Online Gaming Essay

Total Length: 646 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 2

Online Gaming

Although video games began to attract players around forty years ago, technological advances in the last ten years made gaming especially popular. The use of sophisticated auditory and visual characteristics, the ability to multi-play online, incorporation of color-rich graphics, and the increased speed have changed the gaming industry dramatically in the last decade (Sublette & Mullan, 2012). Online gaming has built its own virtual world where players possess virtual property, buy and sell, steal, fraud, and protect their intellectual property -- to name but a few of their regular activities besides gaming. These features raise a number of questions with regards to criminal justice system. How to regulate transactions in the virtual world is a nascent issue in the courts, sometimes lawyers being unable to draw clear lines because of the nature of online gaming.

Online gaming's unique feature is that it allows players from different corners of the world play in real-time, encouraging greater competition and requiring that players spend more time playing the game. This potentially raises the addiction problem.
In recent years online gamers spending too much time on computer and dying because of heart failure have made headlines. The increased addiction to online gaming also has implications for social behavior of players as research suggests that addiction and engagement in "problematic game play" experiences lead to negative consequences, including aggressiveness and violent behavior (Sublette & Mullan, 2012). While such psychological aspects of online gaming may not be of direct interest to criminologists, the consequences of addictive online gaming may well be.

Of greater concern for criminologists, of course, is the direct criminal behavior that is thriving in the virtual world today. One of the serious problems, especially in the developing markets of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, is piracy. In an attempt to curb piracy, some Asian large vendors use the model of "charging for network connection" instead of "charging for software license" (Ying-Chieh, et al.,….....

Show More ⇣


     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Online Gaming" (2012, March 30) Retrieved June 4, 2026, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/online-gaming-55448

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Online Gaming" 30 March 2012. Web.4 June. 2026. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/online-gaming-55448>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Online Gaming", 30 March 2012, Accessed.4 June. 2026,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/online-gaming-55448