Monday, February 6, 2012



The article that we had to read this week was very interesting because of the fact that it talks about a huge topic that is really big right now. The video game industry has never been as big as it is right now with all the current video games coming out. If I recall most of these games have raked in more money than some of the biggest movies in recent memory. One of the main reasons why the video game industry exploded is because of the fact that most of these video games created a feature known as an avatar. An avatar is a person in the video game who represents the person playing the game. What i really didn't know was that avatars have been around since the beginning of gaming, for example in the article people say that when Pac-Man came out it was considered an avatar because the person playing the game was able to control the subject. However in recent years the avatars have become much more complex because in most gaming systems such as the XBOX 360 and the WII's the gamer is allowed to customize the avatar as much as he/she pleases. In these avatars the users can actually make them look like the user themselves. In my opinion now that these video games have become much more complex the users have become even more addicted to these games. This was evident in the article because it explains how the person rather play his video games than to study for his school work. This starts to show how the person may be to much into his video game than in his real life. This is not very uncommon because it has been known that most gamers would much rather play video games than to live their own life's because they feel powerful being able to control the whole scene. In my time playing video games I have known a few of my friends who actually stopped going to school for a while because they wanted to play their video game.

I have created my own avatar in my game console which is the XBOX 360, i believe that the avatars in this console are perhaps the best. When making my avatar i tried to make it as if it was me in the game so i designed it to look like me. In my personal opinion i do not believe that RPG's are such a good idea because when the people do make them they get to into them. In my opinion i do not believe that the video games blur ones ability to distinguish fantasy from reality. However, i do think that the video game users would much rather play their game than to live their life. These serious gamers think that their lives are far to boring and they think that video games are much more interesting. I did interview one of my friends who plays a lot of video games and he tells me that he tried to make his avatar as closely to himself as he could. He tries to include everything in his life to the avatar and then he wanted to try and do some things of the avatar to his life. Overall i do not think that playing so many video games especially with avatars is such a good idea because some gamers take it to a whole another level which can eventually take time from their actual life.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Cisco,

    You should read my response to Gage's blog. There may be a disconnect between the fantasy and the real, and how it may alter one's mood. How depressing would it be to go into work knowing you could venture into epic battles playing Elder Scrolls instead?!

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  2. I can't agree with you anymore, Cisco :) I don't play video game, but I'm surrounded by those who are addicted to RPGs. I think it's safe for me to say that it's impossible for video game to blur the players' ability to distinguish between the reality and fantasy. You're right. The gamers may enjoy their virtual life more than their real life, since in the virtual life, they can be who they want to be and achieve what they want easily without facing any pressure from their parents, teachers or their peers. Therefore, they themselves deny to step out of that fantasy. Honestly, if there were a fake world which can help me get what I want and make me feel so good without me putting any effort, I would for sure never step out of that world to come back to the reality.

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