Video Game Addiction

What is addiction? Are you addicted? You could be addicted to games, drugs, food, alcohol and even films. All these addicitons are all the same type of addiction, you need these things and cant live with out them. Video game addiction could be your way out, your mean of escape from any problems you have going on at the moment.

Today technology is way more advanced and video games are everywhere and are used in everyday life. smart phones can have millions of games, people play them multiple times everyday. People play it on their way to work or school while sitting on the train, while they are on their break. Now that 90% of games have online features, why call your friend to go out or come over to hang out when you can simply tell them to hop online and play games? But do we call them addicted? It has become an everyday thing. The only time it is seen as an addiction is when it is seen as a problem.

Video Game Violence

Video game violence has been a huge topic since the start of gaming. From Doom to Call of Duty we have received multiple violent games, But how does that effect us?
Studies have shown us that 90% of children in the US play games and 90% of the games that they play have mature content. Children who spend more hours playing violent video games per week have shown increases in aggressive behaviour in comparison to those who spent fewer hours playing violent games.
Violent video games can lead children to become more violent. As they are still developing as they are growing up, it can be carried up into their years of adulthood.

Genre

Game genres help categorize games, like Rpg, Fps and Horror. It helps you choose what type of game you would like to play, whether you like to play sports games or action games. For example when you have found a game you like, the easiest way to find another game that you would like would be referring to the genre of that game, However the genre's can be a little confusing and tend to overlap with each other. such as MMORPGs where it is an mmo but also an rpg.

Ludonarrative resonance/dissonance

Narrative in games nowadays is truly a big topic. Games such as 'The Wolf Among Us' told us a very intense story which immersed the players above their expectations. However a game doesn't always need a great story for it to be successful, take Minecraft for example, bright and vibrant but no has no story, you dont hear people talking about how great the story was for the game. It encourages its players explore and create their own story while doing so, but that does not mean that narrative is not needed.

There is a huge amount of AAA games which are set on a main story and being linear, and not giving the player the oppurtunity to explore the games world and doing side quests. Games like the Oblivion, Skyrim and Fallout have a great main story but at the same time has a wide range of side quests which are just as good. If they didnt have side quests the game would not be as great as it is.

 

Verisimilitude vs Stylized Aesthetics

Graphics doesnt make up the game, a game can be great without the extremely high textures and resolutions. Minecraft is a game with really low textures (can be increased through mods) and is ridiculously fun to play. Games that are shown with amazing graphics on their reveals usually let down the consumers in terms of the gameplay not being great because their main focus was on the graphics.

High graphics in games would also require the consumer to upgrade their pc hardware to be able to play the game in the highest settings or to even just be able to play. Crysis is a game which requires insane pc components to run the game in 60 frames consistently at 1080p. High graphics arent what people target when purchasing a game but more so exciting new gameplay, content and story.

First Person vs. Third Person Perspective

First Person vs. Third Person Perspective has been a dispute for a very long time now. It all comes down to personal preference, First Person being where you play the game through the eyes of the character and Third Person having an over the shoulder view on whats happening. It all comes down to what you like to play, for example RPGs are great for Third person, games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. That doesn't mean that all RPGs should be in Third person as there are games which implement both perspectives, such as games from the Elder Scrolls series which gives the player the option of playing in First or Third person perspective.

As you would know playing in First person would give you limitations on what you can see, where you wont be to see around a corner or over a fence but if you were playing in Third person, you wouldn't have that problem. You would be able to move the camera around the player to give you that extra visibility which is physically impossible to do such as being able to see behind you, but playing in Third person is not as immersive as playing in first person.

First Person is great for shooters. Games such as Call of Duty or Battlefield are great First person shooters that wouldn't be as good if they were played in Third person. Call of Duty previously had a game mode where you could play in Third person, but was later removed because it was rarely used and was disliked. There are also many great shooter games that are played in Third person, such as Ghost recon: Future soldier and Gears of War.

It all comes down to personal preference. First person giving the game a challenging experience however Third person is simpler and is usually more enjoyable.

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The Wolf Among Us

The Wolf Among Us is an episodic mystery drama adventure game which is based on DC Vertigo's Fables comic book series created by Bill Willingham. Telltale Games, makers of hit game The Walking Dead, developed and published the game. The game acts as a prequel to the comics and is canon to the comic book universe. The first season of the game consists of 5 episodes, with the first being released on October 11, 2013, for the Xbox 360 and PC.



The Last of Us

The Last of Us was developed by Naughty Dog, the makers of the classic Crash Bandicoot and hit game Jak and Daxter, and was published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game is an action/adventure survival horror game where you take control of Joel, a man tasked with escorting a young girl Ellie. The game was released for the Playstation 3 in 2013 on June 14th, with an updated version which released for the Playstation 4 on June 29, 2014.



Minecraft

Minecraft is a sandbox independent game which was created by the Swedish programmer, Markus "Notch" Persson. It was later developed and published by the Swedish company Mojang. The game enables players to construct things out of the hearts content with textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world, with several activites such as crafting, combat, resource gathering and exploring.


The alpha build of the game was released to the public for the PC on May 17, 2009, with the full version being released in 2011, on November 18. It had its first console debut with the Xbox 360 in May, 2012, as an Xbox Live Arcade game. A Playstation version was released the following year on December 17.