Gaming and Playing for the Right Reasons- by Anjum Razaq

The general image of what a gamer is probably a teen male, however contrary to popular opinion this is not true. With the advent of flash games, MMORPGs and quick hit games on android and apple devices as well as Facebook there has never been a more diverse community of gamers but males in their 30’s are the highest percentage of gamers.

As a man in his early 30’s I am in the majority when I say that I am a gamer. I am proud to be a gamer but I do have to admit that in my life my concentration of gaming has been sporadic. At times I would immerse myself in a world and it would consume me whole until the game was complete. I remember playing Final Fantasy 7 during my time in University. Once lectures had finished I’d rush home and switch on my trusty old PS1, playing through Midgar and sharing Clouds pain. When I wasn’t playing the game I was thinking about it, listening to the soundtrack on my Discman. It had me enthralled. Once one game was over I’d look for the next fix of gaming mana. 

Midgar blew my mind!

I didn’t really think much of it until I came to Cambodia. I was born in East London and my whole life was there; family, childhood friends and all the memories of my life there. Once I was married my wife and I wanted a change, to do something different and to be honest Cambodia was as different as they came!

I worked in a school in Phnom Penh and after two years moved back to England. I have been reflecting on my time in Cambodia and want to share my reflections here.

I made new friends in Cambodia but the relationships were not as deep, I mean how can they be? International schools are great as you meet many people from all walks of life but they are also very transient, people are constantly leaving and arriving and so that deep level of friendship doesn’t occur as naturally or as often.

In Cambodia my gaming came to the forefront again- I played much more frequently than I used to (although not as much as when I was a kid) and although I enjoyed the games I missed the camaraderie of playing with my friends. The Wii offered a cushion to help me, offering up good memories and times. I have the Xbox, DS, PSP, ipad and Macbook but my weapon of choice to take to Cambodia was the Wii. I could have taken my Xbox 360 and played with friends online but the internet connection is temperamental due to developing infrastructure and the time difference of 7 hours meant there would never be a time I would be able to connect with my friends online. 

So why the Wii? Maybe because my strongest memories of gaming were with Nintendo. It conjured up my first real experience with computers and the catalogue of games are like a childhood who’s who of gaming. 

 

Ah, those twee Wii adverts- it really was marketed as a social games console.

I never really got into MMORPG’s because I know how I am, if I get into a game I HAVE to complete it, no matter how bad or good it is. If I started on World of Warcraft I’d never see daylight again! I have a friend who used to be into sports and was quite active but over the last several years tragic events such as family deaths, poor health and divorce have ground him down. As a result he is now switched on to the virtual world, he hardly ever goes out and his friends are pretty much all virtual. It’s easy to see why someone who feels powerless in the real world would immerse themselves in the virtual world.

Games are amazing as they can distract you and immerse you. Their interactivity is empowering but for those individuals who are more obsessive or prone to addictiveness they can be destructive. Escapism isn’t inherently bad but when it comes at the cost of dealing with real world issues and having a sense of personal and social responsibility, this is where the problems start.

Games are by nature addictive and if you don’t watch yourself you can become lost to them. I don’t mean all gamers will become killers like Anders Brevik (click on the link below for a though-provoking article on the subject) but more simply that games can distract you at the time when you need to focus the most.

So I suppose the question is what kind of gamer are you, when do you most play computer games and why? Are you playing games because you enjoy them or are you playing to forget about something else in your life?

Computer Game Violence and Real World Violence- by Anjum Razaq

Whilst in the process of writing an article about computer game violence I came across an excellent and intelligently written article online, which I feel discusses the issue of computer game violence in a thought-provoking and cohesive way.  

Society is always looking for someone or something to blame, and computer games have entered the focus. It has been this way for a long time, in the past there have been such heinous influences as comics (during the 50’s), rock and roll (Elvis was leading to the degradation of society), books (Harry Potter encourages belief in the supernatural) and Dungeons and Dragons (encouraging Satanic worship and belief in the supernatural).

Elvis- bringing down society one hip shake at a time!

Marilyn Manson spoke eloquently in ‘Bowling for Columbine’ when he said,

“the two bi-products of that tragedy (the Columbine shootings in 1999) were violence in entertainment and gun control… the President was dropping bombs overseas yet I’m the bad guy because I sing some rock and roll songs. Now who has the bigger influence, the President or Marilyn Manson? This is telling of the media as no one has said that the President or the society in which the individual was a part of created the situation because that is not how the media want to spin it… they are looking for scapegoats and easy answers where there are none!”

Computer games can be used by people with personal problems, and may even be a catalyst for them, but they are not the inherent problem, and laying all blame at their feet is socially irresponsible. After the Norway shootings and Ander Breivik saying that it was his immersion in violent computer games that encouraged him to murder many people, newspapers around the world were publishing distressing articles about how computer games encourage violence. Are we saying Anders Breivik was a perfectly sound individual before he started playing computer games or is it more likely that he had violent tendencies, psychological issues and many other causal factors that led him to commit such heinous acts? Which is the most likely?

As a society we are doing society a disservice by ignoring the real issues behind the violence that occurs in the world. We’re ignoring the mental problems, the social and family problems and everything that is more likely behind these acts of violence than computer games. Blaming computer games is not going to teach children anything except that blaming the arts and entertainment industry is the go-to excuse for the psychological problems of the few.

As for computer games corrupting the mind of children? Well, some computer games aren’t meant for the young developing minds of children. If the game is titled Hitman, Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto then you can probably guess that children should not be playing it. In the past games like Mortal Kombat were accused of promoting violence but the graphics and technical limitations meant that it was pure hyperbole. But now, with the advance in technology, games can now be more visceral and realistic and the classification of gaming should be taken more seriously.

This onus rests on the shoulders of the parents, who should be monitoring the media their children consume. I can understand that this can be quite difficult due to the ease of access to online gaming, but there does need to be a dialogue between parents and their children. I played many games that were innappropriate for my age when I was younger but my parents, who didn't know much about computer games, always spoke to me and my brother about real world and fantasy world- it helped keep us grounded and meant we knew that what was happening in the game was pretend and not reflective of the real world.

There are plenty of games available that are age appropriate and these are the ones that the children should be playing. In the UK films are classified before release and so are games, yet the amount of parents I see who buy their children these violent games, even when the shop employee has stated that it is a mature, game is amazing. Parents have to take responsibility for their children’s actions and can’t just blame teachers, politicians or media. The computer should be a treat as a useful tool, not the babysitter it can easily become. What are you opinions on the matter?

Gaming and Me- by Anjum Razaq

Why do I play games? Why is it so important to me? Speak to people in the gaming community and you’ll hear a variety of reasons but for older gamers like me you’ll probably hear them say that games are ‘art’ and like other art forms it can be appreciated. Maybe this is a response against feeling judged to have, what is traditionally thought of as ‘a childish hobby’, I don’t know. It doesn’t help when the media constantly speak about gaming in negative terms, a form of entertainment which encourages violence and depravity. Whether games are an art or not can be discussed at another time but to be honest when I started gaming I didn’t sit there thinking ‘Wow, this is art… look how cultured I am’.

So why my interest in gaming? Well to understand we have to go back a little to when I first experienced ‘games’. I first played on arcade machines in classics like Pacman and Donkey Kong but my first home experience was on the ZX Spectrum when I was 6 years old.  However my first deep game experience was with my oldest and best friend who was given a NES with Mario Bros. 1 for his 9th birthday. I went to his house and ate lots of junk food and we played the game for over 8 hours straight. When I got home that evening I promptly vomited, but my eyes were truly opened to the world of gaming.

This was the cassette I had for my Amstrad... epicness was contained inside!​

I got my own first computer for my 10th birthday, getting a second hand Amstrad CPC 464 (this was in 1991 when the Amstrad was already well into obsolescence and the Megadrive and NES were in ascendency). I played that computer for many years and still have it now in storage, but the game that truly immersed me and engaged me was ‘Fantasy World Dizzy’. It is now considered a classic and rightly so. It featured state of the art graphics for the time and a simple story of rescuing your family, a bunch of eggs called ‘Yolkfolk’, from the evil King Troll. I remember loving the fact that it had an inventory system where you could hold only 3 items at a time, so each new discovery of an item felt truly wonderful yet at the same time offered a dilemma. My brother and I played that game for months on end and I remember vividly the moment we became stuck (this was a time before walkthroughs and guides) and my brother discovered that the rope could be used on the crocodile to close his mouth, so we could jump across to another part of the world.

This part of the game had my brother and I stumped for months

I think this was the first time that this joy of discovery really hit me in computer games, the fact that there was an immersive world which you could explore and by using your wits and guile could slowly unravel. A lot of other games at the time were very simple quick game fixes but this; this world was another thing all-together.

In recent years Dizzy has had a little revival due to iOS gaming (Prince of the Yolkfolk has been released on the app store) and frequent mentions in the many Zero Punctuation review videos, where he refers to it as “the best game ever” but clearly taking a well aimed snipe at those who look back through the rose-tinted eyes of nostalgia.

​Old skool game design... I love this hands on approach

In recent years ‘Geek-chic’ has become a part of popular culture, with celebrities purposely seeking to present this image but back when I was a kid being a ‘geek’ was not a trend, it was just a way of being. I loved the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ novels, watched ‘Knightmare’ on TV and my favourite series was ‘Mysterious Cities of Gold’ (it still is). I wasn’t bullied and didn’t feel like an outsider, gaming wasn’t the world I went to shut out the world. Instead it immersed me and engaged me and brought me and my friends together. I felt a real sense of community in gaming and even now, when I meet a fellow gamer there is an instant connection of something shared.

Gaming is a deeply personal experience for me and as I have grown older I have definitely become more discerning and particular with the games I play. Due to time constraints of work and marriage gaming isn’t as big in my life as it used to be but it is just as important, for me it is a big point of identity. That is why when thinking about creating an educational ICT and Games Based Learning blog, Simon and I wanted to look at the various aspects of gaming. Rather than just being a ‘this is what we are doing using computer games’ we wanted to create a forum of ideas and discussion, not just about educational aspects of gaming but gaming as a whole. I saw this poster on the internet and don’t know who created it (if you know who created this please let me know and I will credit them here) but would like to use it here as for me in encapsulates what gaming is. I hope you will join us for this journey and contribute.