Criterion A- Presentation of the issue.
My Portfolio will be based on a research paper written by Sandra L. Calvert to highlight the dangers of virtual gaming. In 2008, virtual reality games like world of warcraft, perfect world and cabal online had become so popular that over 60% of the world’s youth sit for hours on end playing them on the computer (Calvert 2008). Over 90% of these virtual games require a subscriber to create an online character and therefore have a second life different from reality. Living one life has its own problems but living two lives is just beyond normal.
World of Warcraft, One of the world’s current leading multinational virtual games
Currently totals more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America and approximately 5.5 million in Asia. This means that there are about 10 million people playing this game worldwide. Towards the end of December 2008, blizzard, the producer of world of warcraft announced that the total number of were about 11.5 million people, more than Ohio, USA’s population.
World of warcraft is only 1 in over 200 online virtual games; this therefore raises a lot of questions in the minds of people especially parents. ‘What threat does this sudden increase or boom in gaming pose for or children’. This great increase in virtual gaming brings up a lot of questions not only regarding the social impact on the subscribers as highlighted in (Calvert, 2008) but also the mental issue. What will be the outcome or result of this many subscribers to virtual games? What social and mental impacts will it have on the subscribers and their daily lives? What is the force behind this sudden virtual gaming boom?
Criterion B.
The affordability of modern computers has made virtual gaming easier to access by everyone. Games in general have long been a recreational thing but now people spend more time playing them especially through their computers.
The increased graphics card, accelerators and resolution of modern day computers have made Virtual Gaming increasingly popular and addicting. Most virtual games work in a similar way. The graphics card and graphics accelerator do most of the work. They generate the graphics or characters shown on the screen. Examples of graphics card and graphics accelerators are Gee-force and NVDIA.
The resolution of the computers makes the images clearer and bolder. Virtual games work this basic way. The playing of Virtual games are expected to grow by more than 60% in the next 2 years. (Castronova, 2004). This alarming increase in gaming means that more and more people will get drawn into the area of games and less people will be seen actually doing something beneficial to them. These developments have made virtual gaming to be more attractive and therefore draw more people into its never-ending hypnotism.
Criterion C.
Virtual Reality Gaming’s revolution and growth has caused it to become an increasingly popular area for investments. Companies like Sony and Microsoft who are well known makers of virtual reality games have assets of over 8 trillion yen (about 100 billion dollars) on games and electronics (Adobbati, 2008). This apparent interest and investment in virtual gaming poses threats for the future. It shows that there will be a noticeable and probably lethal increase in the area of virtual gaming.
This could have serious impacts on people’s social life because people would be spending more and more time on their computers playing games rather than mixing up with other people or their friends and family. It could also have an impact in their overall health because it would keep degrading as a result of too much exposure to the computer screen. Eye sights will degrade gradually and might lead to blindness eventually. Fitness might eventually become a problem because individuals won’t have much time for exercise of just leisure walking because they would be too busy with games.
Criterion D.
A feasible solution to the problem of virtual gaming could be that all mmorpgs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) should limit the amount of time users spend on their accounts. Their accounts could have a lock where it is programmed to know when the user logs on. The lock starts counting down till the user’s time for the day is over. The Board or leaders of the mmorpgs could set a desired time limit to which the users can stay online. This way amount of time spent on computers would be limited and also would the consequences of excessive virtual gaming.
Criterion E: Bibliography.
Adobbati, Rogelio, Andrew N. Marshall, Andrew Scholer, Sheila Tejada, Gal Kaminka, Steven Schaffer, and Chris Sollitto. Gamebots: A 3D Virtual World Test-Bed For Multi-Agent Research. Gamebots: A 3D Virtual World Test-Bed For Multi-Agent Research. Sept. 2008. Information Sciences Institute University of Southern California S& Computer Science Department Carnegie Mellon University. 28 Jan. 2009
Castronova, Edward. On Virtual Economies. Game Studies. Dec. 2003. California State University. 28 Jan. 2009
Calvert, Sandra L. The Social Impact of Virtual Reality. The Social Impact of Virtual Reality. Georgetown University. 16 Jan. 2009
Chan Jennifer, Unhealthy Gaming Habits and Addiction. Unhealthy Gaming Habits and Addiction..2006. 12th February. 2009
Stanney, Kay M., Ronald R. Mourant, and Robert S. Kennedy. Human Factors Issues in Virtual Environments: A Review of the Literature. Human Factors Issues in Virtual Environments: A Review of the Literature. Department of Industrial Engineering, M.I.T. 16 Jan. 2009
