Junior Research Paper 1

Last year in high school (my Junior year), I chose the video game industry as a topic for research. Now I am posting it on this very blog to be looked at. I've taken out the sources that I used (because I feel like you guys don't care, but if you do, let me know). Anyway, not all of the views that I show in this are ones that I still hold today. But nonetheless I thought it was interesting.

At midnight, in a convenience store in the middle of a restless city, a woman walks in and buys a pack of cigarettes. Following her in line is a man waiting to buy a beer bottle, another man with a cup of coffee, and finally a man who is about to purchase the game World of Warcraft. All of these people have something in common; they all are feeding an addiction. The man with the online game won’t be looked at by society in the same way as the woman with cigarettes. Nevertheless, gaming addiction has become an increasing issue as the industry itself grows. Adolescent minds are being morphed and influenced by the videogame industry; an industry that is similarly young and constantly changing.

The child of increased technological innovation and the desire for a quick fix of entertainment, videogames started as a way for developers to entertain the masses and make money, similar to other kinds of media. In arcades, players would be required to use a quarter for one play, which was not a very long time per quarter. Developers needed a way to draw kids to their industry, and the way to do this was by making the games addicting, and giving them the ability to be replayed and repaid for.

Although games can convey emotion and are assembled using several art forms, a main focus of games, both past and present, is to grab a player by his collar and never let him go, and, perhaps, stealing his pocket change along the way. Developers have an almost bully-like relationship with players, making the story of videogames a story of corporate manipulation.