Task 1 & 2 – Unit 22ContentsTask 1.....................................................................................................................................................2

Action................................................................................................................................................2

RPG (Role Playing).............................................................................................................................2

Adventure..........................................................................................................................................2

Strategy.............................................................................................................................................3

RTS (Real Time Strategy)....................................................................................................................3

Puzzle.................................................................................................................................................3

Platform.............................................................................................................................................4

Simulation..........................................................................................................................................4

Sports................................................................................................................................................4

Stealth...............................................................................................................................................5

Combat..............................................................................................................................................5

FPS (First Person Shooter).................................................................................................................5

MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online)................................................................................................6

Educational........................................................................................................................................6

Platforms...........................................................................................................................................6

Technology........................................................................................................................................7

Task 2.....................................................................................................................................................8

Concerns with games within society –...............................................................................................8

Benefits of games within society –....................................................................................................8

Psychological effects of games and social media...............................................................................9

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................12

References...........................................................................................................................................13

Task 1ActionAction Games are a genre of games focusing around finding your way around and completing challenges gradually increasing in difficulty throughout the game using motor skills you’ve learnt early on.

An example of such game would be Cave Story, a game about a robot who must find out about themselves while exploring and fighting through a set of caves.

RPG (Role Playing)RPGs are a genre of games focusing around having the player fill in the role of a character in the game to then progress through a story by moving a character through an overworld area, exploring dungeons and utilising the character’s unique set of skills to defeat monsters (usually in a turn based fashion)

An example of such genre would be Shin Megami Tensei, a Japanese RPG series where you take the role of a member of a post-apocalyptic Japan and recruit mythological demons to fight for your own beliefs.

AdventureAdventure games are a genre usually not focused on the story aspect but rather on exploration and gameplay. While an adventure game may sprinkle some story elements around, the main goal of adventure games is to explore the area and solve various puzzles to move on and get to the end.

An example of such games would Minecraft, a game with

no real ending where you’re free to explore, shape the world and build alone or with friends in a near-endless world.

StrategyStrategy games are a genre focusing on slowly and carefully planning your decisions from an overhead view, taking command of units in order to defeat the other team and come out victorious. The genre originally started from board games such as Chess, Checkers, Reversi, etc.

An example is Fire Emblem, a strategy game based in a historical-fantasy world where one must strategically place their troops to exploit the weakness of the opposing team and lose as little of their own troops as possible.

RTS (Real Time Strategy)Real Time Strategy is a sub-genre of strategy games. However, the action and events in the game happen in “real time” without pause instead of waiting for the player to make a move for the game to continue. This factor requires the player to use

An example of this genre is Warcraft III, an RTS game set in a fantasy world.

PuzzleThis is a type of casual genre in which one uses their logical inference in order to complete a puzzle presented to them and achieve a goal.

An example of this genre is Tetris, where your goal is to stack differently shaped tetrominoes together to fill a row and clear it. As you progress, the tetrominoes fall faster, making it harder to stack.

PlatformPlatformers are a genre usually focused on travelling from one side of a map or screen towards the other through running and jumping over enemies and obstructions. Sometimes a player may also be given a means of defending themselves against enemies.

An example of this genre would be Sonic the Hedgehog, a speedy platformer where you take control of Sonic and utilise physics in the levels to find shortcuts, jump over obstacles and finish the levels as quick as possible.

SimulationA simulation game is a genre of games which aim to put you in the hands of and simulate certain aspects of reality or fiction.

An example is The Sims, in which you take control of virtual avatars and take direct them as they go through their daily life.

SportsThis genre aims to emulate the playing of various field sports in a virtual manner, usually using famous, real world players or teams as avatars. Some games focus on playing the game presented while other fames focus on the management of such sports.

An example of this is Wii Sports, a compilation of 5 different sports in one game utilising motion sensor technology to bring more immersion into the gameplay experience.

StealthThis genre emphasises the use of stealth and slowly sneaking around obstacles in order to reach the end goal, catching the attention of as little enemies as possible. While it is possible to ignore the use of stealth to complete the mission, you will usually be targeted and deeply punished for it.

An example of this genre is Metal Gear Solid, a game where you take control of Solid Snake and stealthily infiltrate a facility, taking out obstacles in your path as silently and subtly as possible.

CombatThis genre focuses on engaging in melee combat either with other players or AI controlled characters. There are usually a wide variety of characters to use which each have their own special specifications, techniques and fighting styles.

An example of this genre is Soul Calibur, a weapon-based fighting game set in a historical fantasy world with characters which utilise many different fighting styles based around the weapon they wield in battle.

FPS (First Person Shooter)In this genre, the player takes on a first-person perspective of the avatar they control instead of the usual third person view. Players use various ranged weapons (usually guns) to defeat and/or defend themselves from enemies presented to them on their way to the end goal.

An example of this genre is DOOM (DOS, 1993), a mature FPS in which one must reach the end goal of each map while taking down hordes of demons.

MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online)An MMO is a genre of online multiplayer game which can host very large amounts of players playing together simultaneously on the same server or “world”. MMOs can often focus on creating teams or guilds of other players to compete with others or progress throughout the game’s story.

An example of an MMO is Final Fantasy 14, a MMORPG set in a fantasy world in which players team together in guilds to take on quests given to them.

EducationalThis genre can take the form of some of the other genres presented here and can share many similarities with them except the main goal of an educational game is to teach you useful, real-world knowledge with enjoyment being secondary.

An example of an educational game is Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training, a game which offers you various math problems and memory puzzles for you to solve and keep one’s brain fit.

PlatformsThere are various different platforms in which video games can come and be played on:

Personal Computer: The most popular platform to play games on. Requires powerful GPUs and processors in order to smoothly run a majority of the games available. Also capable of emulating games from other platforms given the right software and files.

Hand-held Consoles: Consoles such as the Nintendo Game Boy or Sony PSP built around being able to play while on the go. While not being as powerful as a personal

computer or home console, they’re capable of running and displaying games on a battery anywhere at any time.

Standalone Devices: A standalone console is a gaming device that doesn’t use or run any other external software than what is already installed. This means it can only run the games pre-installed without modification.

Mobile Phone: The Mobile Phone is also a popular platform to run games on, with Android and iOS being the most popular operating systems. This platform can install a multitude of different games like a PC through their App Stores and how well the games can run once again depend on GPU and processor speed.

Internet & Network: Games can also be streamed over the internet to one’s personal computer. Instead of requiring powerful GPUs and processors, this instead requires a powerful and stable connection for the streaming to be smooth.Games can also be embedded onto websites and played over the internet using Flash Player, HTML5 or Java.

Video: Videos can be used within games to show tutorials, cutscenes or more within games.

TechnologyVarious technology goes into creating a video game:

Graphics: Graphics are a key component of every game as they provide the visuals. There are two different types of graphics: 2D and 3D. 2D graphics focus on bitmap images known as sprites which flow into other sprites to create an animation together.Meanwhile, 3D graphics focus on 3D models which have limbs that bend, rotate, move and distort itself in certain, pre-set ways in order to animate.

Artificial Intelligence: AI is often used in games in which you complete against a computer controlled “players” for a single-player experience. The use of AI makes the gameplay in each game more unpredictable and therefore makes every game unique and maintains the enjoyability of a single-player game.

Audio: Audio plays a huge part in the making of various games. It can often be used to set the mood; help direct how the player towards should be feeling in certain situations and make certain situations that much more impactful once a player reaches them.

Gameplay: To encourage re-playability of a game and allow a player to get more of a game with their money, some games offer different ways for one player to play a game once they’ve finished playing normally as intended such as offering various game modes or difficulties.

Scripting: Another form of re-playability can be given from games using scripting. Through scripting, players can enter the source code of the game and modify any aspect they wish, giving the ability to change how the AI functions, add new features to the game, remove features and change the game to whatever is within the scripter’s capabilities. This adds large amounts of re-playability as what can be changed on one’s next playthrough is practically endless.

Task 2

Concerns with games within society –Social Isolation: Games can often cause addictive effects in certain people, leading to them to prioritise gaming over basic necessities and isolate themselves from the rest of the world. This has gotten to a point where the WHO has recognised gaming addiction as an actual disorder (World Health Organisation, 2018).

Excess Playing Time: Gaming addiction can often cause people to regularly play games longer than they should do. This may cause physical effects on one’s wellbeing such as eye strain, carpal tunnel as they continue to play games without taking any breaks. Sitting down to play games for long periods of time can also restrict blood flow around the body, causing potential issues.

Cost: If addicted to games, one may spend large amounts of money buying various games to quickly complete. A recently released, full priced game costs around £50, which can easily add up on purchase of multiple games and cause a dent in one’s wallet.

Separation from reality: Addiction can also affect one’s social life. This is as one would rather shut themselves off from life to play games than work their job or participate in social activities presented to them. It could also affect how one behaves or challenges their daily problems depending on how impressionable they may be.

Education: Gaming addictions can also get in the way of one’s education, causing grades to drop as one doesn’t spend as much time studying for exams or doing the necessary homework for their courses.

Benefits of games within society –

Hand-eye coordination: One’s hand-eye coordination can be improved by playing games as one gradually learns where each button is placed on a controller or keyboard without needing to look at it yourself. (Burks, 2014)

Brain Training: Games can also be used to help train your brain by repeating certain information to you until you start to begin to retrieve that information naturally.Many educational games have utilised this multiple times to help people learn things while also making the learning competitive and/or fun.

Thinking/strategy Skills: Games can naturally improve one’s strategic skills such as improving one’s mental flexibility, allowing people to swiftly switch between different tasks and states of mind (Anderson, et al., 2010) (Colzato, et al., 2013) (Green & Bavelier, 2012) As well as performing better in jobs requiring precision, hand-eye coordination, working memory or quick decision-making (flying aerial drones, surgeons, etc.) (Mckinley & McIntire, 2011)

Future impact: The game industry is constantly changing as we speak. In future, as VR technology is perfected for games, VR may be used in other aspects of life and education to make the experience of each more fun, immersive or educational than it would be otherwise.

Impact on application development: The development of games has affected more than the games industry, leaking into education apps, social media and more. As a result, the gamification of certain things makes certain things easier to approach and more enjoyable to take part in. An example of this is Duolingo, which is a language learning application for phones which utilise a “life” system similar to ones in games. This “life” system encourages people to put extra effort into learning the correct answers at the risk of being stuck at the same place in their learning for longer.

Psychological effects of games and social media

Use of sound: Sounds are used in various aspects of gaming. They’re often used to set the mood and establish how one should be feeling in certain situations. This aspect is also utilised in such things as social media, where the sound associated with a notification can give off dopamine responses in one’s brain, making one feel happier about themselves and in general. However, this can result in a dependency in the dopamine given from social media, resulting in an addiction.

High-score listings: High scores are also a staple of video gaming, first used to encourage people who play a game in arcades to come back and spend more money on the arcade machine to beat it, strive for glory and gain the highest score . Follower and like counts on social media, in a way, can be likened to global

leaderboards. While some people may use social media casually, others may strive for glory and attempt to gain the highest follower count they can achieve. This way, they can gain a larger following, gain more “likes” and have more people see the thoughts and content they produce.

Competitiveness: The factor talked about above may cause competitiveness between people on social media as people compete to have the most amount of likes or followers in a quest to become more “popular” than others.

When questioned about the competitive nature of social media online, most people responded that it is both addicting and competitive with one individual stating that “sometimes it may feel slightly competitive due to another’s following in comparison to yours” and another stating that it can “create competitiveness similar to playing a game”.

Peer pressure: Sometimes, what causes people to strive for higher follower count isn’t competitiveness but instead peer pressure from others with much higher follower count surrounding them. It could also be caused by pressure to get closer to a popular figure, thinking one needs more followers to have the popular figure notice them.

Fun: The intention of gaming is to be fun, allowing people a break from reality by allowing them to immerse themselves within the game for a short while. Social media, while not intentionally made to be fun, can be fun because of those who also use the website alongside you.

When questioned about whether people think social media attributes to any feeling of isolation they may have in their life, the majority explained that it’s fun and instead helps combat isolation rather than cause it with one individual stating that “social media lets you meet people who can help you not feel so isolated, from my own experience”.

Educational value: As mentioned before, gamification can help people find more joy in otherwise boring or arduous parts of education. One example of this is Memrise, which uses a “flashcard”-type style in order to train the mind to easily remember something. Although, the website is mainly for language revision, there are various user-created content which can span many other subjects.

When questioned whether social media also has any educational value, the majority of people thought so. One person answered that they believe so because it “helped (them) learn English”

Expectations: As games have progressed and advanced from Atari-like graphics to 8-bit, 16-bit and the realistic, life-like models being used today. Expectations for the quality of games and its graphics have advanced alongside it. While this may have made producing what’s considered a very high graphical quality game harder to do over the years, it’s still possible to make a good quality game through its story instead of its graphics. This has lead to the rise of various indie games which still use 16-bit graphics, but have great, captivating stories to catch the attention of people.

Levelling: In games, levelling is used to create a sense of progression as one advances throughout. As one levels up, they gain access to more tools and greater powers than they had when they started the game. Social media also shares this trait. As one gains more followers, the things they say and do have more influence on others as more people see the content and regard you as a sort of role model.

ConclusionIn conclusion, it is agreeable that the games industry, in its quest to becoming mainstream, has become a minor part of other industries such as social media, education, etc. However, in doing so, the gamification of other industries has also brought over both some benefits and concerns with it, including the possible addictive effects games can have on people. However, as stated in the “Fun” section, I would personally say that the addictive effects of social media and gaming cannot be directly attributed to gaming itself, but rather outside factors such as depression, social aptitude and stress which can result in people using social media and gaming as a support mechanism and getting addicted to the dopamine and resultant happiness given from it as a result.

ReferencesAnderson, A. F., Bavelier, D. & Green, C. S., 2010. Speed-accuracy tradeoffs in cognitive tasks in action game players, s.l.: Journal of Vision.

Burks, R., 2014. Video Games Sharpen Eye-Hand Coordination Skills: Study. [Online] Available at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/18125/20141019/study-finds-that-video-games-boost-eye-hand-coordination-skills.htm[Accessed February 2020].

Chiappe, D., Conger, M., Liao, J. & Caldwell, J. L., 2012. Improving multi-tasking ability through action videogames, s.l.: Applied ergonomics.

Colzato, L. S., Wildenberg, W. P. M. v. d. & Hommel, B., 2013. Cognitive control and the COMT Val158Met polymorphism: Genetic modulation of videogame training and transfer to task-switching efficiency, s.l.: Psychological Research.

Green, C. S. & Bavelier, D., 2012. Learning, Attentional Control, and Action Video Games, s.l.: Current Biology.

Mckinley, R. A. & McIntire, L., 2011. Operator Selection for Unmanned Aerial Systems: Comparing Video Game Players and Pilots, s.l.: Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine.

World Health Organisation, 2018. Gaming disorder. [Online] Available at: https://www.who.int/features/qa/gaming-disorder/en/[Accessed 5th February 2020].