Video Games as an Art Form

Although many people may only see video games as a form of mindless entertainment, there is growing support for the view that video games are actually an art form. The Smithsonian even had an exhibit in 2012 exploring the concept of video games as art, honoring the 40 year anniversary of the beginning of video games. Chris Melissinos, guest curator for the exhibit, made this statement about how video games are superior to traditional forms of story-telling:

“In books, everything is laid before you. There is nothing left for you to discover. Video games are the only forms of artistic expression that allow the authoritative voice of the author to remain true while allowing the observer to explore and experiment.”

The Museum of Modern Art has also accepted video game creation as a form of art, and now houses video games in its design collection. In the video below, Paola Antonelli, design curator at MoMA, defends the museum’s decision to incorporate video games in its collection.

Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-art-of-video-games-101131359/?no-ist

Gaming Wisdom Provides Insight into Real-World Experiences

Games can provide real-life wisdom to players, when viewed as an extension of their reality. In MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, players must complete quests and challenges to level up. Through these quests, bonds may be formed with other players, and new situations will arise than can serve to teach real-life lessons.

Ramona Pringle explores the ways in which online community participation through video games can enhance one’s life and fulfill basic human needs in her documentary, Avatar Secrets (see trailer below). In a Ted Talks sponsored presentation (view here), Pringle describes her experiences gaining wisdom through her virtual self and her adventures with other players. She outlines a few of her Avatar Secrets that she gained from journey, including: knowing your strengths and weaknesses, knowing when to ask for help and knowing when to stray off the beaten path.

MMORPGs Provide Opportunities to Form Lasting Relationships

The growing popularity of Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) is also giving rise to a new trend: real-life couples meeting for the first time through virtual worlds.

MMORPGs involve a high level of user involvement that usually demands hours and hours of character leveling and skill building to advance through the game. These worlds are typically designed to make it necessary to work with other players with complementary skills in order to advance or get the most out of the gaming experience. This need to interact with other users allows for the formation of bonds between players and reinforcement of both positive and negative emotions within the game. Because of this design, MMORPGs force cooperation and community involvement among its players.

Often, just as in real life, these situations which require a great deal of trust of the other group members, can foster bonds between group members.Working together to overcome obstacles and threats can become a bonding experience as players must rely on each other to provide different roles in their group, each one important in ensuring the success of the mission. These types of situations can provide players with a sense of community and belonging within groups. Players can become highly engaged and connected to their characters and the roles they play within their online community. These worlds in many ways can serve to fulfill the basic human need of belonging to a community and contributing to the survival of that community.

Individual relationships also form and can even sometimes transcend the virtual world and transfer to the real world into lasting relationships. More and more relationships are being formed through online communities and video games are growing in popularity as a place where lasting relationships can form. In fact, according to research conducted by Nick Yee, a research scientist at the Palo Alto research Center specializing in social interaction in virtual environments, 3 percent of male players and 15 percent of female players on the popular MMORPG, EverQuest, are in real-life romantic relationships with someone they first met in the game. The trend of meeting romantic partners through video games, although it may seem strange to some, is on the rise as online dating continues to grow in popularity. Players find the virtual world environment a less intimidating place where they feel they can get to know a person better through written communication and cooperation to achieve goals.

There have been multiple stories in the limelight about couples who meet in games such as Second Life, Halo, and World of Warcraft and decide to take their online relationship to reality. One such couple filmed their first meeting after five years of online dating through video games, and it went viral on YouTube. Watch the touching video.

Source: http://gamestudies.org/0901/articles/yee

Image Source: http://www.mamytwink.com/guides/de-lamour-dans-lair-le-guide-complet

Making Money off Gaming

Gaming culture has become so in depth for the lives of millions of people, that there are now many ways in which gamers have figured out how to make gaming not only their lifestyle but also their livelihood. For those who find their niche, there can be opportunities for big payoffs. Money making opportunities range from the auctioning and selling of in-game items, currency, and advanced level characters to subscription-based streaming of game playing.

In the world of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), there are great deal many goods and items that players must acquire in order to advance their characters and make the most of their gaming experience. It can sometimes take a lot of time and energy on gaining enough resources or gold to gain these items, which is a part of the challenge of gameplay for most gamers. There is a growing market which sells these virtual world items along with currencies and sometimes even leveled characters.These are for the folks who’d rather buy someone else’s hard work than spend the energy themselves, or maybe they just don’t have time. Hey, who can blame them? The merchants aren’t complaining either. They have found a way in which to use their favorite pass-time to make money.

Other ways in which to directly make money from gaming come from sites such as twitch.com which offers gamers the ability to live stream their game play for a subscription and tip based profit.  The website allows for gamers to interact through chat and view and download instructional or entertaining videos of game play. Broadcasters can make money through the site through people subscribing to their channel (some have thousands of subscribers) as well as through tips by those watching their videos.

With such services available, it is quite possible for people to make a real living out of playing video games. This Huffington Post article tells about three men who created a reality TV-style video game playing subscription stream and play in 8 hour shifts every day, demonstrating how these video games can become a means of supporting oneself.

Avatars Appearance Affects Player’s Perception and Behavior

Most video games these days allow players to have some customization of appearance of their character or avatar. Depending on the game, there can be a great many options to make avatars into a completely customizable versions of oneself. Different games allow a variety of personas and looks that players can take on. Studies show that the creation of the appearance of one’s avatar is linked to one’s perception of oneself as well as the perception of that avatar’s self. It also is linked to what behavioral traits one will personify through that avatar.

Players tend to create idealized versions of themselves through their avatars. When players feel they have created that idealized version of themselves, they will become more connected with the character and more immersed in the game. This connection with one’s avatar can also lead to opportunities for game-makers and marketers to influence players subconsciously to like certain products or brands by having their avatar appear with these items.

The idea of taking on the behavioral traits one perceives to match a physical appearance goes back to theory of self-perception, which basically states that our attitudes and moods are dictated by how we observe our own behavior, rather than our behavior being dictated by our attitudes and moods. Put simply, this means that if you smile, your brain perceives you as being happy, and you will find things around you more enjoyable. Contrarily, if you scowl or frown, your brain thinks you are in a foul mood, and your attitude towards the things around you will become more negative. These attitudes and moods are also effected by one’s perception of their own physical beauty.

Research has found that these tendencies of self-perception transfer over into the virtual reality of gaming through player’s avatars.

Research scientist Nick Lee has spent years studying the effects of avatar traits on their human users. In one study, Lee immersed his participants in a virtual world through a virtual reality helmet. In this world participants were given different avatars with a range of physical characteristics. While in the world, participants were asked to view themselves in a virtual mirror and afterwards converse with another avatar being controlled by the research team. What the study found was that participants would act different according to what their avatar looked like. Those with more attractive avatars would demonstrate more confident and assertive behavior in their engagement with the other avatar.

Sources:

http://thesimsofficialmag.com/issue1/07_psychology.html#.VH_FzjHF_Cs

http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2013/11/the-psychology-of-video-game-avatars/

First Post

Hello World! This is my first post for my blog for the online course COM 3332 at FSU. Over the next several weeks, I will be creating posts for my Mini-Project 2 on the subject: Gamer Culture. I’m going to be exploring the nature of MMORPGs and other popular game types, including how individuals interact in these games and what bonds are formed among gamers, as well as exploring current trends and upcoming innovations in the gaming world, and the implications of these trends.