An international study by Prof. Yoram Eshet and Dr. Yoel Kelmes from the Open University sheds light on the characteristics of the culture of computer games that conquers the culture of free time
Avi Blizovsky
Digital games are no longer a phenomenon of crazy people talking. In the technological age, almost the entire population of the world, including third world countries, takes an active part in the digital games industry. The scope of activity of digital games in the USA reaches 6 billion dollars and in England to 4 billion dollars. In Israel the issue is still in its infancy...
The leaps and bounds made by communication and multimedia technologies in the last decade have led to a global boom in the field of digital games (computer games), which have become a huge industry turning over billions, and appealing to millions of children and adults all over the world. These games are now a central part of free time culture, alongside being an important component of learning and professional training.
The boom in this gaming culture is currently leading to dramatic changes in the free time consumption habits of young people, and many studies indicate the consequences these games have on the social behavior patterns of the games, especially the young ones.
As part of the symposium "Man Playing in the Technological Age", which took place on Tuesday (29.11/XNUMX) at the Open University, the findings of an international study conducted by Prof. Yoram Eshet and Dr. Yoel Kelmes from the Open University with Dr. Lynn Henderson from James Cook University were presented in Australia.
The study, which was conducted among 1,800 children in grades XNUMX-XNUMX, over two years in Israel and in the countries of China, Australia and the United Kingdom, and its findings point to a number of worrying trends, such as the tendency of teenagers who play to withdraw and reduce the scope of their social activities.
The purpose of the study conducted by the researchers was to characterize the culture of computer games among the youth. It turned out that almost all of the interviewees (90 percent) play computer and video games, and the "addicts" of them, who spend about 7 hours a day in front of the computer - make up 20 percent of the boys are in glorious loneliness. 40 percent of boys and 30 percent of girls testify that computer games are their favorite activity.
The research findings show that the boys tend to play more than they understand in all types of games. For about half of the participants, computer games are at the top of their free time activities. The preferred digital games are racing, sports, action and shooter games.
Surprisingly, it turned out that girls like action games more than boys: 33 percent of girls compared to 10 percent of boys. The girls prefer simulation games, role-playing and puzzles more than the boys. The interesting statistic is that no significant differences were found between the types of preferred games between games in different countries.
Almost all participants prefer to play alone and at home, which indicates the contribution of the games in blocking social activities. This argument is strengthened by the finding that the "heavy gamers" (addicts), who invest many hours in digital games, are less inclined than the "normal" gamers to social activities, such as going to the movies, meeting friends, sports activities or reading. They also tend to more "negative" activities such as shopping and eating/sleeping.
Another alarming figure emerges in terms of the participants' level of awareness of violent scenes in games. It was found that 95 percent of the boys are not bothered by the content of violence, gender discrimination and sexual content, compared to a relatively high awareness of these issues among the girls, especially when it comes to sex scenes and gender discrimination. In addition, the findings indicate a lack of awareness of the games regarding the negative effects they may be exposed to as a result of offensive content included in the games.
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