Soaring through the roof: A basic introduction to the ever so popular ‘video games.’

It seems like I am the first to kick off with the blog entries. Fingers crossed that I’m doing this correctly!
It is without a doubt that the popularity of ‘video games’ have increased dramatically over the last few decades. With the release of new and more advanced game consoles such as ‘playstation 3,’ ‘Xbox 360,’ ‘Nintendo Wii,’ and games such as ‘Tekken 6,’ ‘Grand theft auto,’ and ‘Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,’ we are at a time where gaming is not just about eating dots or putting bricks together, but at a time where gaming affects the lives of the producers and the gamers themselves as a whole. Video gaming has also opened up a new portal for online communities and interactions between people of different nationalities from all around the world. Simply, it has becoming something which moulds into the lifestyle of many people in recent times (thus referring to the notion of ‘digital natives’ as mentioned by lecturer Kevin Veale in today’s lecture). Furthermore, the interesting thing about video games is that although we all play the same games, everyone has their own gaming experiences and thoughts on the game play, and understanding of the narratives within the game. In the reading by Perron and Wolf, they outlined the seven challenges for video game theory. Of the seven challenges outlined, I found the notion of ‘play’ to be very interesting and important. Perron and Wolf mentions the idea that,’ games are situated in culture and society,’ thus the different cultural backgrounds and the person-to-person lifetime experiences can affect the ‘play’ within different games. It is also important to note that, ‘the different styles of play, modes of play, and motivations for playing,’ (as mentioned in the reading by Perron and Wolf) can affect the personal experiences when playing a certain game. In conclusion, ‘video games’ affect the gamers in different ways. Its non-stop popularity shows us that games are bound to affect its users in both positive and negative ways; as a result, it is crucial to closely examine the relationship between video games and its users to prevent harm that the game maybe inflicting on its users.