Reflection

Overall, I thought this was one of the best projects we have done all semester. I liked the fact that we didn't have to write a paper and have it flow smoothly with the rest of our group members. Having group members made this project better in that we were able to look at our other group members posts and be able to take ideas or go in different directions based on there posts. Working with group members has taught me that communication is highly important and being able to work with others to get a job done is important because that’s something your going to have to do in life. Like Anneliese said, I also enjoyed being able to pick the topic that we wanted to blog about. By doing this it gave us freedom to make this blog personal and blog about something we thought might be interesting or something we weren't quite familiar with. I think the gaming community was an interesting community to choose because I personally am not a gamer so before even starting this project I had my stereotypes of a typical gamer, glasses, a nerd, sitting in front of there computer all day. But by taking the opportunity to get out and explore the gaming community I have learned that not everyone that plays video games is a 'nerd'. This project really helped to open me up to another community outside of my own and break those stereotypes I had. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this project, I thought it was very engaging and one of the best projects we have done all semester. 

Conclusion

After all the research that I have done over the course of this project I have come to the conclusion that video games are starting to take over the world and arcade games aren't as popular as they once were. I was also able to draw the conclusion that video gaming in the United States is more something people do for fun, in there free time. While people in other countries, South Korea for example take video gaming really seriously and it has become a major problem, even resulting in death. This made me stop and think, if video gaming can lead to death and have major consequences they why are people trying to defend video games and say they aren't bad?

Video Games Aren't Actually Bad For Kids

-Anneliese Feldner

Observation and Questionnaire

A couple days into the project I had made a decision to take a survey as to what people of varying ages thought about video gaming. The majority of the elderly people rejected the idea of gaming. Most thought it was "A waste of time" or "they are bad.", and replied with sentences such as; "They kill your brain cells"and "I don't like them. They teach the children horrid things." When I asked people between the aged of 18 and 21 most liked the concept of video games. When I asked, 8 out of 10 males had a video gaming system in their apartments/rooms. For the females the outcome was 4 out of 10. I then took the freedom to ask each person if they would categorize themselves as having good hand-eye coordination. As I predicted more males than females stated that they did indeed have good hand-eye coordination. When I asked children between the ages of 9 and 14 most of them thought of video gaming as a positive and amazing thing. Most didn't see any negatives of it. I then asked them what their favorite methods of study were. Most replied.."electronically." Most children these days are now using ipads, computers, and electronic devices to study from and educate themselves with.

I thought these observations were quite interesting. Some of them I could have predicted but other answers I was definitely not expecting.

-Anneliese Feldner

My Reflection

Looking back on this project I would say that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. My first impression of the project was that it would not be very engaging, but as the observations continued I realized that it really can be. It just depends on how much one is willing to put into it. Overall it taught me several things:
1. Never judge. Just like the saying "Never judge a book by its cover" neither can we judge people based upon their appearance. You never know what other people are going through or what they have been through in their past. I learned not to judge people by their looks because some of the people who dress poorly are some of the most intelligent, funny, and even caring people out there.
2. Observing isn't just about watching. It's about watching and engaging, interacting, and being apart of the community; whether it be solely physical or by just your presence.
3. We all have our different ways of cooping. What might seem weird to us is normal to others. Some turn to shopping while others turn to video gaming and the community of people who engage in that form of entertainment.
4. Being friendly and open is the best way to get to know someone, especially strangers.

I enjoyed this project much more than I did with the previous projects. I liked this one a lot better due to the fact that we as students were able to pick and choose our own topics to write about. It was much more free writing and experimenting than the others. I also liked how we got to work as a group yet can post our own writings and did not have the stress of collaborating everyone's ideas into a flowing paper. Personally I liked the community that we chose. Even though I myself am not a gamer, I find that community fascinating.

-Anneliese Feldner

South Korea Computer Gaming Culture

Ping Zhou states, “South Korea is a country infatuated with video games. It is a place where professional gamers earn six-figure contracts, date supermodels, and are treated as A-list celebrities. Cyber competitions are nationally televised and they fill-up stadiums. In this country, gaming is not just a hobby; it’s a way of life.

Most Koreans play their games outside of their homes in local gaming rooms called “PC bangs”. A bang is a local area network gaming center were players pay an hourly fee to play multiplayer games. Most bangs are cheap anywhere from $1.00 to $1.50. South Korea currently has over 20,000 active PC bangs.  They compared going to a bang like going to the movies or the bar.

For people in South Korea video gaming truly is a way of life. It’s considered a national sport. There are currently 10 professional gaming leagues in the country. The rewards for winning a league were enormous. Some of South Koreas most famous gamers could earn up to $400,000 a year from gaming and sponsorships.

I decided to do more research on this after my class shared the idea of how intense video gaming can be in other countries. This came as a shock, I didn't realize how big of a deal video games could be. I see video games as being more of a leisure activity something people do for fun. Never did I ever think about it being a competition.

But with so many people in South Korea involved with video gaming, gaming addiction is now one of the major problems South Koreans face. Video gaming has become a life-threatening epidemic.

“In 2005, a 28-year-old man died from cardiac arrest after playing for 50 hours straight. In 2009, a married couple got so immersed in a game where they took care of a virtual infant that they neglected to feed their real life infant, which eventually died of starvation. The parents received a two-year prison sentence”.

The country has tried to bring a stop to the heavy addiction. The government has spent money on clinics, campaigns, and programs to minimize the problem. In 2011, the government imposed a “Cinderella Law” which was a law that prevents anyone under 16 from playing online games from midnight to 6 a.m.

This was something new for me I knew nothing about competitive video gaming and the consequences it could have. But all I can say is they must be hard-core gamers in South Korea.

http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/South-Korea-Computer-Gaming-Culture.htm

Reflection

Overall I really enjoyed this project. I thought that using a blog gave me much more freedom than being limited to a paper. I was able to post links, pictures, and interviews that I had found in my research. Another thing I liked about this project was that we could work in groups. I especially enjoyed using blogger, because it gave me the opportunity to read through my group members posts and use some of the information they had learned in my posts, and vise versa. I enjoyed being able to present our progress to the class as well. This gave me a chance to hear opinions and suggestions from our classmates about what they felt would be an effective way to further progress our blog. In the long run, I would highly suggest this project over a final paper, as it gave students a chance to express their opinions and research in a way that many of us have never done before.