MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN

Video games have represented a fusion of the technology of the television and the computer, since their advent in the late 1970's. The first admittedly primitive video games in the early 60's to the impressive modern day virtual reality adventures, video games have become an ever increasing part of our daily lives in the world. "Twenty years later, they have become as fixed and important an element of youth culture as music and movies" (J.C. Herz, 1997). In this assay I would like to discuss the development of video game so far, and summarizing core findings in the investigative areas of addiction, social role, education, physiological effect, and cognitive and health promote.

Video games have raised interest and concern since they first appeared in the late 1970's. The pioneer video game, "Space Wars" ran on what was at the time known as a top notch computer. Since then, we have desired and striven for improved video games. Before 1985, the main character in a video game usually represented by a symbol or cartoon like " Pacman " and " Mario ". The " Impossible Mission " was the first to portray realistic human movement. Figures brought to life in this game. " Another world " (1991), taking its cue from " Prince of Persia "(1989, early 2D motion capture) Delphi's atmospheric platform, adventure featured another gymnastic lead character, capable of leaping, swinging and running with incredible realism and surround by more intricately-realized environments. " Alone in the dark " might not go down in history as one of the most attractive video game, but this game was an important early example of polygonal character design.

The jump into 3D arcade adventure inspired many imitations. In 1996, " Tomb raider ", Lara Croft was one of the most important character in video game history. This games giving players an amazing amount of control over a complex environment. It brave knew 3D world reminded developers that realistic human characters could sell. Therefore, more and more company start working on Virtual Reality and Environment Reality. Is that the future? To understand what video games will be like in the near future, the best place to look is pretender sequences and Computer Graphic animations. "Although it is almost inconceivable that ingame human could soon rival the realism in", say, the G-police FMV.

The continued popularity of video games has resulted in a diverse range of literature. Video games have been dubbed "the marriage of television and the computer" (H. Gardner, cited in Greenfield, 1984). Greenfield (1984) has suggested that visual action "is an important factor in attracting the attention of young children to the screen", and that the potential for "active control" (controlling what happens onscreen) is the fundamental reason children prefer playing interactive video games to passively watching television. As video games combine many of the elements of traditional children's pastimes (i.e. watching television, playing board games, role playing) it is not surprising they feel so compelled to play them. Most of the psychological research can be divided into one of two areas: the cognitive impact of video games (i.e. effects on memory or spatial ability) and the social effects of playing them (i.e. addictive potential, effects on aggressive behavior). First off, good or bad, video games give the young people who grow up with them a sense of belonging to a culture. That means something while playing video game feel intense. It means players look into and experience the nooks and crannies of each game as if they are important clue. Why and how can a moment or detail as seemingly insignificant? Because when one person who notice this detail, that means he or she can communicate a whole lot to another person. These tiny things, in the context of a game experience, become metaphors for real world experiences. They change our relationship to real world events, because the mythos content of our experience. Such as reading books or go to theater.

Also gender differences are another popular topic. For boys, just being able to shoot something and have pretty explosions is kind of enough, and computers are good at that. If you ask boy what he wants out of video games -- all he want is possible with today's technology and very complex story line or with violence. Most of violence video games can satisfy this demand of boys. What will happen if you ask girls what she wants? Girls demand more from technology than boys do. The thing she wants is character that will actually talk intelligently to you, and if you think of the kind of computing power and software evolution that requires, it is vast as Sahara. Girls are very demanding.

How video game Influences cultures? People now started having free time and extra spending money. As a result, they began looking for ways to entertain themselves. In an attempt to curb this appetite, pinball machines were created. But, pinball machines were mechanical and complicated in nature, so there was born a need to produce entertainment products more cheaply. Video games proved to be an excellent alternative: they were less complicated, easier to create, and much less expensive to produce. It didn't hurt too much that the entertainment industry began making a lot more money, either.

Nowadays, many people crave violence, sex and bad language in entertainment. Just look at the popular movies we produce. Since video games started being catered to the desires of the people, the content of the games became a parental concern. "Video and computer-based games have assumed a prominent role in the culture of children and adolescents. Given the pervasiveness of their influence, it is likely that these games may affect the health of children." (Dorman, Steve M)

There is concern the negative influences of video games, which are much less interactive environments than Virtual Reality. Yet violence in VR is nearly inevitable, "Virtual reality is a technology, which like its ancestors (e.g., television, computers, video games, and simulation) has the potential for negative social implications through misuse and abuse" (Kallman, 1993). Yet violence in Virtual Environment is nearly inevitable, one need only look at the violence in popular video games. Rather than waiting for these issues to arise in VEs, it might be prudent to address social issues before they result in crisis or harm. Currently the potential negative social influences resulting from VE exposure are not well understood. For example, VE applications which are presented as benign forms of entertainment but which actually represent violence and destruction may become available at video game rooms in the near future. "Such animated violence is already a known favorite over the portrayal of more benign emotions such as cooperation, friendship, or love" (Sheridan, 1993). The concern is that users who engage in what seems like harmless violence in the virtual world may become desensitized to their violent virtual actions and then mimics that behavior in the look-alike real world. There is concern that virtual interactions could engender addiction.

For many children, playing interactive video games is a favorite activity. Recent research, studying 7th- and 8th-graders' video game preferences, found that the most popular game category is fantasy violence. In such games, the icon serves as a violent surrogate for the game player. Kicking, punching, mutilating, and killing are required to win. Losing is not a problem for the child, who can simply reboot and play again. The subliminal messages that children are learning from violent video games are profoundly disturbing. Violence not only solves problems, but also rewards the player with higher scores and the chance to win. Violence, thus, becomes an acceptable and exciting way to solve conflict. And once again, violence is rewarded and not shown as having serious consequences. Experts suggest that performing violent actions in video games may be more conducive to children's aggression than passively watching violent acts on television. Clark (1993) argued that "the more children practice violence acts, the more likely they are to perform violent acts". Therefore, there are more and more people start to consider that the violent virtual reality gaming represents an unpredictable risk of increased violence in the next generation of our youth. Most negative voices argue that violent video games will increase levels of aggression in those who play them. Many authorities point that the interactive role of individuals playing video games will be effected greater compare to the violent films and television.

There are many experimental studies measure the relationship between video games and aggression. Cooper and Mackie's (1986, cited in Griffiths) observations of then year-old children and found out that playing or watching violent video games had a huge effect on girls' aggressive behaviour, but not much in boys. In Silvern and williamson (1987, cited in Griffiths) experiment discovered after playing violent video games, the even younger children appeared more aggressive behaviour. Anderson and Ford (1986) measured the hostility of undergraduates after playing a video game, they found the playing aggressive video games can have a negative effect on emotional state: players showed increased hostility and anxiety. Griffiths and Hunt (1993 cited in Griffiths 1997b) found the adolescents play video games made them more aggressive and especially when correlated with the frequency of play. From these studies we can see that there is a significant relationship between these two things. However, in the case of older players, Spence(1988) reported that video games averted violence by releasing tension (his work focused on youths with emotional and behavioural problems. Although so many studies found the violent video games may cause the violent activities, but there are many other reasons that could influence those results. As Scott (1995) said "it needs to consider the strength of individual difference when researching the effects of video games on feelings of aggressive, and in the fact of complex interactions between such variable as age, gender, personality traits, expressed hostility and exhibited aggression". There are so many components can effect a person, the video game could be one of them but not all of them.

In some occasion, the video games become a kind of culture within the whole sociality, It has a certain level influence in it and play an important role. Yet, this role has both positive and negative effects. The video games always have some rule to follow. Provenzo (1991) said " By providing such limited boundaries and possibilities, the games ---- not only diminish but seriously limit and circumscribe how the player involved in them can define themselves and their sense of being." Young children about six years old seemed directed by the content of the games to construct a social reality based on the games. Then we can know the role of video game is important in a child's social development. Nevertheless, Turkle (1984) stated that children's mastery of technology not only equips them well for the future, but builds confidence and self-esteem. By the way, Spence (1988) recounts similar evidence for young adults, despite the concerns often expressed; he suggests that "usage of effects positive change."

However, overview of those popular video games (such as violent martial arts moves and perceptions of women as helpless victims of violence and abuse) could well be unhealthy in children's social development. There is only one way to win that is the use of violence to beat down enemy. When people play the video games they may assume themselves as the role in the game, people don't necessarily feel guilty when kill someone in the game but sometimes they can't justify what is real or just a game. There are many people think the violent video will cause the major adjustment problems for most plays, and the anti-social behaviours.

Although video games have so many negative connotations, but the games have been seen in positive side as well. "I am convinced that the people who criticize video games do not understand what the games involve." (Greenfield, p108). The video games have been used as tools in cognitive therapy, and some experimental methodology has used games. Goldstein et al (1997) said that "playing video games requires concentration, memory, co-ordination and quick reactions". In his studies which about the effects of playing video games on the reaction time, cognitive/perceptual adaptability, and emotional well-being found after playing a puzzle game, the reaction time increased obviously around the video game player (age 69-90). By the time, it also improved the emotional well-being, and cognitive and perceptual skills. But in the younger group there was not as noticeable result as elder group. Nevertheless, Dustman et al (1992, cited in Goldstein et al) suggest that " positive changes can occur in the central nervous system --- over a relatively short time through the practice of activities most find enjoyable. Therefore the video game can provide the stimulated situations in order to change players nervous." Larose et al (1989) used a puzzle game called Super Breakout to improve the spatial abilities of visual scanning and tracking in children with minimal brain damage or serious attention problems.

In the educational field, people started to see the potential video games had as a learning tool. People are more likely to learn when they don't consider it a burden. Video games are considered fun, so a learner would want to play them. This makes them an ideal atmosphere for learning. Lofyus (1993) really unrecognized that video games are successful because they use well-understood laws of human behaviours to provide stimulus and rewards for game-playing. Dose video games provide any education benefits? The answer should certain be yes. They can help to develop a number of strategic thinking, such as problem-solving, the use of imagery to reinforce memory, and strategy and planning. Video game technology has had and will continue to have profound impact on childhood education. Some parents worry that owning a home video game will hurt their child's study habits, because video provide stiff competition for the attention of children and adolescents. The fear has not been shown by research of Creasey and Myers25's (1997,cited Dorman, Steven M). They concluded the study that owning a video game does not alter a child's activities. A more abstruse impact of video game technology on education is the expectation by children that all learning must take a gaming approach and be 'fun'. The demand for entertaining education has given rise to 'edutainment' media. (Dorman, Steven M, 1997) Some evidence suggests that important skills may be build or reinforce by video games, for example, spatial visualization scores improve with video game playing. Spatial visualization is the ability to rotate mentally, manipulate and twist two and three dimensional objects. Students with a high degree of spatial visualization are high achievers in mathematics and science. Moreover, video game can be used in a positive way to promote health and provide information to children and adolescents, which captures and keeps their attention and allows them to interact with the information in a meaningful way. Games and simulations have potential to help adolescents personalize information, forcing them to assess risk and consequences and make decision in a hypothetical yet realistic situation. (Dorman, Steven M, 1997)

Nevertheless, open learning course can be designed around games which provide increasingly complex and realistic models of social or economic behaviour or which provide learning embedded in a challenge requiring the development of an understanding of geography, science or mathematics to problem-solve. Moreover, some adults believe the video games offer benefits over the passive medium of television. Among mental health professionals, there are those who maintain that in playing video games, certain children can develop a sense of proficiency which they might not otherwise achieve.

Computer games are regarded as the bad influence or the reason for the violence of younger in nowadays. However, is it fair to put all the blames on computer games? How about violence TV programs and movies? The answer is always controversial, but there shouldn't be any blame on the advance of technologies. Computer games in the 70s were rather primitive and limited on gameplay and graphics. However, the games of the 70s offer better gameplays than most of the games today. The main reason is, game developers had to rely on better gameplay design to attract people. Therefore, classic games like 'Space Invader', 'Pac-Man', 'Mario' and 'Donkey Kong' were born at that period, and they are still popular today. Computer games of nowadays, due to the advance on computing power, have significantly improved on graphics. The gameplay on the other hand has deteriorated. The main selling point in games is no longer the gameplay. More and more people, especially the younger, are looking for better games graphics. Game's developers are encouraged to refine the game's graphics, if not rejecting gruesome graphic images in order to sell the games. The first popular of such game is 'Doom'. 'Doom' is a first person shooting game that encourages player to destroy every living thing on screen. The game become popular and many follows ups were made, with even more gruesome images. We have to admit that computer game is a form of entertainment. People play games in order to relax themselves, or to get away from reality for a while. Therefore, by having too many educational elements within the game would certain put the gamers away. It is, therefore, necessary to have certain degree of excitement within the game. For example, it should be alright for killing the bad guys in the game. However, much attention should be put on how the bad guys are killed. Many game developers allow the player, or should I say encourage, to blow the bad guys into pieces. Is that necessary? After all, the objective is to kill the bad guys. Is this just one of the developers' ways to attract more people to play the game? If so, such on act would, become the selling point of the games in the future, and that is worrying. Best example of such game is 'Unreal', which is one of the best selling shoot-them up game in the 1998. There are a few scenes in the game where you could kill the innocent civilians in the game. The graphics and movement of the civilians are so real that killing them, or blowing them into pieces, had become enjoyable. That has truly become a bad influence to younger, but it can be stopped. The game developers could have designed the game so that killing innocent civilians would result in deducting their game points. The best way, however, is to disallow such an act during the game design. Unfortunately, no law has been enforced to stop such game play design. Games are only rated in various age categories, but the truth is, young gamers could still easily obtain games rated over age 18. The best solution is to stop the game developers from putting unnecessary violence into the game. Having a censorship on all major game publishers to ensure the games are well within their violence limit. Parents have to take full responsibilities over the game for their children, Technologies shouldn't bear any responsibilities over the side effects caused to the people, it is the people who abuse and misuse the technologies.