Social Sciences Class
Media Analysis
Functionalist Perspective
12/6/2011
Introduction
Video games have become a multi-billion dollar global industry. Most of the developed nations including The United States, Japan, and France have large corporations that produce a multitude of titles that cater to a variety of demographics. Games such as Blizzard Soft’s World of Warcraft (known as WoW), and Activision’s successful Modern Warfare games have swept the world in popularity with record breaking sales. The video game is a form of media that allows the player to become immersed in a story on a highly interactive level. Often the protagonists in the story are controlled by the player, enabling the player to make decisions that will affect the outcome of the story. These games allow people to connect on the Internet and compete or cooperate in a virtual environment where the objectives and abilities of the user performed, would otherwise be impossible or unacceptable in the real world. The content of these games has become a highly debated topic on the impact to society. With video games becoming more realistic in graphics and interactive play, many parenting groups are seeing a growth in violence that can be attributed to the content that the children playing them are exposed to and propose censorship to protect children. Other groups proclaim that censorship would inhibit the artistic nature of the gaming industry and that the ESRB, ratings which are similar to the ratings movies are given, are indicators for the content of the game and the age range the product is aimed at. This allows the parents to censor the games they purchase for their children themselves, as this should be their responsibility.
Video games as an agent of socialization
Cultural Convergence is the flow of content across multiple media, and the accompanying migration of media audiences. (Schaefer, Richard T. Sociology: A Brief Introduction, 9th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning...