Video Games and Video Game Culture

1) Where do you place yourself or your peers in video game culture? Why?

I place myself in the percentage of women who play video games. People have the preconception that only men play games and women don't. They are incorrect. It is proven that 43% of gamers are female but in our society, they believe that males are the majority of video gamers. I play online games with my friends. We play different types of PC games. The first video console I had was Nintendo 64 and I've seen some of the developments of video games. The reason why I put myself in video game culture is because I tend to play video games in my free time or when I just feel like escaping from the reality around me. With video games, I am able to make a whole new character and life for myself. For example, in the game the Sims 3, I am controlling a virtual life and I am able to make my dream life out of it.

2) What do you think of video games and video games culture? Why?

I think that video games are addicting and it helps people get away from reality. It is an escape from the real life which people occasionally need. There are some people who play too many video games that their judgement and logic disappears. They become so addicted to a game that they spend all their free time avoiding all their friends and family. It can corrupt a person and it can also cause one to get hurt physically or become violent. For example, on the news, there was a story of a teenager who killed his mother over her taking away his XBOX. Games like "Grand Theft Auto" can make people want to kill strangers and steal cars because it influences them. That is just my opinion on video games due to the media. During Ted Talks, he mentions that a bit over 80% of games aren't violent but the media make it seem that the majority of video games are.

I believe that in the future, video games culture will have a bigger impact on our society.

3) What do you see in the future for our culture and the impact video games will have on that future?

The future will have more technology. Over the past few years graphics have increased drastically. I believe that video games will become more realistic and you will be enable to interact with it. It will have  a bigger impact and people will be able to talk to their virtual life or even be in it. I think it will look as realistic as real life. People will be able to play games with other people around the world and feel as if they were actually there. I think the future of video games

More people will be staying home instead of going outside. It will cause people to become lazy.

4) Discuss one thing (quote, statistics, etc) from David Perry's talk that you found interesting.

I found it interesting how 43% of gamers are female. When I was younger, I was only able to watch my brother play video games. He never let me play them and his excuse was "girls don't play video games." A lot of people believe that girls don't play video games and all we do is go shopping, play dress up and wear makeup. They think that we only do "girly" things which is untrue.

The other thing I found really interesting is that the average age of video game players/buyers is 30. I expected the age to be in the early 20s, late teens.

I think the reason why I think this is because of the media. They gave a certain impression on the age and who plays video games are. Usually, people don't think adults play that much because they work, and take care of their family which seems strange for them to play video games on their free time.