Philosophy and Video Games

7/27/2019 Philosophy and Video Games

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Philosophy throughVideo Games

Promises and pitfalls of Video gaming


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Team Members

Abhijat Biswas (120101054)

Aditya Jain (120122002)

Ajinkya Shejul (120123003)

Akanksha Sharma

Arpit (120121006)

Atif Ayub (120122008)

Dhvanil Patel (120205016)

Dipti Kumari (120205018)

Radhika Patodiya (120101054)

Saurabh Choraria (120122041)


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Video Games

A video game is an electronic game that involves humaninteraction with a user interface to generate visual feedback oa video device.

From the days of a simple Tetris game or the latest Grand ThefAuto 5, video games have evolved a lot. The graphics have

improved, the genres have multiplied, the gameplay hasimproved and so on.


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How are video gamesdifferent from the

traditional sources ofentertainment?And why all the fuss about them?Video games differ from the traditional media in many ways.Traditional media includes films, novels, television, sports.

The Traditional media provides a relatively passive experienceThat is, the content flows in one direction. From the source ofthe entertainment to the audience. It is a one directionaltransfer.None of your actions will have any effect on the events of themedia.


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While, Video games, on the other hand, provide an addedaspect of interaction. You can actually interact with the virtuaobjects of the game and can somehow or the other change thegame.

Video games provide feedback to your interaction. Your actionhave a effect. They do not go unnoticed.

Although the extend of feedback and the way in which ouractions affect the game is highly determined on thetechnological constrains, but Video games is one of the few

media which actually has such a feature.


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Video Games

A video game is an electronic game that involves humaninteraction with a user interface to generate visual feedback oa video device.

From the days of a simple Tetris game or the latest Grand ThefAuto 5, video games have evolved a lot. The graphics have

improved, the genres have multiplied, the gameplay hasimproved and so on.


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History of Video

Games


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1958 Physicist Willy Higinbotham invents the first "video game" atthe Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. His game,a table tennis-like game, was played on an oscilloscope.

1961 Steve Russell, a student at the MIT, creates Spacewar, thefirst interactive computer game.

1975 Atari's Pong is released with help from Sears Roebuck, whichfinances the production of 150,000 units. It becomes the hottestselling Christmas present.

Gunfight, the first "computer" game is released. 1977 Atari introduces its first cartridge-based home video system

called the Video Computer System which later becomes known asthe Atari 2600.

1983 The Commodore 64 is introduced. It is the most powerfulvideo-game console to date and the least expensive.

1985The popular game Tetris is developed by Alex Pajitnov. It isplayed on a PC.

1989 Nintendo releases the handheld Game Boy. 1994 In Japan, the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation make

their debut.

1997 PlayStation is considered by many in the industry as mostpopular game console as the 20 millionth unit is sold.


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2005 Sony releases the PSP, a portable system with a large, high-resolution display.

2008Grand Theft Auto 4 breaks sales records its first week after gambought more than 6 million copies.

2013 GTA 5 was released breaking 7 Guinness World Records and arecord sale of $ 1 billion in 3 days


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Video Game and Meaning ofLifeComputer games have become a major cultural and economicforce, and the last decade has seen the emergence of extensivacademic study of such games. Up until now there has beenlittle attention from philosophical point of view to investigateissues that arise from the phenomenon of computer games.

Imagine what your life would be like if you were the hero of onof thesegamesBaldurs Gate, say, orAidyn Chronicles, orJade Empireor ElderScrolls. From the moment you were born, you would have beenmarked out by destiny to fight some monumental battle or goon some elaborate quest with the fate of your people (orperhaps your fellow elves, sprites, or goblins) resting in yourhands.


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With the ever-increasing intervention of Video Gamesin our lives, the need for an extensive study of itspros and cons and its effects on our lives havebecome very important.

In some sectors of academia video games haverecently become a subject of attention: a few MFA

programs exist to train artists in the technology usedin game development and Ph.D. programs devoted tothe study of video games and interactive media, suchas the program at Georgia Tech, are starting to popup. Within the past few years, many books have beenpublished on video game theory.


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The evolution of Video Games have witnessed thinningof line between reality and fantasy.

In games like Everquest and Second Life. there is apersistent realm that one gains access to via theinternet. Many other people, and perhaps computer-controller NPCs (non-player characters) will be presentas well. One can buy property, visit other people andtheir homes or locations. For example, HarvardUniversity has a presence on Second Life.


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A social Experiment

PETER YELLOWLEES, a professor of psychiatry at the Universitof California, Davis, has been teaching about schizophrenia fo

20 years, but says that he was never really able to explain this students just how their patients suffer. So he went onlinedownloaded some free software and entered Second Life. This a metaverse (ie, metaphysical universe), a threedimensional world whose users, or residents, can create anbe anything they want. Mr Yellowlees created hallucinations. resident might walk through a virtual hospital ward, and

picture on the wall would suddenly flash the word shitfaceThe floor might fall away, leaving the person to walk ostepping stones above the clouds. An in-world television sewould change from showing an actual speech by Bob HawkeAustralia's former prime minister, into Mr Hawke shouting, Gand kill yourself, you wretch! A reflection in a mirror mighhave bleeding eyes and die.When Mr Yellowlees invited, as part of a trial, Second Lifepublic into the ward, 73% of the visitors said afterwards that


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To anyone researching the topic, it is quite

obvious that the majority of characters inthe video game universe are male.

Women characters in most video games areessentially passive. Some Barbies are just

eye candy and play no significant role in thegames storyline.

Examples include the bikini-clad women whowave the flags in the race driving game Needfor Speed Underground or who sun themselveson golf courses in some golf games.

Women and Video Games


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What men think Or may be this


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There have been extensive research on the topic with thefollowing outputs.

Guys like to :

WIN within the game

Be punished for failure

Have Competition

Need action and someeven prefer violence

Prefer games like : FirstPerson shooter, Real TimeStrategy, Racing Games,Role play Games

Girls like to :

Adventure within thegame

Be forgiven for failure Have low frustration

Prefer games like : Simgames, Adventure Games

Activity Games, AnimalGames, Role Play Games


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The games that "women prefer" are not "less

demanding games" than those that men prefer. They aresimply demanding in different ways. Some would evenargue that the commitment and patience required to playthem make them more difficult than the more aggressive

titles.

We must remove ourselves from thesuggestion that video games are amale market, and begin to lookcritically at what games are popularamong the different genders. When

these two items are finallyaccomplished, only then will thisinequality be obliterated.


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The need of the hour is :

Role play Games Fantasy and Humour

Rewards and not punishments Complex Activities and Storyline Likeable Central Character Like Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, Metroid Prime, Halo,

Mario etc.


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Digital game genres played

Puzzle Adventure

First Person Shooter

Role Play

Do not play

Other

20

5

10

20

22

23

Percent of Grade

Other Puzzle Adventure

First Person Shooter Role Play Do not play


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Realistic Blood and GoreDo Violent Games Make Violent Gam


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Forthe Motion


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From the third century BCE to the fourth century CE,one of the most popular forms of entertainment in thecivilized world was gladiatorial combat. Citizens ofancient Rome watched prisoners of war, slaves, and

criminals fight one another with deadly weapons,often with the predictable outcome of maiming ordeath. Sometimes, for variety, the audience wastreated to the spectacle of bloody fights betweenexotic, imported animals.


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Mortal Kombat

The most infamously violent game of the 1990s wasMortal Kombat, a two-dimensional fighting game thatfeatures huge eruptions of gore, elaborate spectacles ofdismemberment, and the opportunity to cause afatality (via decapitation, impalement on long metaspikes, or other equally gruesome means) at a point inthe game after one had already beaten ones opponent.


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Against the Motion


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First Person Shooters andAction Games : A Scientific

Perspective

In 2007 the University of Rochester, New York, revealedastudy that had found just 30 hours of training on a first-persoshooter can result in a significant boost to ones spatialresolution; that is, the ability to clearly see small, denselypacked together objects.

In 2009 another University of Rochester study also found thatplayers of action games can become up to 58 per cent better atperceiving fine contrast differences.

If you are driving at dusk with light fog it could make thedifference between seeing the car in front of you or not seeingit, study leader Daphne told Live Science at the time.


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First Person Shooters andAction Games : A Scientific

PerspectiveDaphne Maurer elaborated on why she thought first-person shooters proved so helpful.

Well, if you stepped back and asked what might be an effective therapy for visual defects, first-person shooter games have a lot of whats needed, she said. Theyrequire a person to monitor the whole field of vision, not just what is ahead of them. The player has to monitor everything, because the enemy could come fromanywhere. The game is fast-paced. You cant sit back because you will get shot dead. It causes an adrenaline rush. That potentially may make the brain more plastic.Video games could be actually rewiring the brain and allowing new connections to be formed. They could be unmasking connections that have always been there, butwerent quite strong enough to be expressed. They might be helping the brain get more efficient at responding to small and weak visual signals. Or all three.


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Summing Up


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A segment of the population that isdemonstrably more prone to committingviolent crimes than any other (males betweenthe ages of eighteen and forty-five) have beenthe most avid consumers of a type ofentertainment that allows them to vent theiraggressive feelings without punching, hitting,or shouting at anything other than a gamecontroller or a PC monitor.


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For surely the moral wrongness of violencederives from the fact that people actually gethurt by it; if nobody is being injured in any way,

then, it follows that the makers, sellers, andplayers of these games have nothing to feelguilty about.


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The player knows that she is not causing real agony,mutilation, and death. The closest one ever comes to doingany real harm to man or beast is when one kills anotherreal players avatar in online multiplayer FPS games such asCounterstrike, Unreal Tournament, or The Ship.


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Just-Kidding !


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Games and Gods GoodnessIn classic world-builder games like Civilization, Tropico,

SimCity, and Age of Empires, players direct the evolution of anentire culture through technological and scientificbreakthroughs as well as military and cultural expansion.Usually, the player takes on the persona of some small-scaledictator

The avatars power over the world of the game is

superhuman. And astute players and programmers of thesetypes of games have wrestled with the moral quandaries thatsuch power raises. It is for these reasons that the designersand fans of world-builder games are not exaggeratingunreasonably or exhibiting impiety when they refer to world-builder games as God Games.


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The philosophical task of answering the questionsabout the ethical content of god games is a majorissue in the hands of philosophers.

to discern the connection (if any) between God and

morality to derive meaningful criteria to differentiate right

from wrong, and to describe how video games, properly informed by

upper points might be designed.


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Censorship

Most gamers are familiar with thelittle stickers on game packaging

that describe their level of maturecontent. These ratings range fromEarly Childhood to Adults Only,and include descriptions of the kindof potentially offensive content ineach game (e.g., Violence,Crude Humor, Use of Tobacco,

etc.) They are applied to games bya group called the EntertainmentSoftware Ratings Board (ESRB).The ESRB was formed in 1994 bymajor companies in the gameindustry as the result of pressurefrom the US Congress.


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Since commercial video games (unlike

pornographic films, in the age of digitalvideo) are extremely expensive to make,this rating code has the effect of destroyingthe economic viability of Adults Onlygames by limiting where and when they canbe sold. Because of this, and given thespecifically political pressure that led the

industry to impose the rating system in thefirst place, many consider the current

system to be an instance of censorship.


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Since commercial video games (unlikepornographic films, in the age of digital

video) are extremely expensive to make,this rating code has the effect ofdestroying the economic viability of AdultsOnly games by limiting where and whenthey can be sold. Because of this, and giventhe specifically political pressure that ledthe industry to impose the rating system in

the first place, many consider the current

system to be an instance of censorship.

5 R l Skill Vid G


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5 Real Skills Video GamesHave Been Teaching Us

Timing: In most cities, the lights along majorthoroughfares are timed. The reds and greens sync up tokeep you at a certain speed. Navigating stoplights isn't agaming exclusive skill, of course; anybody can manage it-- floor it past one intersection, slam on the brakes andthen wait for the next to turn. But if you're a gamer, yourecognize the obstacle for what it is: A matter of timing.

There's never any need to stop at all. As long as you payattention to and catch the overall pattern, you can slipright through those lights like bullets in the Matrix.


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Hand-Eye Coordination: The hand eye skills a person candevelop by playing video games also transfer into real life.Neuroscientists have found a positive correlation betweenthe time a person may spend on video games and their

ability to complete everyday tasks, such as driving. Becauseof this, iis important to engage in activities to improve handeye coordination much like exercising to keep your bodyrelatively healthy.

Playing video games in general should help to improve handeye coordination because of the fact that you have to use anexternal device, such as controller or mouse and keyboard,to control elements in the game. The brain will have to beconstantly thinking about performing the real worldcommands that will in turn be performing the desired ingame actions.


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Organization is vital in yourday to day life: Stayingorganized at work nets betterjob performance, whilestaying organized at homenets better hygiene. And ifyou ever need to point to askill that video games havetaught you far better than anyother medium, look no furtherthan organization. Years of

spatial-awareness basedgaming like Dr. Mario havegiven gamers an exquisitesense of place and order


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Resource Management: Resource management is asfundamental a skill-set in the job world as it is in most gamegenres. In First Person Shooters, you have to carefully rationout and preserve your various types of ammunition. In RealTime Strategy, they're actual resources that you manage:Building materials, fuel, elements, manpower, etc. In RolePlaying Games, it's your inventory: Potions, revives, antidotes,and weapons.

Basic Morality: Mass effect, Oblivion, Fallout: Every single oneof them presents the player with a "choice." You can be thehero, or you can be the villain. It's totally up to you. But it's

always, always a trap. Good is the only right choice. The herooption in every one of those games will net you bettercompanions, more interesting quests, and a more ultimatelysatisfying story.


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-European Committee on Culture and E

Video Games are beneficiadeveloping linguistic, creatand strategic skills and

intellectual capabilities.

Acquired skills from playing


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Acquired skills from playinggames

Hand/Eye Co-ordination Social Skills

Knowledge

Others

None

10

7

20

18

45

Percent of Grade

Other Social Skills

Knowledge None

Hand/Eye Co-ordination

Philosophy and Video Games

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