment is not the only thing video games can deliver on. The educational side of gaming is not yet fully recognised as helpful, but it is growing. Studies are showing that “students have developed a different set of attitudes and aptitudes as a result of growing up in an IT and media-rich environment” (Oblinger, 2004). This doesn’t surprise the hardened gamer, as I discovered my problem-solving and logic skills greatly developed after a couple of months playing and perfecting Minesweeper . I also recalled information about the French Revolution during my History exam because of a little game called Assassins Creed: Unity (which is set DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION). These games...
Post a Comment
Read more