POST #9

As in kwan cheng's slides on virtual realities,

the apparent is the resemblance of reality
virtual reality is not exactly/ is almost like actual reality


Do video games train you to kill? Pretty much.


Starting from 1:34:30 onwards, this video talks about mmo games.

It first brief about the history of mmo games and later suggests that mmorpgs causes an addiction among people due to the fact they want to escape from reality. A further research on the psychology of mmorpg gamers can be found in this link. It states that mmorpg gamers are classified to different player types according to factors like relationships, manipulation, immersion, escapism, and achievements. In relation to these factors, a survey was conducted and later found out that, gamers are merely being themselves in the game and show signs of similar interactions between people, only in different personas. (Yee, 2006). This in turns diminishes the gamer's fine line between the real and the virtual for they utilises their same characteristics in both worlds unlike pre-determined/customized characters in the other games.

As stated in the pdf, it also talks about how certain players are able to perform unexpected and courageous actions which normally aren't performed in the world. In relation to the 5 factors I've stated, the 'achievements' factor measures the desire of gamers in obtaining certain accumulation of power in game through the completion of quests/goals or level ups. (Yee, 2006). When certain players have accumulated a certain amount of 'power' it subconsciously channels this superiority to the mind of the gamer, thus, increasing the probability of players performing things which are seemingly only possible through games. This in turns also raises the chances as to why people would prefer to fling swords as their primary weapon next time when the occulus rift (or some other tech) reaches the level of virtual reality expertise that the amusphere has achieved in the sao novel. (where the why part was briefly explained in the previous 2 posts)


Reference:

Maw, I. (2011). Video Game Revolution. [video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyKb7NOpnvo> [Accessed on: 6 January, 2014]

Robinson, C. (2013). Reality Check - Could GTA V train you to kill? [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nDUQJ_2wKSE> [Accessed on: 6 January, 2014]

Yee, N. (2006). The Psychology of MMORPGs: Emotional Investment, Motivations, Relationship Formation, and Problematic Usage. In R. Schroeder & A. Axelsson (Eds.), Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments (pp. 187-207). London: Springer-Verlag.