Ethics of computer games

Ethics

 

Games in society:

 

• Excess playing time - Game players become so attached to the games they play, they spend all their available time in the game. Excess gaming time can lead to depression and anxiety. Many games suggest taking breaks to minimize risk to health, and have repeat warnings in the loading screens of games.

• Social isolation - Particularly people who are shy or have insecurities separate themselves from other people in their social lives, preferring to socialise with people through games. These people spend all their time on the internet rather than playing with friends in a real social life.

• Separation from reality - Players that spend large amounts of time in virtual gaming worlds can become so attached to that game, that they begin to lose their grip on reality. These people believe reality doesn't matter, and only the virtual worlds are the ones that do. These people separate themselves from friends and colleagues, and only interact with those in the virtual world.

• Education benefits (Hand-eye coordination, brain training) - Some games have been designed to help enhance the functions of the brain by creating games full of puzzles to make the user think, improving memory and reaction times. These games are often used by elderly people and dementia patients to slow the decay of brain cells.
  
  

• Thinking and strategy skills - Games that require players to think about their actions and consequences can increase the quick decision making and strategical thinking of the player, because they can apply things they learn from games into real life situations.
  
  

• Future Impact -With so many social media websites available, developers are beginning to inter grate their games with social networking. With "1.28 billion active Facebook users, and 255 million active twitter users[1]", there is lots of potential for social media to be used in gaming industry, whether by sharing activity, or allow to post screenshots to social media.
  
  
  

• Impact on 'mainstream' application development -Game developers are constantly looking at new and original hardware to use on their latest projects. Nintendo Wii was successful because of a sensor tracking movement of the controller, and was used by all age groups, with the older generations using fitness games for exercise. PlayStation and Xbox created a similar product, Move and Kinect, which instead of a controller, the user was the controller. The idea used by Nintendo spread to other companies, which adapted and improved the hardware.

Gaming Journal - Grid Autosport

Gaming Journal

Here you can view the games I have been playing recently, and what I believe to be the best, and worst features in game. Full reviews of these games will also be available on this blog.

Grid Autosport

Coming Soon!

Gaming Journal - Battlefield 3

Gaming Journal

Here you can view the games I have been playing recently, and what I believe to be the best, and worst features in game. Full reviews of these games will also be available on this blog.

Battlefield 3

Coming Soon!

Gaming Journal - Grand Theft Auto V

Gaming Journal

Here you can view the games I have been playing recently, and what I believe to be the best, and worst features of these games. Full reviews of these games will also be available on this blog.

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto is an open world, action/adventure game, developed by Rockstar North.

GTA V is the first full entry to the franchise since Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008, and the wait was definitely worth it.

GTA V was in production for a little over four years, and Rockstar used that time well, with the final product having not just one main playable character, but three. This is the first time Rockstar has attempted this, and it worked very well within the storyline.

The story follows the three protagonists in a series of increasingly daring heists whilst under pressure from a government agency. Each of the three characters has a different "special" skill, and players can switch between players inside, and outside of missions, depending of which skill is most suited.

The graphics of Grand Theft Auto are some of the best I've seen so far on the XBOX console, with PC platform just around the corner, boasting to have improved graphics and surroundings. The best thing about Grand Theft Auto is the stunning graphics of the world, and any object inside, whether it be pedestrians, buildings or vehicles.

[A view of the city at dusk, taken using the in-game camera feature.]

The only thing I don't like about GTA V is the hand-to-hand combat. It seems like all the player is able to do is punch, kick and stomp. When engaging in a fist fight, characters will throw a couple of punches, along with the odd kick. When there is a body on the floor, the only thing you can do is stomp on the bodies back.

The hand-to-hand combat would be massively improved if a button combination did a special move, like tackling the NCP/Player to the ground, before punching them in the face or stomach, or maybe have the chance to tackle when chasing from behind, rather than just kicking the legs of the runner.

There are lots of things Rockstar could play around with to make the hand-to-hand combat more interesting and different to previous games.


A full review will be available on this blog in the coming weeks.

Gaming Journal - Forza Motorsport 4

Gaming Journal

Here you can view the games I have been playing recently, and what I believe to be the best, and worst features in game. Full reviews of these games will also be available on this blog.

Forza Motorsport 4

Motorsport is a passion of mine, but a lack of funds have prevented me from ever being able to have the opportunity to get my name into the motorsport world, whether it be karting, rallying or circuit racing.

This means I can only live my dreams of a racing driver through a TV, recently using Forza Motorsport 4, possibly the most realistic driving simulation available for Xbox 360.

Despite being launched in  2011, it is still going strong. There are always other players in the community to race against and talk to, albeit much less than previous years.

Forza Motorsport 4 was so popular when it was released because of all the communal features it had to offer, ranging from a 'storefront' to buy and sell liveries and car tunes, to a car club, where friends could team up to top the leaderboards, and share cars amongst each other.

The best feature, by far, available in Forza Motorsport 4 was its livery editor. Not many games on the market at the time was able to offer one of such a high standard. With hundreds of pre-set shapes, users could create almost anything they wished, provided it was within the 1000 layer limit.

However, even an amazing game such as Forza has it's downfalls. Namely the inability to repair aero damage when you pitted during a damage enabled race. This meant if you crashed your car, you were penalised for the rest of the race, because you couldn't corner as fast, or reach the same top speed as before the crash.

Forza has kept me entertained for hundreds of hours since it's release, and even though I have only completed around 80% of the career, I don't see this game being active in my collection much longer, as newer and more realistic games are being announced and released all the time.



A full review will be available in the coming weeks.