How the 1970’s Sparked the Video Game Industry Would it not be awesome if we could do the things one can only dream of doing? Imagine a world where you can be a running back in the NFL, a powerful sorcerer, and Batman, all in the same day. This world does exist and its the world of video games. Video games allow us to escape reality and the stress that comes with it. It is a world of infinite possibilities with something for everyone. You can slay huge aliens with your friends in a virtual reality, harvest the crops from you very own virtual farm, or even run your own country! In the world of video games, you can do whatever your heart desires! But video games have not always been this way and have not always been around. It has taken a lot of innovation, creativity, and technology to get to where we are today. Back in the day, gamers would use dials and keyboards to move simple two-dimensional shapes across a tiny pixelated screen. Since then, forty years later, friends and family are able to play together in ultra realistic virtual realities. Games are no longer only played by geeky teenage boys spending the day at an arcade. Video games are now for men, women, boys, and girls of all ages. According to a survey taken by 23 participants at McHenry County College on April 22 2014, 96% of them have played video games before, 61% play video games weekly, and 9 of the 16 women surveyed currently play video games. These results show that not only are video games extremely prevalent in modern day life, contrary to popular belief, a good portion of women play them as well. Many different types of personalities play video games as well. Video games are no longer an activity only desired by introverts. Not since the internet has allowe... ... middle of paper ... ...nsoles, gaming hardware, and the uses of video game that were conceived in the 1970s. These innovative concepts have allowed the video game industry to improve to where it is today. The design of the gaming consoles from the 1970s have lead to the sleek, lightweight, video game consoles of today that act as home entertainment systems. The way computer hardware was first used in video game consoles from the ‘70s has paved the way for the small, powerful components we have today that allow better graphics, more interaction, and more complex controllers. Video games have been used for health treatment, education, and training all around the world thanks to the branching out of its uses in the 1970s. These events in video game history has dramatically shaped the way our world is today. A world where we can be ordinary people by day and orc slaying sorcerers by night.
An examination of videogames in popular culture is a complicated one. There is a large debate as to what is the very first video game. The supposed earliest known video game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947. The game was a missile simulator similar to radar displays from World War II, and overlaid sheets of paper were used for targets since graphics were unknown at this time. On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented in Britain. It used a panel of lights for its display and was used to play a game called “NIM”. Later, in 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first compu...
... It does not matter if you use them to relax after a long work day or as a way to get some much-needed exercise, video games are on their way to being a norm in our society for many more uses than just entertainment.
“Since female video gamers are so rare, playing shooter games allows girls to be freed from feminine stereotypes and increases their confidence.” (83) The author illustrates how society thinks that women should not play video games by claiming that most girls are disgusted by violent first-person shooter games and tend to gravitate toward softer more ladylike activities. By playing these violent games, Tieu believes that girls will be able to step out of their socialized gender roles. She elaborates on how women can be made more confident in other aspects of life by playing violent video games, by giving the example that she has excelled in mathematics and science which are mostly dominated by males. “Another reason for girls to play FPS games is that it gives us a different way of bonding with
1970s was considered as the birth of video game industry, the phenomenon of gaming was growing and home gaming console Home-Pong which was a one-game-only console was invented by Atari, since then, the gaming industry has become very profitable, and more and more genre of video games were created.
ames have been played before we began to record time. Almost 50 years ago, games changed into a new form. Magnavox Odyssey can be debated to be the first game console. Throughout 50 years ago and now, video games have become essential to every living room and a pastime to every young child. Companies have risen from this new industry, to produce games to young investors and dominate the game world. With new technology, graphics, and software: gaming franchises run mostly by public support. Each decade that passes, games are changed by America’s public these games change based on how the public perceives them.
Video games first appeared in the 1950s and were urbanized all through the 1960s. They came to importance in the 1970s and established an original and unlike entertainment industry in the world. These games have evolved notably with time and have become a culture on their own. Nevertheless, questions were raised about their effects on people which led to debates in societies about whether or not they should be banned. However, video games should not be banned in this age and time.
This journal article is entirely credible and written by two women who know what they’re talking about. This article discusses how video games form stereotypes about both genders and that they impact both gamers and non-gamers. Men are portrayed as aggressive and women are unsurprisingly portrayed as sex objects. A main issue with this is that video games are mostly played by the younger generation meaning these are the ideas being imbedded into the youth of the world. The...
The term “gamer” tends to be synonymous with “geek” in many people’s minds. They see gaming as a device that absorbs the majority of the time of the user, leaving them as mindless empty, pale husks with no ambitions other than beating that next boss or shooting the enemy in the face. However, few gamers waste their life away. On the contrary, many of these so-called geeks tend to be more social than the average person, and farther down the technological curve than most. For the truth is that gaming is a rather useful and beneficial hobby. It gives people an outlet to focus on, and can connect them with many others worldwide. It can teach and entertain at the same time, and can be a useful distraction at other times. In this essay then, closely examining the gaming hobby in comparison to other methods of entertainment will show that gaming is obviously the better method for using free time and connecting people.
The world we live in has changed dramatically over the last thirty years with the invention of the internet, smart phones, and video gaming systems. The world we live in now was unimaginable and the technology advances we have made are remarkable. Video game consoles and how we as a society play them has changed dramatically since the beginning of gaming in the 1970’s. Over the last decade there have been many arguments concerning video games such as too much violence, obesity, addiction, social wellbeing, and many other health related issues. Video games also have some advantages to include hand eye coordination, a strategic mind set, educational and teach life lessons to the players. However, video games do cause more harm than good because the negative outcomes out weight the positive aspects of playing video games.
Video games have become a hot topic recently. There have been a lot of controversy over whether to play or not to play. The controversy is due to them being arguably more captivating than all other forms of entertainment. Video games narrate an epic tale like no other form of entertainment can. You can become immersed in video games, because of this they are both a highly entertaining escape from the real world and a complete waste of time.
The average adolescent spends a major part of the normal week watching or interacting with some form of the media’s products. Video games are one of these media based mediums and have become increasingly popular since the 1980’s. According to a report in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, "Female gamers spent an average of 44 minutes playing on the weekdays and one hour and four minutes playing on the weekends, and male gamers spent an average of 58 minutes playing on the weekdays and one hour and 37 minutes playing on the weekends" ("Video Game Play Among Adolescents"). What can we understand from this evidence? The fact is that adolescents, male or female, are spending tremendous amounts of time each day sitting in front of a screen with a controller in hand.
Video games have come a long way. They have evolved from the simple game of Pong into a complex, multi-platform, multi-genre, multi-billion dollar industry.
Video games have been around about 50 years and they contribute a big part of the U.S. economy. People interact with video games every day throughout different ways, such as cell phone devices, computers, consoles or whatever which has a screen on it. In fact, it has always affected people’s lives. However, not so many people understand the benefits of video games. With video games, people can not only relieve themselves from stress and suffering, but it also improves people’s social experiences while they are exchanging and absorbing knowledge with other people; more than that, people can learn many other things from video games which can help them to achieve great things in lives.
In society’s current era of technological advancement, video games have gone a long way since they were first created. Video games in the twenty-first century are no longer just toys or junk in the lifestyles of the youth. They have become innovative inventions that not only entertain its users, but also help aid the people in both the academic field and in jobs. The influences that video games bring about in the culture of the youth today are, in fact, not the negative influences that most people think. Video games are actually this generation’s new medium for educating the youth. The information they learn are also mostly positive and useful things that they may apply in their future lives (Prensky 4). In a generation that revolves around technology and connectivity, developers and educators have already been able to produce fun and interesting games that can teach and train people. Video game developers and educators should continue to collaborate in order to create more positive, educational, and appealing games.
The experience of game play can be described as an activity in which the player is virtually embodied in the game world. Anyone who has experienced the world of gaming knows how the engaging experience can manifest itself with “sweaty palms and chills down the spine” (http://www.eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/viewArticle/80/147) when coming face-to-face with alien creatures; or with the adrenaline rush we get when racing a high speed automobile head-to-head with a friend. Gaming is an excellent source of entertainment. It provides an opportunity for social growth, provides a meaningful form of exploring expression, and provides heightened sensitivity.