Existentialism In Video Games

Great Essays
As technology has gotten better and more console varieties have come out, video games have become a huge part of people’s lives. Over sixty-five percent of households in the U.S., play video games. The average time spent people use playing video games is around eighteen hours per week. Though this is the average, there are larger percentages, especially close to the teenage years and younger. What is so off turning about this though, is that there are beneficial educational learnings within video games that teenagers and kids may not realize is within it. There are many things within video games that could teach them a great deal if they realize that it is not just a shooter game, but also a game filled with subjects such as history, philosophy, sciences, etc. This goes towards a deal with analyzing the game being played, rather than just playing it for fun, like most do.
Existentialism is a philosophy that is centered upon the analysis of existence and of the way humans find themselves existing in the world. The idea is that humans exist first and then each individual spends a lifetime changing their essence or nature. In simpler terms, it is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life
…show more content…
It brings about changes such as increased life expectancy, literacy, gender equality, and bringing a natural equilibrium. Leading to how the video game series Bioshock is being used in a contemporary society, is how the player portrays the choices within the game, is portrayed by their outlooks, beliefs, and experiences throughout their life and what they believe would be beneficial through the character’s storyline of free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The video game acts as an invisible educational system to teach those of philosophical beliefs and other historical cultures deep within the

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    With the introduction of computers, video games have become a main part of todays childrens’ and teens culture. As video games are becoming more and more prominent a lot of the old generation questions whether they are actually harmful for their children to be playing video games. Millions of studies are conducted to prove that video games are harmful at the same time others trying to prove the benefits of gaming life. Video gaming is a double-edged sword there are a lot of benefits of gaming and at the same time there are problems caused by gaming. But the benefits outweigh the harms by a significant amount.…

    • 2312 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Video Games: A Misunderstood Medium For many years children and adults have enjoyed a special form of entertainment that provides experiences like no other, the video game. These electronic toys have been on the market since the 1970’s, a recent development, and history has shown that new trends are often targeted as a scapegoat for problems of the time. Currently, the ever growing industry of video games has been the source of such controversy, and is frequently blamed for many of the modern world’s misfortunes. Yet, despite what the media may say, these electronic distractions may actually be better for humanity than previously imagined.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Existentialism In Grendel

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The battle between fate and free will will always be a controversial issue. Philosophers and religious figures have been having the fate vs. free will debate for centuries. Those who believe in fate claim that everything happens for a reason and that the choices one makes are already predestined. People who believe in free will feel that we are able to make decisions in life that determines who we are. This theory of free will is also known as existentialism.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With the word existentialism, you have to think outside of the box on what a definition could be. Although there is a general definition described as a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility (“Existentialism”). I chose the movie entitled Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. Heading into the movie I was not expecting to get any knowledge out of it but to my surprise I did. This movie is one of many great examples of existentialism.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    A Christian Worldview

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A worldview is the way a person sees life or the world. There are six major world views that we have studied Theism, Deism, Materialists Existentialism, Nihilism and Pantheism. Theism is the belief that there is a god/gods who created the universe, theist also believe is some sort of religion like Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. Theism comes from the Greek word Theos meaning God, there are many types of theism such as Polytheism which is the belief in more than one God and Monotheism is the belief in one God. Famous Person Elvis Presley Deism is the belief that God exists and he creates everything.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The question of Evolution and Biblical worldview has been a debate for quite some time. Some people reject science and all it teaches us about theory and facts, and others like to look at the world through a biblical lens. Some of us believe in the theory of Evolution and others believe their own truths. All of us have different opinions of how we view the world we live in. Philosophy helps us to see things in a different perspective; it allows one to think and arrive at some form of truth.…

    • 1449 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The four themes of Existentialism that I found to be the most significant and recurring in the works of the existentialists are as follows: the individual, God, being, and truth. The individual is a theme prevalent in every existential philosopher as pondering one’s own individual existence is the core essence of the movement. Furthermore, being is often an accompanied attribute to the self and is pondered alongside the self. God is necessarily pondered in the philosophies of existentialism because of the enormous effect that religion or God makes on a person’s life’s meaning and significance. And of course, truth, which is often seen to be a subjective phenomenon, is often times recurring in the works of existentialists.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    5. Kimberly is a young, single adult who claims that she doesn’t see any meaning in life. She is not clinically depressed or suicidal but claims that life is boring & she feels “alone in the world.” How would an Existential therapist help Kimberly?…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Existentialism and Nihilism Present in Grendel Existentialism is not essentially nihilism, however nihilism does share a close similarity with existentialism because it describes human life as ultimately meaningless. Grendel throughout the book is seeking an explanation for his personality and the purpose of life. He must go through obstacles with the help and confusion from the Dragon and Shaper to find his answer. While John Gardner explores numerous philosophies and thoughts in Grendel, the three most prominent are existentialism, solipsism and nihilism. Existentialism according to Merriam Webster is a philosophical movement centering on analysis of an individual existence in an unfathomable universe.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    McClellan’s article (2005) reports that according to Johnson’s study, computer games are essentially brain exercises that holistically improves psychological fitness. This is because computer games require continuous focus, strategic decision-making, and creative thinking. Another form of display interface is video games which have also been found to improve these aspects. This is important as children often find gaming fun and must, therefore, be utilised productively to aid the development of mental acumen. An example of this would be Assassin’s Creed, a role-playing game about alternate versions of history.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Existentialism is a philosophy that the choices individual makes should be responsible for it and should accept their own act without consent of other people. Its beliefs are centred on the idea of finding the meaning of life through different choices and situations. In the view of existentialist, this world is meaningless and absurd. It is the way that let external factor affect us that determine who we are. As individuals we have freedom to make our own choices and that’s what life's all about.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the wake of this influx, educators face growing challenges as they teach a very “wired” and soon a very “wireless” generation of students using technology that is evolving every day. Deconstruct the fun in any good game, and it becomes clear that what makes it enjoyable is the built-in learning process. To progress in a game is to learn; when students are actively engaged with a game, the mind is experiencing the pleasure of grappling with and understanding new systems. This is true whether the game is considered “entertainment” or “serious” for example, an FAA-approved flight simulator. The implications of delivering game experiences for education and training are enormous and this is shown by, The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) which estimates 298 million games were sold in 2008.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Video games: Good or Bad? Since the last decade, video games – in the public eye - have been considered as a negative impact to our society. Government officials, news reporters, and parents alike have all pointed the finger at video games and their developers for — in one way or another — poisoning the minds of their children. However, recent studies have shown that video games is actually not a bad influence to our kids, and on the contrary, it could be the tool to develop their skills.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The idea of existentialism is believed to have been founded by a Danish philosopher named Søren Kierkegaard, who lived from 1813 to 1855. Although Kierkegaard was a religious man, existentialism became a more atheistic worldview as the philosophy further developed in the 20th century. There are many variations of existentialism, but the main idea of it is that human lives has “no meaning unless people give them meaning.” To elaborate, existentialists say that although life itself originally has no absolute answer, humans are free to choose or create their own meaning to life, without being swayed or forced by the voices and ways of society and religion. This is an intriguing worldview, as it not only supposedly answers some of the biggest questions…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Video games helped us build the important social connections. The craving for meaning is about being part of something big and having impact. I personally do not have an example of a experience when playing video games, but in the TED Talks Jane McGonigal talks about World of Warcraft players adding information to the WoW Wikipedia. This is something bigger than a single person and is collaborative task among the WoW community that benefits all player of WoW with information about the game (Ted Talks,…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays