Video Games

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The history of video games only dates back to the early 1970’s. Since then, the technology has become an integrated part of young American culture. The industry has experienced great success and become a ten billion dollar a year market, thanks to lower production costs and greater accessibility by middle class America. Meanwhile, the technology has continued to develop quickly. The realism of the games has increased, as has the interactivity, recently causing concern by psychologists and sociologists. The effects have only recently been studied, and the jury is still out on the severity of these effects.

The first video game was created in 1958 by William A. Higinbotham, a nuclear physicist. At the time, computers were primarily used by the military to track trajectories of launched missiles. He worked at a U.S. nuclear research lab in Upton, NY. The Brookhaven National Laboratory would hold annual open houses to promote positive public relations with curious nearby residents. Higinbotham noticed the boredom of visitors and decided to create an interactive experience. He and colleague Robert Dvorak create “Tennis for Two”, a monochrome game in which players control the trajectory of a ball over a net.

The game is extremely basic and could be considered simple, innocent fun. In fact the computer doesn’t even tabulate scores, diminishing aggressive competition. However it was a huge success with the visitors to the exhibit, “Th

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re in fictitious scenarios to crime and violence in a real world setting. Grand Theft Auto 3 is a recent game that has drawn a lot of criticism for its realistic portrayals of violent crimes. The game has a bulls eye on it for criticism as a result of its enormous success, “Grand Theft Auto 3 has sold more than 7 million copies at about $50 each worldwide since its release in October of 2001” (Crockett, 1). Players can direct their character to hijack cars, hire prostitutes, transport drugs, and beat and murder people. All of these scenarios, when carried out “successfully”, are rewarded positively with money. In his article on increasing gore in video games, journalist Stephen Crockett notes, “Also gone are the days when it was cool to simply behead opponents in games like ‘Mortal Kombat’. Blasting aliens’ intestines onto digital walls, as in ‘Doom’, is about as hip as a mullet haircut” (1). As the realism of video games has increased, the games seem to become a reflection of the player rather than a fictitious yellow, circular character on a screen. Concerns have steadily raised over the influence of such realistic stimulus on the brain, especially young, impressionable brains of children. Children comprise the majority
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1412
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

Video Games

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