video games and their effect on the future
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Video Games and Their Potential For Shaping the Future
Michael L. Emmitt
Jefferson Community College
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Video games have always been seen as a recreational activity for children
and teenagers alike, but is that the only use of such programs? Recent activity
has been taken with video games to promote higher brain activity and production
and to provide rehabilitation for physical and mental illnesses. The problem is
that when most people think of video games they think of it as a mindless tool
used solely for entertainment, but studies have shown that video games help
stimulate thinking and literacy in smaller children and also leads to problem
solving and real business skills. Video games are also currently being used to
treat sports injuries, brain injuries, and even mental illness such as autism. There
will always be people who look at video games in a negative light, but video
games are shining a new light into educational and rehabilitation purposes.
Video games were invented as a form of recreation, but today they are
branching much further. But how did the idea of video games begin? Video
games actually started in the late 1930's with the invention of a mechanical game
named pinball. The game used a plunger on a spring to propel a ball around to
hit pins and using paddles to keep the ball from falling. The first coin operated
machines were invented in 1931 by American Industries and they named the
game "Whiffle Board" (BMI, 2006). However the real breakthrough in video game
invention came in 1961 when a student at the Massachusetts Institute for
Technology (MIT) named Steve Russel created a program for a game that could
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be played on one of the school's computers. The game that Russel created
became so popular that the manufacturer of the computer, Digital Equipment
Corporation, started loading the program on the computer so that all computer-
science students could explore and play the game (Glazer, 2006). In the 1970's a
company named Atari brought the video games out of the bars and clubs and
into the home with a cheaper video game system that allowed players to change
the game simply by changing a cartridge rather than having to buy a brand new
system. The Atari console was widely popular and sold nearly 3 million systems a
year until the company collapsed under its own weight in the early 1980's
(Glazer, 2006). A turning point in video gaming came in the late 1980's with the
introduction of Nintendo. Nintendo took Atari's idea and ran with it by increasing
its marketing and appealing to kids. The games also became more colorful and
interactive as time progressed due to the increase in technology. Nintendo held
the corner stone for gaming for years until competitors emerged in Sony's
PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox platforms. As technology increases so do the
video games that come with it, but not only do the graphics and plot of such
games increase, but the interaction of the gamer to the game is also increasing.
With todays technology people are able to play sports in their living rooms and
live out their fantasys of being rock stars and action heroes in their own homes.
Video games are becoming more and more interactive and enveloping the gamer
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so that gaming feels less like imagination and more like reality.
Video gaming is commonly seen as entertainment, but what about as a
learning experience for a child with a mental illness like autism? A study at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham has shown that a program called FaceSay
helps children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) learn to recognize emotions
(Science Daily, 2007). The program FaceSay was created by a company called
Symbiotica and uses a visual puppet also known as an avatar to display facial
expressions. The game displays emotions while teaching kids how to search for
facial cues and and expressions. The study has shown great improvement in kids
with Asperger Syndrome and some improvement in kids with autism. Facial
recognition was up across the boards with a nearly two point improvement in
both kids with autism and Asperger's (Science Daily 2007). Children with ASD
often have trouble making eye contact with people which makes it hard for them
to remember faces and interpret emotion. However the FaceSay program
teaches kids with ASD to interpret emotion in a non-threatening situation. The
study at UAB continues to test the long term effects of using the program and
hopes they can reach out to parents everywhere.
Using video games to help with a mental illness is proving to have results,
but what about for traumatic brain injury? A study has started in Tempe Arizona to
show the effects of video games on returning veterans with traumatic brain
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injuries (TBI) (Milliard, 2010). The company Kinetic Muscles, Inc. specializes in
neurorehabilitation for stroke patients and patients with cerebral palsy, but
recently have started venturing into TBI studies in military veterans returning
home. KMI has started using video games mixed with their neurorehabilitation
procedures to rehabilitate veterans with TBI. The funding for the project is coming
from the Department of Defense and has started doing clinical trials in VA
hospitals. "Treatment of TBI builds upon KMIs neurotherapy technology
platform," said Ed Koeneman, chief operating officer at KMI and principal
investigator for the study. "Patients with stroke and TBI experience similar
cognitive and movement deficits. KMI technology addresses rehabilitation for
both groups through repetitive training of specific tasks (Milliard, 2010). The
clinical trials have had positive results with veteran's cognitive thinking, dexterity,
reasoning, and memory due to their vigorous course in a virtual activity world
(Milliard, 2010). One reason that the program is succeeding as much as it is is
that the rehab is geared towards soldiers who grew up playing video games.
Playing video games as an adult brings up better memories of childhood days
and helps promote higher brain function.
Mental rehabilitation with video games is one thing, but what about
physical rehabilitation? Video games are usually seen as an activity where you
sit on a couch and watch the game unfold with a controller in your hand, but with
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todays motion sensitive controllers it causes people to get off the couch and into
the game. Nintendo's newest console the Wii has started being used not only as
an entertainment device, but also as a device used in physical rehabilitation. The
Wii's controller uses motion sensitive sensors to copy the movements that people
would use when playing sports or doing a physical activity (Coslett, 2010). The
Wii also has an accessory that functions as a balance board for performing yoga
and other movement oriented activities. The Wii has proven itself to be a good
rehabilitation tool because of the psychological benefit of no just going through a
set of planned stretches and movements and instead playing an interactive video
game that you can get into (Coslett, 2010). The use of the Wii has been used for
physical therapy and strengthening of limbs, but also has started being used as a
rehabilitation tool for stroke patients. "The beauty of virtual reality is that it applies
the concept of repetitive tasks, high-intensity tasks and task-specific activities,
that activates special neurons (called 'mirror neuron system') involved in
mechanisms of cortical reorganization (brain plasticity)," Saposnik said. "Effective
rehabilitation calls for applying these principles (Science Daily, 2010). The Wii
has proved to more effective at rehabilitation than normal activities such as
stacking blocks and playing cards. "Basically, we found that patients in the Wii
group achieved a better motor function, both fine and gross, manifested by
improvement in speed and grip strength," Saposnik said. "But it is too early to
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recommend this approach generally. A larger, randomized study is needed and is
underway (Science Daily, 2010)
Rehabilitation is a very noble and amazing use of video game technology,
but does that mean that it is a waste of time for the rest of the population? On the
contrary video games are very useful in the education of children. Video games
has shown to improve the spatial thinking of children. Studies have shown that
lower income families that can not afford video games have children less likely to
be as good at spatial vision in comparison to middle class families children who
do have such toys (Bower, 2005). Spatial thinking is not the the only thing that
video games can teach children, but literacy can also be taught from video
games. While there is no solid research to prove that video games help literacy
many scientists have optimism about the studies. Parents often despair because
their teen is not sitting on a couch reading a storybook, which is what we think
literacy is, says Gee. But the kids' version of literacy is better for a modern-
world understanding of technical language, Gee maintains, but
In the best games, players must master a specialized game vocabulary,
consulting Web pages for hints on winning that probably use syntax far more
complex than their reading in school, Gee argues. I believe firmly the key to
school success is handling technical language, he says (Glazer, 2006).
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Video games are showing improvements in reading and spatial vision, but
what about things that future employers will look for. According to some experts
playing video games will be something that future employers will look for. The
multiplayer game World of Warcraft could be a tool the will bridge the video
game job market gap in the future. In Warcraft, players band together in guilds
to share knowledge and manpower in a quest, such as slaying monsters. To run
a large guild, a master must be able to recruit new members, create
apprenticeship programs, orchestrate group strategy and settle disputes. One
young engineer at Yahoo used to worry about whether he could do his job. Now
I think of it like a quest, he said. By being willing to improvise, I can usually find
the people and resources I need to accomplish the task (Glazer, 2006). Modern
multiplayer games are using financial and leadership tactics in their game that
can easily apply to the real world. Video games are also teaching a level of
professional language that is taught easier during games than conventionally.
All the good things that video games promote are still falling short of the
assumption that video games lead to addiction and violent outbursts. Video
games have always had a bad rap about the amount of violence included in
them, but researchers have said that video games can not be solely to blame.
Video games may have a contributory effect, but overall the evidence is quite
slim, he says. I think there's a predisposition of people who play violent video
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games to violence anyway. Youthful offenders play more violent video games
[than average]. My guess is these people already have problems to start with and
seek out that kind of game not that they become more violent as a result of
playing those games (Glazer, 2006). While violence in video games should be
reduced to show less graphic scenes of violence not all games should be
tarnished due to the fact that violent games seem to sell the best. However, the
selling of violent video games is not increasing the rate of violent crimes like
many would suspect; in fact they are having the exact opposite effect. Just as
violent video games were pouring into American homes on the crest of the
personal-computer wave, juvenile violence began to plummet, according to
University of Pennsylvania criminologist Lawrence Sherman. Juvenile murder
charges dropped by about two-thirds from 1993 to the end of the decade and
show no signs of going back up. If video games are so deadly, why has their
widespread use been followed by reductions in murder (Glazer, 2006)? Video
games may depict violent scenes, but so do many movies and television
programs yet no one is rallying to have those removed from the shelves.
The resourcefulness of video games is just starting to be explored. The
future of video games could take us to places we could only imagine in our
wildest dreams. With the modern use of motion sensitive controllers being used
as rehabilitation tools and computer gaming software being used to help autism
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patients; video games have come a long way from the pinball machines of the
1930's. While we are just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential of
video games the future looks bright. Video games will continue to evolve and
grow with new technology and continue to have a profound effect on our young
and old alike.
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American Heart Association (2010, February 26). Wii video games may help
stroke patients improve motor function. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/02/100225164849.htm
BMI Gaming,(2006, July 07). Retrieved from
http://www.bmigaming.com/pinballhistory.htm
Bower, B. (2005). Mental meeting of the sexes: boys' spatial advantage fades in
poor families. Science News, 168(21), 323.
Coslett, C. (2010, April 15). Retrieved from
http://www.ehow.com/about_6331525_wii-used-rehab.html
Glazer, S. (2006, November 10). Video games. CQ Researcher, 16, 937-960.
Retrieved from CQ Researcher Online,
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2006111000.
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Miliard, M. (2010, August 05). Retrieved from
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/va-hospitals-use-video-games-rehab-
vets-brain-injuries
University of Alabama at Birmingham (2007, June 23). Computer Game Helps
Autistic Children Recognize Emotions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/06/070622183516.htm