Video Games Have for a Dissertation

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Dopamine is a pleasure inducing chemical that is secreted whenever an individual engages his/her mind in the playing f video games. The New brain research that was conducted years back (Bartholow,

Bushman & Sestir, 2006) was the first to show that the playing of violent video games results in bad health of the players. The emphatic responses of the brain to the simulation of certain real-life violence such as shooting with a gun and bombing are also elicited. It was also explained by Walsh (2004, 2006). That the exposure of a teenaged brain to video games results in certain violent long-term effects.

In Steven Johnson's book, Everything Bad Is Good for You, he argues that video games in fact demand far more from a player than traditional games like Monopoly. To experience the game, the player must first determine the objectives, as well as how to complete them. They must then learn the game controls and how the human-machine interface works, including menus and HUDs. Beyond such skills, which after some time become quite fundamental and are taken for granted by many gamers, video games are based upon the player navigating (and eventually mastering) a highly complex system with many variables. This requires a strong analytical ability, as well as flexibility and adaptability. He argues that the process of learning the boundaries, goals, and controls of a given game is often a highly demanding one that calls on many different areas of cognitive function. Indeed, most games require a great deal of patience and focus from the player, and, contrary to the popular perception that games provide instant gratification, games actually delay gratification far longer than other forms of entertainment such as film or even many books. Some research suggests video games may even increase players' attention capacities

A group of British researchers embarked on a research to understand the neurochemical outcomes of playing video games (Koepp et al. 1998).They measured the amount of dopamine hormone which gets released whenever subjects were engaged in playing a video game. The video games were of action genre. The action game involved the maneuvering through a battlefield full of landmines and tanks. Dopamine is a special neurotransmitter that necessitates the modulation of certain information that is passed from one brain area to another. The particular interest in dopamine was because of its role in the control and influence of a wide range of human behavior. Some of the behaviors that it influences are pleasure, learning and even addiction. An example is the fact that in most cases of drug addiction, pleasure is achieved by increasing the level of dopamine in the brain. By employing a special form of brain imaging technique called (Positron Emission Tomograph) the researchers were in a position to determine the effects of playing a video game on the level of dopamine that is released. The result showed a rapid surge in the amount of dopamine that was released in the brain. The areas that were most noted to have these dopamine surges/release are the areas that are attributed to learning and reward. The injection of amphetamines intravenously gave out comparable results. The observed surge in dopamine and its resulting implications are never well-known but is a success in rats. This implies that dopamine may indeed be very crucial in the process of modifying the brain following a certain period of perpetual engagement in training activities. Bao Etal conducted a study using groups of rats. One group of rats was paired with the presentation of a certain tone of about 9-kHz.The observation made was that there was a particular expansion in the brain area that is devoted to the used tone. This was just in the rats that had concurrent of dopamine simulation. (Bao, CHan, and Merzenich,2001).Their conclusion therefore was that dopamine plays a very integral role in the process of learning. This was what caused the neural realignment in the rats. The conclusion from this experiment is that the large increase in the amount of dopamine that is observed when a person plays a video games has a role that is similar to the one in the rats. The dopamine released leads to a faster rate of learning and pleasure.

The Dominant British political Ideology

The term ideology was first made use of by French philosopher Destutt de Tracy in the nineteenth century. He used it to refer to the 'science of human ideas'. However several definitions have been coined for the word. The term ideology is however used to refer to a certain particular set of ideas and assumptions that are necessary in the shaping of one's understanding of the world.

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It was however argued by Leys (1983:14) that ideology refers to 'any set of social ideas that become part of the 'operative assumptions of the general political practice of a certain particular social group. The very nature of an ideology is usually interpreted to be very coherent in that the main ideas within the specific ideology will usually tend to show a high degree of coherent with one another. The main ideologies that dominate the British way of life are conservatism, socialism and liberalism.

More recently, Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as murder simulators to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, in every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, if some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto; Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain. Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as Pearl Harbor 2." According to Thompson, Many parents think that stores won't sell an M-rated game to someone under 17 all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."

Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They're not even speech. They're dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it, as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation. In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end." Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill

Methodology

This chapter will discuss the research design, population of study, sampling techniques and sample size, data collection procedures, data analysis, expected output and ethical requirements.

Research design

Data collection methods

The data will be collected through questionnaire as principle research instruments. Secondary data will be used complement the primary data. This data will be gathered from documented material relevant to the area study. These will include books, research papers, statistical abstracts, journals, newsletters and annual reports.

Data collection procedures

The research instruments to be used in this study will include questionnaire method. The questionnaire will be the main research instruments. Both open and closed ended questions in order to capture all the information and opinion of the respondents. By using the questionnaire, the management staff will be asked the same questions in the same form from all companies.

Each questionnaire will be given a number and pre-coded before the data collection process begins. This will ensure easy transfer of information into the computer for data processing and analysis. Quantitative data will be collected through the questionnaire method. The data will be collected by the principal researcher with the help of one research assistant. The research assistant will be thoroughly trained before the work commences. Appointments will be made in advance with the company staff to avoid missing the respondents. Before giving questionnaires, the researcher will have to explain to the respondents in detail the aim after research and go through the questionnaire with them first. The questionnaire will be administered to the management staff through drop and pick letter method. The questionnaire will be completed in the absence of the researcher because all respondents are literate. Then the researcher will go back and collect all the completed questionnaires for data analysis.

Data analysis

In this study….....

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