Research on video game culture has highlighted its social nature as Hand and Moore (2006) have argued for the consideration of video gamers as a ‘community’, while it has been traditionally suggested that gaming is an ‘anti-social’ activity, ethnographic research suggests that gaming is formed in the context of existing social and cultural networks, friendships as well as relationships (Rutter & Bryce, 2006). Hand and Moore’s (2006) concept or ‘enunciative production’ relies on the formulation and maintenance of communities and individual’s identities that are part of a particular community. The enunciative activities of video gamers is a greatly under-researched area, however is a critical element to the video game culture. Thus, video gamers
…show more content…
The first being community of presence, Ferdinand Tonnies breaks this concept down into two terms as he distinguishes the difference between community and society; geminschaft (community) refers to “organic and informal social ties found in families or local neighbourhoods” and gesllschaft (society) defined as “instrumental and impersonal ties found in urban developments and large-scale organisations” (ref). Further, communities of presence in broad terms refers to the interactions between individuals as ‘mechanical’ reflecting self-interest and impersonal relations of gamers shared values, it is constructed by several symbolic rituals including inclusion/exclusion, boundaries, organisation, codes of conduct, hierarchy, rules as well as learning lingo. The concept of imagined communities follows and does not require all members to have strong social ties with one another, the concept is often used in relation to nations as Anderson states “imagined as both inherently limited and soverign”, conceived of “ as a deep, horizontal comradeship”. Collective activity takes place within imagined communities and is described as “an activity that involves interaction between individuals, the effect of which is to produce the experience of belonging …show more content…
The culture war emerged in 2002, as District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh claimed that video games did not express ideas and that they represent a dangerous influence on American Youth. He saw that games had social and psychological effects or in some instances constituted for ‘risk factors’ that as a result would increase the likelihood of violent and antisocial conduct. Limbaugh was perplexed that defenders argued that games have no direct consequences for those who consume them. Retired military psychologist, David Grossman supported Limbaugh’s claim as he introduced ‘The Effects Model’ arguing that video games are teaching kids to kill in more or less the same ways that the military trains soldiers (Grossman, 2000). Grossman suggested that kids are being ‘brutalised’ by overexposure to representations of violence at an age when they may not yet distinguish between representation and reality. He claims, “Every time a child plays an interactive point-and-shoot video game, he is learning the exact same conditioned reflex and motor skills”, such practice helped prepare school shooter for the real world violence they would commit. Similarly, educational psychologist Eugene Provenzo adopts a similar position in that the computer or video game acts as a ‘teaching machine’, she suggests the individual
The first being community of presence, Ferdinand Tonnies breaks this concept down into two terms as he distinguishes the difference between community and society; geminschaft (community) refers to “organic and informal social ties found in families or local neighbourhoods” and gesllschaft (society) defined as “instrumental and impersonal ties found in urban developments and large-scale organisations” (ref). Further, communities of presence in broad terms refers to the interactions between individuals as ‘mechanical’ reflecting self-interest and impersonal relations of gamers shared values, it is constructed by several symbolic rituals including inclusion/exclusion, boundaries, organisation, codes of conduct, hierarchy, rules as well as learning lingo. The concept of imagined communities follows and does not require all members to have strong social ties with one another, the concept is often used in relation to nations as Anderson states “imagined as both inherently limited and soverign”, conceived of “ as a deep, horizontal comradeship”. Collective activity takes place within imagined communities and is described as “an activity that involves interaction between individuals, the effect of which is to produce the experience of belonging …show more content…
The culture war emerged in 2002, as District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh claimed that video games did not express ideas and that they represent a dangerous influence on American Youth. He saw that games had social and psychological effects or in some instances constituted for ‘risk factors’ that as a result would increase the likelihood of violent and antisocial conduct. Limbaugh was perplexed that defenders argued that games have no direct consequences for those who consume them. Retired military psychologist, David Grossman supported Limbaugh’s claim as he introduced ‘The Effects Model’ arguing that video games are teaching kids to kill in more or less the same ways that the military trains soldiers (Grossman, 2000). Grossman suggested that kids are being ‘brutalised’ by overexposure to representations of violence at an age when they may not yet distinguish between representation and reality. He claims, “Every time a child plays an interactive point-and-shoot video game, he is learning the exact same conditioned reflex and motor skills”, such practice helped prepare school shooter for the real world violence they would commit. Similarly, educational psychologist Eugene Provenzo adopts a similar position in that the computer or video game acts as a ‘teaching machine’, she suggests the individual