Reaearch Proposal
1.)Title: Life Outside of Gaming
The social impact of video games
Tim Ryan
English 202 Research Writing
Dr. Sherwood
2.) My research paper is about video games and the role they play on ones social life. There are many positive and negative effects that video games can have on humans and in this research paper I will cover many of them. My primary research question for this paper is, What effects do video games have on social life?
3.) There are several different aspects of life that can effect a human socially. Some can be little and others can be major occurences. Many people across the country and world spend a majority of their day infront of the TV screen with a controller in their hand playing video games and blocking out the rest of the world for the time being. Can video games effect the social lives of humans? That is one of the main questions asked about these so called gamers. What effects does sitting infront of a screen playing the same game for 10 hours a day? This is another good point that many researchers and health care providers have been focusing on for a while now. These gamers only have one thing on their mind and that is how they are going to make it to the next level or how they can beat the computer. It takes some of the manufacturers years to make and come out with these games. Then, it only takes the gamers a few days or hours to beat the entire game. Is this a good thing? More and more people become obssesed with video games each year and center their lives around one little disc.
4.) Dor my primary source i interviewed one of my good friends, Chris Furyk.
Chris has both ebox360 and ps3 and has over 20 games for each of them. Last weekend i went up to his college West Virginia University to visit him and give an interview. I pretty much watch him play video games and do his normal weekend routine friday through sunday. At one point in high school Chris was alsmot going to make video gaming his career and was going to be sponsered and payed for playing video games. I observed many of the games he played and asked him several questions like:
What would u rather do on the weekend play video games or go out with friends?
What is your favorite game?
What is your favorite system?
How long have you been into video games?
How many good friends would u say u have?
Would u rather play video games by yourself or with some friends?
How long do u play in one sitting?
How many hours a week would u say u normally play?
What kind of games do u like to play?
What is ur favorite game?
Would u rather play them on big tvs or little ones?
When your not gaming what are u usually doing?
Do you have a girlfriend?
How much time do u spend with her?
How often do u guys go out?
What are your grades like?
How many credits do u have?
How often do u go to your classes?
These are just some of the important questions i asked my friend while visiting. There is a lot more information i found through internet sources and a few books. I also read some very good info in the gaming magizine that my friend gets monthly. I learned more by watching him and what he does during the day then i would have if i didnt interview anyone. I felt that chris would be a very good source because he loves video games but also leads a normal life at the same time.
5.) My friend and interview/observation was my main source and gave me a ton of great information. The magizine he receives montly “Gaming” also had tons of good informationthat i found to be very usefull. I also have several internet sources that gave both negative and the positive sides to video games. There were several good internet sources that i found but i onyl chose the ones that focused maily on my topic. There were also 2 books in the library that i pulled some information out of.
6.) http://www.jstor.org/view/10548289/ap050025/05a00080/0
http://www.springerlink.com/content/gnv838g7r2316776/
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/155/1/17
http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/3/456
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=I1P8zLtmC8YC&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PR15&sig=Vyn0T_bLZoWgMDWRMX_tglwH5CM&dq=social+impact+of+video+games#PRA1-PR15,M1
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=958735
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1031607.1031667
Who is the author? What “authority” or affiliation does he/she have? Does the style indicate reliability or biases? I liked this particular author cause she is also a college student. I just thought it would be easier to relate to her and what ideas she had.
Who is the publisher? What does this suggest about the purpose and trustworthiness of the material? Its published by Palo Altol medical foundation, so in my opinion they would have to be pretty reliable.
Notes: In another study conducted by Gentile, Lynch, Linder & Walsh (2004, p.6) “adolescent girls played video games for an average of 5 hours a week whereas boys averaged 13 hours a week”.
Bushman, B. & Anderson, C. (2002). Violent Video Games and Hostile Expectations: A Test of the General Aggression Model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1679-1686.
Gentile, D. A. & Anderson, C. A. (2003). Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard. In D. A. Gentile (Ed.), Media violence and children. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishing.
Gentile, D. A., Lynch, P., Linder, J. & Walsh, D. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 5-22.
Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children: Congressional Public Health Summit. (July 26, 2000.) Available: http://www.aap.org/advocacy/ releases/jstmtevc.htm, Accessed 9/2004
Walsh, D. (2000). Interactive violence and children: Testimony submitted to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate. (March 21, 2000.) Available: http://commerce.senate.gov/ hearings/0321wal1.pdf (Acrobat), Accessed 9/2004