Video Games and Computer Holding Power by Sherry Turkle
Turkle discusses about the game attachment in her essay and says that children are get attached to games more than adults, because they grew up with playing video games but not adults. Adults consider any game as "cute and funny" like the arcade game with which they grew up. I do not quite agree with this theory: I more believe that there are other reasons for this, which are skills, accomplishment, and quality of the narrative and graphic.
The skills are definitely required to engage with the game especially today. The reason is that since the video games are getting more complicated and difficult today, it is not easy to complete the games without any skill. Even though an only tool is a controller, it is not easy at all to finish the game in the modern games without the skills. My friend is very attached to a game, called Modern Warfare. It is basically just a shooting game, and it is a simple game: you just need to kill other players with guns. When I saw the frined playing, it looked very easy, so I played it with him. However, I did not do well at all. The game was for Play Station (PS) 3 and I used to play PS when I was child; therefore, I had the PS experience and am already used to use the controller, but it was not enough to enjoy the game. I am still unsure what technique I was missing. The friend who is attached to the game likes video games in general. He never grew up in any environment of playing game, but he now plays a lot of video games, so that he has the skills, and the skills makes him enjoy playing game. Thus, the skills are very important to enjoy playing video games.
The skills not only make the player enjoy playing the games but also bring a joy of achievement: once you have the skills, you can complete a game, and it brings you accomplishment feeling, and that is the other thing to make the player to be attracted to the game. I used to play video games when I was child, and whenever I finished the game, I felt very good about it and it made me want to play more and more. This is why I think that the achievement is also an important fact that makes the player attracted to the game.
One more fact that brings the player to the game more is better quality in the modern video games. Today, video games are getting more and more complicated in terms of narrative, and graphic is getting clearer and looks more real. Today's game such as Final Fantasy series and the first video game like Spacewar, which we have seen in the class discussion, are definitely a way too different.
As one of the classmates said, watching the cut-scenes in the modern game is like more watching movie. In addition to it, the narrative in the modern game is more complicated and has a deep meaning in it. Even there are the movies, which are based on the video games like the Resident Evil; therefore, the narrative of the modern game has as good quality as movie.
Thereupon, I do not agree with the Turkle’s point that children grew up with playing video games and that is a reason that they are more attached to games than adults: I believe that the modern games make people attached more than the old games in terms of the quality of graphic and narrative. If the game is interesting, people play the game, and eventually they get the skills. Once the player obtained the skills, it brings a feeling of accomplishment, and it also makes the player more and more attracted to it. I believe that the number of the children who are attached to the video games is higher than the number of adults. I think this is because children are easier to be influenced by anything than adults, such as television, movie, or whatever they see. This fact has even proven in many researches. That is why children are easier to be attached to the video games than adults. Thus, I do not agree with the Turkle’s point.
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