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mzhang's picture

life with and without games

It is very interesting to question about the life after abandoning all the games and to suggest what the kids would react. But how about we start from recalling the life before all of those games flourishing into our lives?It might be difficult to grab the sense of that picture since we have already gotten used to the life with overwhelming online gaming commercials and game-related terms and phenomenon every corner in the world. But I suggest that the changes that games brought to our life did not function that severe nor far-reaching. Games cannot change the world, though it can help change the world, to some extent. Everything has two sides and it is also true with games. If we, tried hard, to reminiscence the routine of the world before games take over a part of it, will notice that we may have more cosplay shows, added game entertaining commodities area in the stores, and plenty of online gaming commercials everywhere after this new by-product of the progress of technology. I agree that you were worrying about the negative illusions that violent and bloody games might bring to the youth but it will also be radical and impetuous to be in a rush getting rid of them all. Games are never new products or recent inventions of human beings. Games exist almost at the same time mankind started to live together as a community. Games, per se, are only one form of interactions and communications among the crowd. Games are meant to be played due to their nature, which is a time-consuming entertainment. People play the games, no matter the games were in vintage physical styles or in a fashionable online way, out of their desires of relaxing themselves from the secular world, in which they might have duties, obligations and unhappiness. What’s more, for what we should erase the existence of the games? We need to specify our purposes to have a second step. Would that be protecting the kids from negative illusions and bad life instructions? Games, together with their designs, theme descriptions, and character sett-ups, are just one product open for consumption. The proportion of games with violent or benevolent themes is, actually, decided by the demand of the market. I will not agree to blame the tendency, if there was one, of violence and evil thoughts to the games, per se. I insist that we have to consider the social backgrounds which nourished the market asking for more violent games at the first place. On the other hand, of course, those games’ negative influences on populace will definitely reflect back on the society. To break an angle in observing this circular phenomenon, we need to balance the status of education, which have influential effects on social ideology and games’ morality at the same time. So what will the kids react if the games were taken off the market? They might be disappointed for a while and continue their life with alternative entertainments. But the balance between flourishing the popular games under the capitalistic nature and establishing appropriate education for independent thinking individual should be the focus. Then what do you see the role of education play in the gaming culture or do you find education and games intertwined with each other?

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