The Game Room

The first thing that went through my head when I thought of arcades and video games was a stereotypical ‘nerd’, glasses, intensely focused on there game. When I first visited The Game Room, located roughly 17^th and O St. in downtown Lincoln, I didn't know what to expect or what type of people I would find. The first thing when walking in was that it was mainly a store that sold video games, and movies, with maybe a few arcade games.

I noticed that the arcade games were sitting in the corner and no one was playing them. One had a note that said, “Play at your own risk”. They were kind of pushed to the side, with the main focus on PlayStation or X-box games. This goes to show that arcade games aren’t as big of a deal as they may have been back in the day. As our society becomes more and more technologically advanced and more focused on making things smaller and more compact the idea of arcade games is sort of fading in the background.

As for the people that were found at The Game Room the majority of them to me looked like nerds, with the majority of the people wearing glasses, and looking like they would be some hard-core gamers. Most of them were older with a few younger kids looking at movies. What did surprise me as far as the type of people that would be found in a store like The Game Room was an athlete from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. That was a big surprise to me because coming in with the idea of the typical nerd was changed by seeing an athlete from the University because he was the total opposite of what a stereotypical nerd might look like.

True Arcade

These are a few pictures I found of a authentic arcade in Europe. The biggest thing I noticed are that there are no ticket booths, no prize tables, just hundreds of original arcade games for people to enjoy.

Arcade Pictures

One thing to notice is obviously the prize table, but the types of games being played at these arcades. American arcades have been tailored specifically to young children, opposed to more mature culture seen other places.

Champions Fun Center

When I visited Champions Fun Center, on Yolande Ave, I was immediately engulfed in children running around everywhere. The first thing you see is a bunch of rug-rats sprinting on what was obviously a sugar high, to the front desk where they could exchange their tickets for cheap prizes. I watched for while as the kids kept running back and forth from the arcade to the desk, always amazed at what different prizes where available.

Before I came to Champions, I had done some research into what a traditional arcade setting would look like, and realized that this 'Americanized' version of an arcade was nothing like the real thing. Everything I read about took place in ether Japan or Europe, nothing taking place in the U.S. The arcades they talked about never involved young children playing for tickets, but adults playing seriously for pride and high scores. At these arcades men and women (mostly older) have the choice at hundreds of authentic arcade games, enough to spend whole days playing. I read that at most places, one can purchase year round memberships, with access 24 hours to the arcade. Again, I read more about how seriously these games are taken. People will spend hours trying to break their/others high scores, for no prize at all.

As I watched the kids run around, I wondered what makes American arcades so different than other places. When you think of any arcade in the U.S. (Dave & Busters, Brunswik zone, ect.) everything involves prizes. It is rare to find someone who solely goes to an arcade to break someone's high score. I believe it has to do with American's being material greedy; there has to be some sort of prize, otherwise it isn't worth doing. It is obvious that in other countries, arcades are a place of refuge for individuals, a place that they can hang out with friends and be themselves.

When I entered Champions, it was clear that this was not a place of relaxation. Arcades like this are everywhere in the U.S; places for parents to occupy their young children for short periods of time. The U.S. has turned the relaxed culture of arcades, and turned them into a industry, completely taking away from what they truly are meant to be.

Violent Video Game Law Enforced

A new law is set to be enforced in Indianapolis prohibiting children from playing violent and sexually provocative video arcade games. This law requires anyone under 18 to get parental permission before playing violent or sexy video games. Arcades that violate the law face fines and could eventually be closed. A petition was sought to prevent the video game law from going into effect. But in a ruling by the U.S. District Judge David Hamilton, he ruled the law could be enforced. The law does not intend to eliminate violent games but to regulate their access by young consumers. Such games that are violent or sexually provocative must have warning labels on them, and arcade owners must keep them at least 10 feet away from nonviolent games. Violent video games must be separated by a wall or curtain. Underage kids can only play these games if accompanied by a parent o guardian. If a businesses fails to follow the law they could be fined $200 and businesses with three violations within a year have to remove the violent games altogether and could have their amusement machine licenses revoked.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95401

Struggling Arcades in the U.S.

In this interview with Brian Ashcraft, a arcade enthusiast, he talks about the thriving arcade culture in Japan, and what makes it so successful. He also touches on why Arcades have struggled in the U.S. and if we can ever expect a renewed interest in them.

Why do you think arcades failed in the USA?

"I don’t think they failed. I think they were, for a period, highly successful. But things like location hurt the industry over time. If you have to drive to an arcade, that hurts it’s business. Because that means you must plan to go there. You cannot just pop in for a quick game and then go on your merry way."

Article Link

Prevention of Alzheimers

Some studies have shown that video games help prevent or slow down mental disabilities such as Alzheimers.

Playing brain-teasing game for 2 hours a week may help slow the degree of mental decay associated with the natural aging process, according to a study this year from the University of Iowa.

A study of 681 healthy individuals ages 50 and older revealed that playing 10 hours of a specially designed video game was able to stall the natural decline of different cognitive skills by up to seven years, in some cases.

Over five to eight weeks, one group of seniors was given computerized crossword puzzles while three other groups played a computer game called "Road Tour." The game involves matching pictures of vehicles while remembering the location of a particular road sign as more and more "distractors" appear as the player advanced. The experience is meant to mirror the difficulty older drivers have when they have to process information from multiple points of view at an intersection.

"Whether it's a specially manufactured game or something like 'World of Warcraft,' games are cognitively complex and require mental energy and abilities to play them," said Jason Allaire, an associate professor in the department of psychology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who was not involved with the study. "Whenever you do anything that requires mental energy, you're exercising your abilities -- it's just like if you exercise your muscles, you get stronger."

-Anneliese Feldner 

Video Games and Jobs

This article talked about the incorporation of video games into everyday jobs. Really interesting stuff,  and it truely proves that the video game world is evolving quickly in front of our eyes.


Guy Halfteck, CEO of Knack, said in an interview with TechTarget that the games provide an infinite amount of data in a smaller amount of time than most interviews. "It's such a complex system that every millisecond of gameplay translates into hundreds of data variables," he said. "What you chose to do, what you chose not to do, how quickly you did things, how you changed your game play over time -- all those behaviors help us tease out your abilities and personality characteristics."

Article Link

Largest Arcade in the World

Funspot, was named the largest arcade in the world in 2008 by Guinness World Records. It is located in Laconia, New Hampshire. It was founded in 1952 by Bob Lawton, who still works there every day. Funspot is the home to over 600 games including 300 classic arcade games, a 20 lane bowling center, cash bingo, and indoor and outdoor mini golf.

http://www.funspotnh.com

Negative and Positive Effects of Gaming

Studies have shown that video games have a huge role to play in human behavior and have a distinctive  affect on the brain.

Negative effects:

-Obesity 
-Attention problems 
-Poor school performace 
-Video game addiction 
-Violent video games can influence violent behavior, aggressive thoughts and feelings. 

Positive Effects:
-Spatial navigation
-Memory formation
-Stragetic planning 
-Fine motor skills 

Video Game Culture

"While there has been a great deal of ink split on video game culture, the actual definition of the term is often treated as common sense. Unpacking the discourses surrounding ‘‘video game culture’’ allows us to see the power dynamics involved in attributing certain characteristics to it, as well as naming it ‘‘video game culture’’ as such. This has implications for how video games are studied and is connected with how culture is studied more broadly."

Article link

Game Room Photo

Anneliese Feldner 

Explore

By exploring the video game community in Lincoln, we will be able to explore and capture a lifestyle unknown to all of us.