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Please Copy the material and format it specially the hyper links before you give it to Sir
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Also find the attached file of ESRB ... Its a picture file just paste it in the end before the
Bibliography

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Mirza Saad

Gaming Media
Pros and Cons

Executive Summary
In todays world where the techonology is fast evolving and novel channels of communication are
emerging, old fashioned video games have also evolved to completely different gaming media
where through video games a lot of knowledge and information is communicated not only to
young kids who indulge in playing them but also concious adults who are unable to refrain from
them. Increasingly realistc effects and real time action compels people from 3 to 45 yr old to play
games, learn how to play the games, speak about them in public and increase the interests of
others too.

Like any media the gaming media also offers its own pros and cons and this paper has attempted
to cover the varios aspects and have conclued in telling the reader about how to handle these
pros and cons

Gaming Media
Pros and Cons

Advanages

Contrary to the famous belief, video games can be more than just a form of addictive
entertainment and diversion activity. There are a lot of people who find video games as a
hindrance to function as a responsible and productive person. In reality, we can always find ways
to prove that this is a beneficial activity.

Many believe that video gaming brought tendencies to human beings to become violent in our
society nowadays. However, this is not all true. There are several elements in the environment
that contributed well enough to man's behavior.

The discussion of the benefits and advantages of video gaming should be brought into light. It is
undeniable that the generation today consider surfing the internet and playing video games as
part of their everyday life. Apart from being a great form of diversion activity, you'll be surprised to
know that playing video games has a lot to offer.

1. A new way of teaching. Almost all children have access to video games as they study in
school. There are many educational institutions nowadays that use video games as a teaching
methodology. This approach works best in teaching these children to improve their academic
skills. There are many video games that were specifically made to develop their cognitive and
creative thinking skills.
2. It improves hand and eye coordination. Experts agree that people who play video and
computer games have better hand and eye coordination. Players have to move at a great deal of
speed along with other heroes of the game. This can be helpful with children and adults as well in
applying this skill in other activities that require better hand-eye coordination.
3. A remedy for certain health disorder. There are many medical institutions that utilize
computer games as a form of physiotherapy. This kind of games help people recover fast from
physical injuries and help them improve their motor and coordination skills as well. Distraction is
the best natural remedy for pain, and what other things loaded with so much fun as video games?
4. Imagination booster. In the world of computer games, the possibilities are endless. Video
gaming is packed with a lot of adventure that forces your mind to think in a completely new and
different way. You'll be amazed to know how far your imagination can take you.
5. Improves your problem solving skills. This type of game requires problem solving skills. You
are the heroine of your own game, so you should have a good decision making skill. Most games
inspire players to strive and reach more difficult levels presenting challenges at every stage.

Playing computer games have positive as well as negative impact on you and your society.
Everything in excess is bad. Parents should be able to set rules on how much and what kind of
gaming is only permitted to their children. In addition, this type of diversion activity is expensive
so parents must be strict and teach their children to learn to save money by buying items such as
cheapest console for their video games. Engaging in this game should not be too expensive
because game developing companies come up with the newest and better video games regularly
as a response to the growing competition.

Adverse Effects

There is a huge hype surrounding the launch of every new game system - Game Cube, XBox,
and Sony Playstation 2 being just few of the latest. Affecting children age 4 all the way to 45 year-
old adults, these video games have called for concern in our society regarding issues such as
addiction, depression, and even aggression related to the playing of video games. A recent study
of children in their early teens found that almost a third played video games daily, and that 7%
played for at least 30 hours a week. What is more, some of these games being played like Mortal
Combat, Marvel Vs. Capcom, and Doom are very interactive in the violence of slaughtering the
opponent. The video game industries even put signs like "Real-life violence" and "Violence level -
not recommended for children under age of 12" on their box covers, arcade fronts, and even on
the game CDs themselves.

In the modern popular game Goldeneye 007 bad guys no longer disappear in a cloud of smoke
when killed. Instead they perform an elaborate maneuver when killed. For example, those shot in
the neck fall to their knees and then face while clutching at their throats. Other games such as
Unreal Tournament and Half-Life are gorier. In these games when characters get shot a large
spray of blood covers the walls and floor near the character, and on the occasions when
explosives are used, the characters burst into small but recognizable body parts. In spite of the
violence, the violent video games are also the more popular games on the market. When video
games first came out, indeed they were addictive... however, there seems to be a strong
correlation now between the violent nature of games these days and the aggressive tendencies in
game players.

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched an assault on Columbine High School
in Littleton, Colorado, murdering 13 and wounding 23 before turning the guns on themselves.
Although nothing is for certain as to why these boys did what they did, we do know that Harris
and Klebold both enjoyed playing the bloody, shoot-'em-up video game Doom, a game licensed
by the U.S. military to train soldiers to effectively kill. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which tracks
Internet hate groups, found in its archives a copy of Harris' web site with a version of Doom. He
had customized it so that there were two shooters, each with extra weapons and unlimited
ammunition, and the other people in the game could not fight back. For a class project, Harris and
Klebold made a videotape that was similar to their customized version of Doom. In the video,
Harris and Klebold were dressed in trench coats, carried guns, and killed school athletes. They
acted out their videotaped performance in real life less than a year later...

Everyone deals with stress and frustrations differently. However when action is taken upon the
frustration and stress, and the action is taken out in anger and aggression, the results may be
very harmful to both the aggressor and the person being aggressed against, mentally,
emotionally, and even physically. Aggression is action, i.e. attacking someone or a group with an
intent to harm someone. It can be a verbal attack--insults, threats, sarcasm, or attributing nasty
motives to them--or a physical punishment or restriction. Direct behavioral signs include being
overly critical, fault finding, name-calling, accusing someone of having immoral or despicable
traits or motives, nagging, whining, sarcasm, prejudice, and/or flashes of temper. The crime and
abuse rate in the United States has soared in the past decade. More and more children suffer
from and are being treated for anger management than ever before. Now, one can't help but to
wonder if these violent video games are even playing a slight part in the current statistics. I
believe they do.

Calvert and Tan compared the effects of playing versus observing violent video games on young
adults' arousal levels, hostile feelings, and aggressive thoughts. Results indicated that college
students who had played a violent virtual reality game had a higher heart rate, reported more
dizziness and nausea, and exhibited more aggressive thoughts in a posttest than those who had
played a nonviolent game do. A study by Irwin and Gross sought to identify effects of playing an
"aggressive" versus "nonaggressive" video game on second-grade boys identified as impulsive or
reflective. Boys who had played the aggressive game, compared to those who had played the
nonaggressive game, displayed more verbal and physical aggression to inanimate objects and
playmates during a subsequent free play session. Moreover, these differences were not related to
the boys' impulsive or reflective traits. Thirdly, Kirsh also investigated the effects of playing a
violent versus a nonviolent video game. After playing these games, third- and fourth-graders were
asked questions about a hypothetical story. On three of six questions, the children who had
played the violent game responded more negatively about the harmful actions of a story
character than did the other children. These results suggest that playing violent video games may
make children more likely to attribute hostile intentions to others.

In another study by Karen E. Dill, Ph.D. & Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., violent video games were
considered to be more harmful in increasing aggression than violent movies or television shows
due to their interactive and engrossing nature. The two studies showed that aggressive young
men were especially vulnerable to violent games and that even brief exposure to violent games
can temporarily increase aggressive behavior in all types of participants.
The first study was conducted with 227 college students with aggressive behavior records in the
past and who completed a measure of trait aggressiveness. They were also reported to have
habits of playing video games. It was found that students, who reported playing more violent
video games in junior and high school, engaged in more aggressive behavior. In addition, the
time spent playing video games in the past were associated with lower academic grades in
college, which is a source of frustration for many students, a potential cause for anger and
aggression as discussed in the previous paragraph.

In the second study, 210 college students were allowed to play Wolfenstein 3D, an extremely
violent game, or Myst, a nonviolent game. After a short time, it was found that the students who
played the violent game punished an opponent for a longer period of time compared to the
students who played the non violent game. Dr. Anderson concluded by saying, "Violent video
games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations. It the
short run, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive
thoughts." Despite the fact that this study was for a short term effect, longer term effects are likely
to be possible as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become
more and more accessible for the real-life conflict that may arise.

The U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop once claimed that arcade and home video games are
among the top three causes of family. Although there have been studies that have found video
game violence to have little negative effects on their players, there are also many studies that
have found a positive correlation between negative behavior, such as aggression, and video and
computer game violence. Thus, in order to totally assess the effects of game violence on its
users, the limiting conditions under which there are effects must be taken into account, which
include age, gender, and class/level of education. However, violent games do affect children, as
the studies show, especially early teens, and I feel that there needs to be a stricter regulation
regarding the availability of these games to young children.

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Entertainment Software Rating Board

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns
age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures
responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment
software in Canada and the United States.

The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association

One of the reasons the ESRB was founded was due to violent content found in video games such
as Night Trap, Mortal Kombat, Lethal Enforcers, and Doom, as well as other controversial video
games portraying overly violent or intense sexual situations at the time.

The ESRB assigns ratings to games based on their content, similar to the motion picture rating
systems used in many countries. Their aim is to aid consumers in determining a game's content
and suitability. A game's rating is displayed on its box, the media, in advertisements and on the
game's website

The rating system is strictly voluntary, however nearly all video games are submitted for rating
because many retail stores prohibit the sale of unrated video games and the major console
manufacturers will not license games for their systems unless they carry ESRB ratings.
Bibliography

1) BBC News Web site in UK.

2) Game Research Website, covering the art, the business, and the science of computer games.

3) American Psychological Association, Article on the main study discussed in this paper.

4) Mental Help Net, Psychological Self-Help. This site has a lot of interesting links to mental
illnesses and just understanding personalities.

5) Calvert, Sandra L., & Tan, Siu-Lan. (1994). Impact of virtual reality on young adults'
physiological arousal and aggressive thoughts: Interaction versus observation. Journal of Applied
Developmental Psychology, 15(1), 125-139. PS 527 971.

6) Irwin, A. Roland, & Gross, Alan M. (1995). Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and
aggressive behavior in young boys. Journal of Family Violence, 10(3), 337-350.

7) Kirsh, Steven J. (1997, April). Seeing the world through "Mortal Kombat" colored glasses:
Violent video games and hostile attribution bias. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the
Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, DC.
8) SelfhelpMagazine. Article under teen help. It is a great library of various mental disorders and
personal growth topics!

9) American Psychological Association.

10) Internet Impact This paper is a collaborative essay consisting of research and policy
recommendations on the impact of the Internet in society.
11) Wikipedia.com\