Reading 11: Addiction and Violence

Addiction is a tricky issue. Psychiatrists and physiologists have varying opinions on what constitutes an addiction. The article from Psychology Today had nine different parameters for what constituted an addiction: preoccupation, withdrawal, tolerance, reduce, giving up other activities, continues despite problems, deceit, escape mood, and risk. It's easy to see with these modifiers how the line between passion and addiction can be blurred. If you are passionate about skateboarding you might think about it numerous times a day, might want to try new tricks and increase your skill, might neglect other opportunities for entertainment, and might even keep up the activity despite breaking your arm last year. These could all be symbols of passion rather than addiction. It needs more nuanced context. It would probably move over to addiction when you started to neglect your job or schoolwork, and minimized contact with friends and family. When we covered Esports last week, there were plenty of examples where it would be considered an addiction. Players who devote 15+ hours a day to a game would be addicts in my book. Factoring in a few hours for sleep and eating they would only have minutes for any other activity. This is no way to live.

Gaming can also have gambling aspect with items like loot boxes which are basically slot machines for virtual toys. Many countries are banning these features in game because they have buried a minority of players in a mountain of debt. US courts have given them a pass because many judges do not understand the value that players afford these items. You can look at the resale market on steam to appreciate that these virtual cosmetic accoutrements actually do possess value. Players are putting up four, five, and the extremely rare six figure amounts for these virtual accessories. This is an instance where the ESRB rating system does not provide enough protection for users because in game gambling effects people of all ages.

Another social issue facing the gaming world is violence. Violence can be critical part of games. Call of Duty, Resident Evil, Fortnite all have violent elements to different degrees. The goal mainly is to kill other players or NPCs. Concerned parents and even Congress cite video games as a cause in violence among kids, young adults, and even adult players. In my opinion this is bologna and the certifiably credible studies back me up. There is plenty of faux science stirring up the masses getting them to think that games like Doom and Call of Duty caused the atrocities of Columbine and Stoneham Douglas. Even the President echoes this sentiment and has called in leaders from the industry to discuss it. In my opinion violence stems from nature and nurture issues that go far deeper than if you play a first person shooter. My opinion is that the way we cut down on gun violence particularly is to make it harder for people to acquire guns for malevolent purposes. This could be tougher background checks or limit the sale of certain types of guns. We cannot use video games as a cop out for the real issues.

Reading 10: Esports

I think Esports are a great competitive or entertaining outlet for millions of people. It's not the medium where I choose to exercises either of these faculties, but I understand it's value in the world of sports and the global marketplace. I was amazed reading these articles how widespread the fandom for these Esports competitions were. When they are putting up numbers like the BCS Championship or the NBA finals you have to take them seriously.

A current debate is whether Esports should be added to the Olympics. Some say it doesn't have the physical nature of Olympic sports. I would argue with examples like shotgun shooting or triathlon the level of physicality is on a spectrum. These Esports professionals are executing hundreds of moves a minute moving their fingers, arms, and head with extreme precision.  I think the Olympics have a storied history and their events need to include this next chapter of history. There has been some criticism from IOC heads that video games are too violent in nature, but how can you reconcile statements like that with boxing, wrestling, and biathlon where actual guns are used.

My only concern about Esports is the life balance of it's players. The Guardian article writes about how many youth in South Korea have faced adverse health side effects from gaming for an absurd amount of hours. A doctor reported of a case where a south Korean youth died from exhaustion and starvation playing the game. I think what prevents this phenomenon in most sports is that the body would become too exhausted after playing or practicing even four hours. Football has it's health issues, but the players do not come anywhere near the number of hours these professional gamers put in. The highest level gamer teams have nutritionists and physical therapists, but few other professional gamers enjoy these benefits. I understand that these competitors are motivated to be the best in their craft, but there are other things in life that need to be enjoyed like family and friends. I think for Esports to sustain a pool of professional athletes they need to encourage healthier lifestyles.

Reading 08: Mobile Games and Fortnite Mobile

Game Review: Fortnite Mobile is a pretty great game. It is exactly like the console variant and has pretty great controls despite being entirely touch screen. You can also play with players on their consoles or other friends on their mobile devices in squad mode. What I like the most is the level of detail and intricacy there is in the map. The map is also incredibly large and has areas on it that would alone be the size of a large Call of Duty map. My favorite part of the game is not even killing the other players but building and destroying structures on the map. It feels Like Minecraft with better combat. The one life concept also makes the game frustratingly fun. While dying in Call of Duty was annoying it wasn't the end of your match. The stakes are higher and it makes being the last survivor much more satisfying. Overall, I would highly recommend Fortnite Mobile to any friend who likes combat strategy games.



Discussion: I'm perfectly fine with mobile gaming becoming a larger segment of the gaming industry. I think the nice part of mobile gaming is that there is a lower barrier to entry than console gaming. I've only spent a few dollars total on all the games I've played on my mobile device. I think this is democratizing gaming and not debasing it because there are many high quality games that come for the mobile device. The Fortnite Mobile game I wrote about is free to play with micro transactions to customize character aesthetics. A lot of people give mobile games grief about micro transactions, but I would argue that there are equally good and bad examples of their use in the game. I think the pay to win strategy of micro transactions is not very fun because players that pay less have a strategic disadvantage in gameplay. I think transactions for aesthetic reasons are fine. I don't care if I am the only one rocking the newb default attire. Here is the link to my presentation this week on micro transactions for reference https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kaJpVQ91vLJsuIVFKhRJR5OleedSvsSveUGEWlvieC0/edit#slide=id.p