A journal article that sparked my interest was an article from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication that discussed the effects of first-person-shooter video games that are not usually examined. The article, What Do We Really Know About First-Person-Shooter Games? An Event-Related, High Resolution Content Analysis, focuses on experimenting with different players and looking more in depth at what kind of tactics and strategies each player uses while gaming. The article then looks at what kind of violence and how much of it is experienced with each player. A couple of interesting findings I picked out from the article were, “The sample of content generated by individual users can be expected to differ systematically based on characteristics of the gamers and the length of time they spent playing–two determinants often overlooked” (pg. 3, What Do We Really Know About First-Person-Shooter Games? An Event-Related, High Resolution Content Analysis). Another finding from the article that is similar to this one and that I believe is partly influenced by modern technology is, “With regard to FPSGs in particular, Smith, Lachlan, and Tamborini (2003) found substantial amounts of realistic violent portrayals in contemporary video games of that time, concluding the standard game narrative featured ‘‘a human perpetrator engaging in repeated acts of justified violence involving weapons that result in some blood shed to the victim’’ (2003, p. 71)” (pg. 2, What Do We Really Know About First-Person-Shooter Games? An Event-Related, High Resolution Analysis). As digital natives of our generation and our reliance on technology, some of us are encouraged to spend a significant amount of time playing these first-person-shooter video games, subjecting ourselves to this violence. Better picture quality like HDTV and better sound quality like Dolby Digital and DTS helps contribute to the video game experience and attracts gamers to become more involved in the war-like tactics. Becoming more involved can influence how we play the video games and what we take from them. Better weapon and character graphics with these first-person-shooter video games helps drive creators to keep improving the technology to even better the games in order to attract more gamers. First-person-shooter video games will continue to get better because of new technology and thus continue to increase interactivity among gamers. It is important for us to remember that these are just video games and that we should not get too involved in them. As with any technology, a limited amount of time should be spent playing first-person-shooter games so that we do not rely on them for total gratification.
Weber, René; Behr, Katharina-Maria; Tamborini, Ron; et al. (July, 2009). What Do We Really Know About First-Person-Shooter Games? An Event-Related, High Resolution Content Analysis. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Retrieved from http://journals.ohiolink.edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/ejc/pdf.cgi/Weber_Ren.pdf?issn=10836101&issue=v14i0004&article=1016_wdwrkagaehca
I found this article very interesting and the study to also have some interesting facts. I think that your right, with the technology we have in video games and how there is a new Call of Duty war game out almost every year, it's only a matter of time before the consumer feels like they are actually in the game and can end up taking the games to be more than what they really are. Your right that it's the goal of the creators of these games to make them look as real as possible to attract new users but how far would they be willing to go? It's interesting the points you made about how the games tend to be of a human participating in justified violence with bloodshed, and justified being the most important word because their saying then that this is acceptable behavior which may encourage some people who cannot separate real from fake.
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