Video Games

There are some differences between what i viewed in class and what I read in my media studies reader on video game.

In class, we watched videos that discussed video games being dangerous and violent things. Their were multiple people arguing about how playing violent video games will cause the children playing them to take a gun to school and shoot down their classmates. However, nearly all of the data discussed in the videos was qualitative and therefore not concrete.

In the Media Studies Reader, the data was much more quantitative. The research was much more scientific. It talked about the different classifications of game and how each one effects the player differently. For example, "Adventure games are characterized by requiring deep thinking and great patience". It also gave examples of work from experts like Marshall McLuhan and Gregory Bateson.

Basically, the Media Studies Reader is much more academic and rational examination of video games.

Works Consulted

- Egenfeldt-Neilson, Simon, Jonas H. Smith, and Susana P. Tosca. "What Is a Game?" A Media Studies Reader. University Readers. 172. Print.

- NBC Archives
- McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2004