Assignment 1-4-2

Theories of Videogames in Formative Years

              There are theories in which people say that videogames are influential in kid and adult lives. One can argue the other (in theory) that it can develop kids into acting bad or misbehaving, depending on what type of game a child is playing. An example is the Columbine shooting in Colorado, an article which was written after the school shooting explained how videogames were getting blamed from the behavior of the teens that did the shooting. Janelle Brown, a writer for Salon, went on to say in the web article “Still, violent video games were quickly blamed as a possible motivator in Tuesday’s mayhem.” (1999) Does this mean videogames were the cause, not in my opinion.

              I myself play a first person shooter game online called Medal of Honor and do not fully agree with the notion that videogames can make someone kill. The reason why I said “not fully” is because not all people are the same and people can react differently, depending how mentally stable their mind is at the time. I guess in a nutshell, if videogames cause thoughts of killing real people then that person should stay far away from playing them.

Icons of Videogames in Formative Years

There are certain icons that represent different brands of videogame consoles. In my childhood, Nintendo, being very popular when Super Mario Brothers game came out and Sega, another popular gaming system that had Sonic the Hedgehog, were very two different videogame consoles competing. Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog became iconic, especially for kids. Kids that grew up during that era and had one of the games look back and see how it has changed their life in general. These icons have established the foundation of popular videogames and allowed other videogames to evolve to create their own icon.

References

Brown, J. (1999, April 23). Doom, quake and mass murder. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/1999/04/23/gamers/