imported_Grev Drasen
Oct 13th, 2002, 06:41:01 PM
IN STARK CONTRAST to such figures as Colonel David Grossman and Labour MP Louise Ellman, who have made names for themselves over the last 18 months preaching the evil of computer games, Sue Morris, Publisher of Game Culture online and Queensland PhD Student decided to do what many previously hadn’t bothered and actually study the phenomena of interactive entertainment and online communities of gamers.
While such titles as Doom, revolutionary for being the first of a breed of multiplayer games were put in the firing line after the playground shootings in the US, Ms Morris found they provided the participants with opportunities for learning and creativity in a social environment.
"The moral panic is based on this idea that people playing these types of games are just sitting at their computers for hours on end ... a really anti-social thing," says Ms Morris, continuing to say "but it's actually a very social world ... it's about challenge because people are playing these games like sport.”
Having studied a number of online communities over the past five years, Ms Morris has observed a range of ages from 5 to 55 with strong social structure, discipline and authority as well as both competitive and co-operative elements.
The debate over the effect of first person shooters has long been fought and is unlikely to go away after a single study, or for that matter 100 similar conclusions. As senseless acts of violence continue to be perpetrated by a morally challenged minority, politicians and other public figures will continue to take the easy road and hop on the moral bandwagon, blaming modern media rather than looking in their own back yard to identify what are obviously far more complex and specific causes.
Yep.
While such titles as Doom, revolutionary for being the first of a breed of multiplayer games were put in the firing line after the playground shootings in the US, Ms Morris found they provided the participants with opportunities for learning and creativity in a social environment.
"The moral panic is based on this idea that people playing these types of games are just sitting at their computers for hours on end ... a really anti-social thing," says Ms Morris, continuing to say "but it's actually a very social world ... it's about challenge because people are playing these games like sport.”
Having studied a number of online communities over the past five years, Ms Morris has observed a range of ages from 5 to 55 with strong social structure, discipline and authority as well as both competitive and co-operative elements.
The debate over the effect of first person shooters has long been fought and is unlikely to go away after a single study, or for that matter 100 similar conclusions. As senseless acts of violence continue to be perpetrated by a morally challenged minority, politicians and other public figures will continue to take the easy road and hop on the moral bandwagon, blaming modern media rather than looking in their own back yard to identify what are obviously far more complex and specific causes.
Yep.