Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

studying video games

The Los Angeles Times last week had a story about a the Annenberg Studies on Computer Games, a new research group at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication which seeks to study the impact — cultural, psychological, whathaveyou — of computer gaming. (“A PhD in Mortal Kombat” - 06/06/04)

While two of the studies will focus on the hot-button issue of violence, most are geared toward discovering what psychological needs the games fill and what role they can have in education and mass audience entertainment.

In one study planned for this summer, researchers will test the conventional wisdom that interactive learning is more productive than rote. “Everyone assumes children will learn more if they are playing a game,” Ritterfeld says. “But we do not know that because it has never been tested.”

Vorderer, who has edited several books on the psychology of entertainment, is already compiling a book about gaming, which he believes is changing not just the industry but the definition of entertainment.

“When we started, we thought, ‘Well, games are cool and under-researched so this will be a good area,’ ” Vorderer said. “But the more work we do, it is so striking how everything is connected to games. The military, the movies, education, everyone is doing games.” …

Here is what is not known about computer games: Why people play them often with a dedication that borders on obsession. What effect the violence in the games has on the brain activity of the players. If gaming is a social or antisocial activity. If computer games can be more effective as learning tools than other educational games. How gaming is changing the entertainment industry and, more broadly, the cultural landscape.

Incidentally, one of my classmates in Georgetown’s CCT program, Peter Bell, did his thesis on computer gaming: “Video Game Value and Exchange Aesthetics.”

I’m always heartened to hear about academic programs that embrace the study of popular culture because I think the things that are most ubiquitous — elements of everyday life — also are often the things that are least understood or appreciated within a larger context, usually relegated to certain confines dictated by “conventional wisdom.” In that vein, I’m particularly awed (and envious) of the “contemporary culture” programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Syracuse University.