Entertainment is an important part of everyday life. Online and video games have become among the most popular leisure time activities for millennial nowadays. They appear to have a strong influence on the players and their perception of the world. Today’s society is immersed in a process of change in social, human a work place relationship dominated by information and communication technologies.
Schools are also experiencing the impact of the ICT’s, which have led to a change in teaching learning relationship. The uses of certain applications related with mathematics, languages and physics to support teacher’s explanations and to work in specific area such as mental calculations and drawing are common in most primary and secondary schools.
The rise in the use of the internet has led to many changes in our daily life. This rise has also led to the rise of online gaming. Online gaming can refer to any type of game that someone can play through the internet or over a computer network. Most of the time, online gaming refers to the video games played over the internet, where multiple players are in different locations around the world. In most cases, online games are freeware programs that can be used for an unlimited time and are available for free. Most percentage of web games available nowadays is written in Flash, Shockwave and Java languages. Because of that, they feature more primitive game play than downloadable games.
Having an online gaming experience typically requires a high-speed internet connection. Proper hardware will also be required whether it’s a computer or a gaming console, such as XBOX OR Play station that’s connect to the internet. Some online games require a specific piece of controlling hardware such as joystick or a game controller, but these days, gaming technology has progressed to an amazing extent. Things like streaming 3-D animation graphics with superb surround sound stereo now could make all addicted to gaming. In terms of video games, online gaming is growing in popularity for variety of reasons. Gamers can easily find opponents of a similar skill level when playing a head-to-head game over the Internet. Players also can game in a virtual world. Some online games change a monthly fee for access to the video game software.
The same is true of online games. Despite the benefits of using online games and playing them, in general, many teachers are reluctant to use them in classroom. The two most commonly mentioned negative aspects refer to violence and sexism. As far as violence is concerned many games display aggressive attitudes and anti-social world view and many authors observe this type of conduct may lead to increase in aggressiveness.
Played by over a billion people globally, digital games are challenging, engaging and fun (Liu et al. 2013). Online games, the most popular of digital games, are enabled by modern information and communication technologies and played on an Internet-based platform. These games transport users to a virtual environment and are played individually or together with other online gamers. Many players crave the competitive nature of online games (Liu et al. 2013), others seek hedonic gratification (enjoyment, fantasy and escape from reality), yet others relish social interaction (Li et al. 2013). The growing popularity of gaming is further amplified by the spread of mobile technologies with 36% of gamers using their mobile devices to access their favorite games anytime and anywhere in 2013 (Entertainment Software Association 2013).
These games transport users to a virtual environment and are played individually or together with other online gamers. Many players crave the competitive nature of online games (Liu et al. 2013), others seek hedonic gratification (enjoyment, fantasy and escape from reality), yet others relish social interaction (Li et al. 2013). The growing popularity of gaming is further amplified by the spread of mobile technologies with 36% of gamers using their mobile devices to access their favorite games anytime and anywhere in 2013 (Entertainment Software Association 2013).
There are many types of online games. Among them, puzzle, logic and card games are most popular accounting for 34% of all online games, followed by action, sports, strategy and role-playing games (26%), casual and social games (19%) and persistent multiplayer universe games (14%) (Entertainment Software Association 2013). An important category, Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), allow players to create a new identity, navigate their avatar in a 3D environment and interact with others in a “reality-like” setting. The environment, the roles and stories to be created (Kuo at al. 2012), and the experience in a place different from the one they are physically in (Schroeder 2006) entice gamers to return.
As society becomes more connected through the Internet, many forms of traditional human interaction have shifted toward online communities. One of the largest growing online communities is the online game community.
As technology becomes more prevalent in education, students of all ages have increased opportunities to play and learn from educational games. At first glance, educational games appear to be an ideal educational tool because they provide increased motivation for students to spend time engaged with academic concepts. However, concern arises as possible gender differences in gaming are considered.
Stereotypically, most game players are males (Shaw, 2012) and females typically exhibit higher levels of anxiety than males with regards to playing online games (Huang, Hood, & Yoo, 2013). If not appropriately addressed, gender differences could promote gender inequity when games are used for education.
Although it is common for both men and women to say that they play games, it is less common for individuals of either gender to describe themselves as a gamer. Women are less likely than men to self-identify as a gamer (Shaw, 2012). Women are also more likely than men to underrepresent the amount of time they spend playing video games (Shaw, 2012; Williams,Consalvo, et al., 2009). By comparing self-reported data to data collected from game servers, Williams and Consalvo et al. found that women underrepresented their playing time by an average of 3 hours per week, while men underrepresented their playing time by an average of 1 hour per week. Overall, men have more positive attitudes about gaming than women (Bonanno & Kommers, 2008).
Nowadays, since online games are part of mass media, they are responsible for the unrealistic ideal body perception as well. Girls and boys who play online games that use this ideal shaped body image for female are more likely to create their concept on how female should look like based on their representation.
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