Many people often think that gaming has only occurred in the last few hundred years.This could not be further than the truth. The Ancient Egyptians loved to game with each other, one of the most popular board games was called senet and is still played today. It could be said that gaming is a form of escapism, helping humans to relax and forget about the rest of their worries for a small snapshot, just like getting lost in a good book.
Multi player games gives people the opportunity to interact with each other, especially with online gaming such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. This games are based on the idea of interacting with other people around the world or your friends, so it is a contradiction when news outlets state that gaming is an anti-social medium. I do agree though that there is a danger of addiction with gaming, especially with MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft. Where as before humans gamed because it was a fun activity and a natural thing to do , I think there is now a danger of hyper-gaming and addiction. As technology advances, the gaming spectrum is broadened with new graphics and possibilities meaning that the game hooks are becoming more effective, resulting in a larger chance of game addiction. Too much immersion is never a good thing. I'm sure company's such as Blizzard would be happy with addiction as it keeps their revenues rolling. A drug cartel wouldn't stop selling heroin just because their customers become addicted.
We can see for ourselves the human need to game by thinking about children and how they act on a day to day basis.Children playing outdoors helps them to absorb basic knowledge about the surrounding world. Children often invent games of their own with their own rules and style, we can see that this a way of them communicating and investigating with the surrounding world and people. These investigations help the child make decisions in what will form the personality traits of them growing, or maybe when a child plays hop scotch and falls over this will help make future decisions on how to jump more effectively.
Multi player games gives people the opportunity to interact with each other, especially with online gaming such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. This games are based on the idea of interacting with other people around the world or your friends, so it is a contradiction when news outlets state that gaming is an anti-social medium. I do agree though that there is a danger of addiction with gaming, especially with MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft. Where as before humans gamed because it was a fun activity and a natural thing to do , I think there is now a danger of hyper-gaming and addiction. As technology advances, the gaming spectrum is broadened with new graphics and possibilities meaning that the game hooks are becoming more effective, resulting in a larger chance of game addiction. Too much immersion is never a good thing. I'm sure company's such as Blizzard would be happy with addiction as it keeps their revenues rolling. A drug cartel wouldn't stop selling heroin just because their customers become addicted.
We can see for ourselves the human need to game by thinking about children and how they act on a day to day basis.Children playing outdoors helps them to absorb basic knowledge about the surrounding world. Children often invent games of their own with their own rules and style, we can see that this a way of them communicating and investigating with the surrounding world and people. These investigations help the child make decisions in what will form the personality traits of them growing, or maybe when a child plays hop scotch and falls over this will help make future decisions on how to jump more effectively.
I would like to conclude that gaming is a fundamental human need that helps us develop in a for ever increasing stressful world. It is one of the key ways for us to relax and forget about our worries. But we need to be aware of the corporations who are of course out to make money, and don't think twice about the amount of immersion they allow to be presented to us as it can detrimental to our health.
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