Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Introduction

A.  Background of the Study

          Video games have always been under the red light of the world. People seem to always blame video games for the negative outcomes it can cause. This blame is only influenced by media, books or other events that seem to connect real-world violence to playing video games. As much as people want to blame video games, there is still no psychological point that would support this claim. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57571447-235/why-do-we-blame-games-for-real-world-violence/)

          Gameplay is usually looked at a very shallow perspective instead of actually digging to them in a deeper manner. All around the world, different societies have always looked at video games differently. With different perspectives, societies make ways, some acceptable and some, let us just say inadequate. In the year 2012, a town in the U.S.A. called Southington, burned video games with violent gameplay. Not even trying to understand why it presented violent gameplay, they burned every single one of the copies they got. (http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/148984/town_hopes_burning_video_games#comments)

          Politics always blame video games for causing real world violence. Specifically in the States, tons of shootings have happened and you can easily guess what the politicians blamed, Video Games. They still think that video games affect the young minds of the youth. But there is a problem, there is no such evidence that proves that there is such a connection between video game violence and real world violence. Politics is pointing its fingers in the wrong direction. (http://ideas.time.com/2012/12/20/sandy-hook-shooting-video-games-blamed-again/)

          Similar to gameplay, storylines are often bashed for their so called “offensive” ideas written in them. A lot of critics these days have been bashing video games nonstop for them being offensive. But in truth, they get it all wrong. An example of this is Far Cry 3. Its storyline managed to enrage critics but it was actually trying to say something. It looked offensive but it was actually trying to convey a deep message about racism, torture and satire. This was explained by Jeffrey Yohalem, the game author. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/19/far-cry-3s-jeffrey-yohalem-on-racism-torture-and-satire/)

          The media as well blames video games for real world violence. It seems that the media can’t just stop themselves from pointing at video games for their psychological effects on people causing real-world violence. A perfect example of this are the media psychologists who seem to blame video games once again. But according to normal psychologists, there is still no psychological evidence whatsoever and what is only present their is the media’s pointed fingers on video games. (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201304/can-video-games-cause-violence)

Contrary to popular belief, video games don’t just give people shallow concepts but rather provide people with deep philosophies. This study aims to focus on providing examples of video games with philosophies.

B. Statement of the Problem

          This study aims to answer this question:

1.     Are their actual examples of video games containing actual philosophies in them?

C. Significance of the Study

Gamers. This research paper would be able to help gamers in their daily struggle in defending the video game name. They can use this paper as a reliable source when it comes to their defence. This will also help them understand better the deeper content of video games that are not usually taken into consideration by most gamers. This can cause them to fully understand video games deeply and more detailed unlike their former beliefs. This can also help them in understanding video game philosophy since this study is set to philosophy.

Game Developers.  This research paper would prove essential to game developers since they make video games. This can be a good source for reference when they are trying to explain why their video game storyline and gameplay work the way they wanted and designed it to. This can also help them to understand the deep complex of video game philosophy since this paper focuses on providing and explaining philosophies in video games.

Future Researchers. This research paper will  become a reliable basis on making research papers related to video game philosophies. They could use this as a source of reference in conducting their research. This paper would really help them when it comes to improving or going into video game philosophy in a deeper manner. This would be their starting point in researching more about the topic and help them manoeuvre their study into the correct path.

D. Scope and Delimination

          This study focuses on proving that video games don’t just provide shallow concepts but rather provide deep philosophies. This study will just provide different video games with different philosophies and further explain them.

          This study will only discuss three video games: Bioshock Infinite, Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 3. This study will focus only on their philosophical content and nothing more. These video games that were selected are believed by the researcher to be violent when it comes to their play style. Due to its violent gameplay, it would be perfect examples in answering presented by the research paper.

E. Materials and Methods

          This research study is going to utilize the descriptive method. The researcher will focus on describing the philosophies of the given video games. The researcher will gather data and analyze them thoroughly. This will lead the researcher to derive an answer that the paper needs. With these at hand, it can easily be said that descriptive method is the most appropriate method to be conducted.

          Information will be gathered from different articles from the internet. These articles are mostly made by different people who are related in a way with video games.

F. Defintion of Terms

Video Games. An electronic game played via certain medium such as consoles.

Media. A collective term used to describe such massive communication.

Violence. Anything that involves harmful things that can be physical or emotional.

Philosophy. A strong belief in concerned with life.