Effect of Computer Games on Bits Students

We would also like to express our gratitude to our instructor Mr.. General Sings Chuan for his continuous advice and assistance in preparing this report.

We are also very grateful to the students of BITS-PLAIN for their overwhelming response to the questionnaires. Table of contents Acknowledgement Abstract 1 . Introduction 1. 1 .

Computer games and Aggression 1. 2. Computer games and Addiction 1. 3.

Computer games and Health 2. Discussion and Analysis 2. 1 Gaming Density 2. 2 Gaming History 2. 3 Gaming Interest 2. 4 Game Timing 2.

Gaming Effects 4. Recommendations References and Bibliography Appendix In the past few decades Computer Games have started to have a greater impact ND influence on our lives, and more specifically on the youth of today. Ever since the first computer rolled out, these computer games have been evolving by leaps and bounds. Today there are a huge variety of games and the Gaming industry has become a multi ' billion dollar industry.

This industry has become one of the fastest growing also, with new games flooding the market almost everyday.With this background, it becomes empirical that a study should be done on the effect of computer games on today's youth. In order to effectively quantify the effect of these games on the students of BITS- Plain, we have a designed a survey which asked the respondents a range of 14 questions which were about how these computer games affected them in their daily lives. The survey revealed both expected facts and showed some unexpected insights into how gaming has become a passion nowadays, and infant how it has become an obsession and addiction to today's youth.

Read on, to find out more about this interesting study.Introduction Games have always been perceived as a harmless and enjoyable pastime and hence research on their effects has been neglected to a great degree. Ever since the divided ages, lots of games have been invented by man to help him pass the time during his leisure time. But the real revolution in the games and gaming has come about with the advent of the Personal Computer. The advent of Space Invaders in 1979 saw computer games become popular to a mass audience.

By 1981, no single game dominated the field any more as new games came out, rendering Space Invaders obsolete (Surrey 1982).The increasing popularity of computer games stimulated a certain amount of research interest in their effects. While, the saturation of the market with games in the early sass led to some loss of interest in them by the purchasing public, the late sass saw the arrival of the Japanese Nintendo system and soon sales started to rise. In 1991, the Economist Intelligence Unit noted that UK sales of console games connected to televisions increased by 200 per cent and sales of hand held games had risen by 700 per cent.Funk (1993) identified computer game playing as a relatively high frequency activity among adolescents. Research has indicated gender differences in computer game playing habits, with males playing more frequently than females (Kaplan, 1983; Griffith, 1991 a).

Reasons for this include: the game content, in that games tend to he games, in that males tend to do better than females on tasks involving visual and spatial skills (Kessler et al, 1983); and social factors - women are not encouraged to express aggression in public and are unlikely to feel comfortable with games of combat or war (Surrey, 1982).Little research has been carried out into non-arcade electronic game playing as this was originally perceived as a harmless and enjoyable pastime. However, with the ever-increasing interest and participation of young generation in this activity, much concern has been expressed about the effects of these games on students, pointing o the need for some form of empirical investigation. Some of the research to be examined in this review has suggested that the playing of computer games causes physical or psychological effects.

Whilst computer game playing has not been implicated as a cause of severe psychopathology, some studies suggest some form of short term relationship between playing violent computer games and an increase in aggressive behavior. In addition, some studies have provided support for the argument that computer game playing is potentially addictive (Anderson and Ford, 1986). One study examined in this review has pacifically considered the connection between computer game playing and criminal activity.In response to the criticisms of computer games, some have claimed that there are creative and proboscis applications of such games, with stresses on physical rehabilitation (Lynch, 1981; 1983), educational value (Silver, 1986) and the promotion of social interaction and growth (Favor, 1982). It has been argued that the aggressive content of computer games actually allows players to release their stress and aggression in a non-destructive way and in fact has the effect of relaxing them (Bowman and Rooter, 1983; Statements and Weinstein, 1985) . .

Computer games and aggression Since the late sass when computer game playing Joined television as a preferred childhood leisure activity, one of the main concerns that has constantly been raised is that most games feature some kind of aggression. This has led some to believe that children and adolescents become more aggressive after playing such games. Studies examined in this review often focus on the implications for the player's level of aggression of the emphasis on violence which characterizes the most popular games.This either takes the form of human violence (human character must fight or story things and avoid being killed) or fantasy violence (as with human violence but with a fantasy or cartoon character). In addition, many games of sport have violent sub-themes (racing, karate, and wrestling).

Indeed, these games' popularity tends to be based on their realistic effects, clever marketing strategies which are aimed at the youth and an ever-increasing emphasis on violence and destruction. These assertions are supported by research carried out by Proven (1991), who looked at theme of 40 out of 47 of the most popular games.Research on TV and aggression lends itself as a paradigm for studying the effects of imputer games on students' behavior. From past television research it may be hypothesized that exposure to violent computer games may increase adolescents' aggressive behavior. Silver, Williamson and Countermen (AAA) have noted the similarities between television and computer games: both have entertainment value, violent content and some similar physical features (action, pace and visual change).

However, there is a very important difference in that the players are actively involved in computer game playing and this raises the concern that computer games may in fact have a greater effect on the players than television. Indeed, their effect on aggressive behavior has become the most commonly studied phenomenon surrounding computer games, including some work looking at how self- esteem correlates with these variables. However, the studies do not all point conclusively in the same direction.It is true that findings from the majority of the studies tend to show that young players do become more aggressive after either playing or watching a violent computer game. But some other research uncovers no evidence of computer games having this effect on behavior of the youth.

Indeed, one survey has apparently found that heavy computer game use has a calming effect n providing an outlet for aggression and the open expression of competition. So we can see that inspire many studies a definitive list of the effect of these games has not been found yet. It is still a hotly debated topic between parents and the game companies. . 2.

Computer games and addiction The increase in the home computer games market has resulted in the ready availability of such games. With this have come concerns about: the amount of time the youth spend on playing games; whether this is at the expense of other activities; and possible detrimental effects. It has been suggested that 'computer game addiction' is like any other behavioral addiction, in that it consists of compulsive behavioral involvement, a lack of interest in other activities, association mainly with other addicts, and physical and mental symptoms when attempting to stop the behavior - e. . The 'shakes' (Super and Millard, 1983). 1.

3. Computer games and health Limited research has been done investigating the effect of computer games on the health of young people. Some activists allege that gaming has become one of the major causes of physical and physiological disorders ranging from minor aches to obesity. It has also been alleged that games have a negative effect on the mental health of the youth, because of their graphic nature of violence. Reaction time.

Spatial ability is considered to be one of the most important parts of intelligence. The studies give limited support for playing of violent games causing children to choose aggressive toys, but it is unclear how this is to be best interpreted since the studies provide no evidence for a link between video and computer game playing and aggressive feelings, thoughts or behaviors despite these outcomes having been well studied. The two longitudinal studies of video and computer game playing and overweight do not support a link.Discussion and Analysis In order to clearly find out the effects of computer games on Obtains, a survey was conducted with a sample size of hundred, and was distributed among various students of BITS-Plain across three academic years. The respondents were divided into 4 groups; those are A. Girls B.

1st year boys C. 2nd year boys D. 3rd year boys They were asked to respond to a series of 14 questions, which were designed to find out various things such as, the timing, the type, and the various effects that naming might have caused on the respondents. Their responses have been given in the following pages.

The questions which were put forward in the survey, have been broadly classified into five general categories such as 2. 1 Gaming Density 2. 1 . A Do you play any computer games? Response: (Total Response) [pick]An overwhelming majority of 79% of the respondents replied that they do play games while 9% replied in the negative and the rest 12% didn't respond at all.

(Response among various groups) As illustrated by the above graph, the number of people not playing games is high among the 2nd year boys and girls. Also contrary to popular perception it has been found that a 73. % of the girls interviewed play games, which is higher than the other 3 groups. 2.

2 Gaming History 2. 2. A When did you start playing video games? [pick]A majority of 48% of the respondents started playing games at the primary school to middle school level (4th standard to 8th standard). Among the various groups, 37% of the third year students who replied, informed us that they started playing Computer games after coming to BITS, whereas the numbers were totally different in the case of the other three groups as, 50% of first year students, 44% of school level.This indicates that there is a skewed level of exposure to games among these groups. 2.

3. A What type of games do you normally prefer to play? It has been found that Strategy games like Age of Empires and Data and First Person Shooters like Counterstrike, are the favorite games of Obtains. 3rd year students seem to prefer Sports games while 2nd year students play more violent games like Shooters and Racing. 2. 3. If possible, would you like to take up gaming as a profession Response: Nearly 20% of the students were willing to take gaming as a profession in spite of the fact that Job opportunity in gaming industry are not as curative as those in other industries.

2. 3. C Will you leave your favorite game uncompleted if some important work arises? Response: Almost 45% of bits students are either unwilling or doubtful about leaving a game which in progress. This mirrors a disturbing fact that games are starting to occupy a higher priority in the lives of students as compared to the other activities. 2.

3. Have you ever missed doing any of these things due to gaming? Response. [pick]As can be clearly observed from the response, physical sports is being neglected much more than any other thing which clearly has an adverse effect on the health of dents in the long run. This is closely followed by sleep which explains why students can be seen sleeping in the lecture theatre. Not only this but studies is another factor which is being dominated by the computer games.

Other factors like food, tests/outs, and parties also feature high on the list. 2. 3. E After finishing a game what do you normally do?As can be clearly seen from the response, the most popular activity which is undertaken by most number of students is starting another game which shows that they Just don't want to stop but instead keep on playing to their heart's content. This is closely followed by discussing the game they Just played.

Some students start studying immediately after playing a game as they consider that a game is Just for a break in between the studies but considered the number of such students shows that they are in minority. Other activities include hanging out with friends and taking rest. 2. 3. Would you suggest a game to your friend if you like it? Response: This seems to be reason why so many new games are spreading like fire in a Jungle. The same pattern and as a result within a matter of days the game seems to have revealed to the whole of BITS.

Only around 9% of the people play game for a break and let it be. 2. 4 Gaming Time 2. 4.

A On an average how much time in a week do you play? Repose: Though the majority of students' response is less than 2 hours a week but it can be clearly seen that the number of students who play between 10 to 20 hours a week is also there.This shows the increasing number of gamers in the BITS. Number of students playing between 5-10 hours is the second largest which may be considered as a decent allotment of time. 2. 4. B What time of the day do you normally play these games? Response: Clearly the most disturbing aspect of this response can be seen by Just taking a glance at this graph.

Seems like most of the students do night outs to play games rather than to prepare for the outs. This might also help in explaining the low attendance in the lectures as another popular timing for playing games is from 10-4 pm which is a time when lecture or outs are going on. . 5.

A In what way has gaming affected your health? Though its a good thing that most of the students are not affected by computer gaming but the fact remains that some students have got eye problems after pending too much time in front of their computer. As they also tend to ignore physical sports for the sake of these games they are also getting fat not to mention headaches and backaches. 2. 5. B In what ways has gaming been beneficial for you? The most important factor why students prefer playing games seems to be to release the stress and relaxing.Not only this it also looks like playing games has improved their concentration and they study with more enthusiasm after playing a game.

It also helps in improving their creativity. Most of Stress Release seems to be the biggest reason behind gaming. 2. 5. Do you get disturbed when those near you play games? Disturbed too. This is a response given by as many as 55% of the students.

However a small number of students are not sure about their response and only 27 % of the students say that they don't get disturbed at all.Conclusion These results clearly support the hypothesis that exposure to violent video games poses a public-health threat to children and youths, including college-age individuals. Exposure is positively associated with heightened levels of aggression in young adults and children, in experimental and nongovernmental designs, and in males and females. Exposure is negatively associated with proboscis behavior.

Furthermore, exposure is positively related to the main mechanism underlying long- term effects on the development of aggressive personality-?aggressive cognition.Finally, exposure is positively linked to aggressive affect and physiological arousal. In brief, every theoretical prediction derived from prior research and from GAME was supported by the meta-analysis of currently available research on violent video games. This relatively small literature replicates with video games two of the three types of research that have been used to effectively demonstrate short- and long- ERM causal effects of TV and movie violence on aggression and violence.

Given the similarity of the processes activated by various types of media and the similarity of findings in the extant literatures on video-game and TV-movie violence, it would be very surprising if repeated exposure to violent video games did not increase long- term aggression. Other questions in need of further research concern the relative magnitude of effects of video-game versus TV-movie violence, and the details of how media violence in general and video-game violence in particular create the observed worth-term and the expected long-term increases in aggression and violence (Anderson & Dill, 2000).Finally, we wonder whether exciting video games can be created to teach and reinforce nonviolent solutions to social conflicts. If marketed with the same zeal (and dollars) as the destructive games that currently dominate the market, would they be as profitable? In other words, is it possible to use the profit motive that has for years driven the media-violence machine to turn that machine in a proboscis direction?